NUFORC Sighting 32420

Occurred: 2003-10-17 06:40 Local
Reported: 2003-10-19 05:16 Pacific
Duration: Approx. 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Marietta, GA, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

2 luminous objects seen traversing sky(space?) @high speed, VERY high altitude

NOTE: to aid in the description of this sighting, I have prepared a graphic/star chart for the time of the sighting, depicting the positions of the celestial bodies, as well as the general positions/trajectories of the objects being described. If there is a place to upload the graphic on this form, the graphic will accompany the report. Otherwise, please email me at the address provided if you wish to view it and I will email it back to you.

I would like to start this report by welcoming Mr. Davenport back to the "Coast" program. It has been great hearing him again, and his updates have been missed.

I will also preface this report with this general statement: this is not a very dramatic account. It is, I believe, a sighting of non-natural objects in (or outside)our atmosphere, but is only qualified as such by the confluence of observational details, the character of which seems to add up to something unusual or non-natural. I have had one other sighting in the past, which I reported to NUFORC, which shared many of the same characteristics with this one. While relatively uneventful in a comparative sense, I personally feel that this was a sighting of non-natural objects traveling through our atmosphere (or perhaps, outer space) at fantastic speeds. At this stage of the game, however, such a sighting might be viewed as mundane, and it is anyone's guess as to whether these objects are "ours" or "theirs". I'll leave that judgment to you.

Here goes: I was standing outside in my driveway at approximately 6:40 A.M., facing East. It was still dark, and the pre-dawn sky was crystal clear. Looking up, I could see the half-Moon directly overhead, with Orion positioned W/SW of the Moon, just over my right shoulder. Looking Eastward several degrees past the Moon, I was just stargazing, staring in the area of Procyon and Pollux, when I noticed an object moving in a linear trajectory from N/NW to SE. I briefly focused on one of the nearby stationary stars so that I could be sure that this was indeed a moving object. It had the appearance (size/luminosity) of a dim point of light, not unlike one of the smaller/dimmer stars that I could see that morning. In fact, it looked like just that…a moving star. The quality of luminosity was consistent and regular, with no flashing, twinkling, flaming, sparking, etc. the object appeared to be very, very high up in the atmosphere at first, but as I watched its traverse across the sky and focused more on its position relative to other bodies in the sky, I became certain that this object was at the very least in near-Earth orbit, if not farther away. As the object moved through and past the Pollux/Castor region of the sky and began to pass the Moon, I began to lose it from direct vision. I attempted to continue tracking the object in my periphery, and was able to hold it for a moment, but lost it in the glare of the Moon (due to the extraordinarily clear sky, the Moon, though only half-lit, was still casting a nice glare). At this point, I was not sure whether the object was beyond the Moon or not. It was not on a trajectory close enough to the Moon to tell whether it would pass in front/behind it. By the time the object reached a position that was past the Moon’s position in the sky, I had lost sight of it completely. This seemed odd to me, because I thought I would be able to pick it up again as it moved past the glare of the illuminated half-Moon. Nevertheless, I lost track of it.

Just as I was about to write the object off as a near-Earth object of some terrestrial construction, I picked up more motion in my left periphery. I was still staring at the place where I had lost track of the 1st object, when I noticed a 2nd object coming in from the N/NW, following an identical trajectory as the 1st object. It had the exact same appearance, size, and luminosity (that of a dim star) as the 1st object, and seemed to be the same distance away, but was moving at roughly twice the speed as the 1st object. It almost appeared to be in pursuit of the 1st object, or moving to catch up to it, at least. This object continued at this pace until it reached the same general position of the 1st object when I had lost sight of it, and I lost track of the 2nd object in the exact same place. As with the 1st object, I focused on the place where I lost sight of it in hopes of picking it back up, but did not.

As I began to turn to my left, I thought I caught a streak of light (much like that of a meteorite) in my periphery, moving from the spot where I lost track of the 2 objects and streaking toward SW, but I cannot be sure of it. I assumed this was probably an optical illusion, as I had no direct view of whatever it was. It is, of course, very possible that the streak came from further movement of one of the two objects, but I do not know. I saw nothing more after this.

To give you an idea of the speed of these objects, I offer the following (please understand that I am not informed in the calculation of relative speeds, but I understand that it can be done, and this type of information helps in doing so): v As the Moon was directly overhead, it appeared somewhat small, and could be completely obscured by holding a nickel over it in my outstretched hand (I have an arm span of 6’, so approx. 2.5’-3’ in one hand from my eyes).

v The 1st object traversed a path in the sky from about the position of the star Capella to the position of Procyon in about 3.5 seconds. At my arm span (6’), and holding my arms outstretched and pointing my index fingers at each of these positions (like scoring a field goal), the distance between my fingers was about 2-2.5’.

v The 2nd object traversed a path starting well before Capella (when I first noticed it) and ending somewhere around the position of Procyon in about 4.5-5 seconds. Estimating the point where I picked up the 2nd object and pointing one finger there and one to Procyon again, the distance between my fingers was about 4-4.5’.

v So, the 1st object spanned a length of 2-2.5’ in 3.5 seconds, and 2nd object spanned a length of 4-4.5’ in about 4.5-5 seconds.

Again, understand that these are all estimates, as I had to reconstruct positions and times/distances against the star chart after-the-fact, and some of my star references could have been mistaken at the time. Also, I have no good way to estimate the distance of the objects. I am not a mathematician or what you could call a “trained observer”, but I have observed airliners flying high in the atmosphere by day and at night, and I have observed traditional near-Earth objects (satellites, etc.) at night with the naked eye, and I am quite certain that these objects were neither of those things. Though not a great judge of distances and measurements, I am also quite certain that these objects were much higher/further out than those common ones just mentioned.

For the above reasons, it is my opinion that the objects seen had to be non-natural objects that were extremely fast and were extremely high up. Due to the consistency and quality of the light emitted, the linear, airplane-like trajectories, and the speeds at which they apparently were traveling, they almost certainly had to be intelligently piloted craft of some design, capable of distances and speeds not possible with known traditional aircraft.

Posted 2003-10-31