NUFORC Sighting 24231

Occurred: 2002-07-28 23:30 Local
Reported: 2002-08-06 14:29 Pacific
Duration: 2-4 MINUTES
No of observers: 6

Location: Goleta, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown

3 bright objects in triangle formation seen moving across the night time sky near Goleta Ca. at Refugio Beach Campground 11:30pm

We were camping at Refugio Beach State campground for the week, our first night we were looking to see metors/comets and satelites. The camp fire had died down and you could really see the milky way and all the stars in the sky. It was around 11:30pm when three of us pointed out what we thought was a satelite and then realized we were seeing three seperate objects in a trianglar formation moving aross the sky. They appeared to be satelites because of the altitude they were at, but what made us think they were not satelites beyond the fact satelites are not orbiting the earth in formation. was that the far right object would change speed as the triangle formation moved across the sky. They appeared as bright objects and there were no running lights that we could distingush. We continue to watch them as the disappeared out over the horizon of the Pacific Ocean. We kept looking every night til we left for our homes, but never saw the same formation of objects in the sky. The group that saw this are all full time working parents with childern and have been camping at this location for over a decade and have never seen anything like this before. If there is a explanation for what we saw, I would like to hear it.

NUFORC Note:

We would have conjectured that the objects were part of the U. S. Navy N.O.S.S. satellite system, which apparently are launched in triplets. However, satellites do not course to the west, and the witness has suggested they were seen going in that direction. We do not know what it was they witnessed. PD

Posted 2002-08-16