NUFORC Sighting 37461

Occurred: 2003-08-10 22:00 Local
Reported: 2004-06-07 21:03 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Hannibal, MO, USA

Shape: Orb

August 10th 2003 large, bright object in low earth Orbit.

I am an avid space lover, So when I visited my girlfriends sister’s farm near Hannibal Missouri, I wanted to see what Mars looked like in the clear country sky. On Sunday night, August 10th, I went out behind the house and saw what I thought was Mars. It was a very bright star just to the right of the moon. Now I am not an astronomer, so I had no real Idea where Mars was supposed to be located that night. But that star was so bright, It couldn’t be anything else. I went inside, and about 10 minutes later I came out to show my girlfriend Mars. It was still there, shining brightly just to the right of the moon. I went inside for a moment to get a soda, and when I came back out, my girlfriend pointed to the sky and asked "What is that in the sky!" I looked up. There was a bright object moving across the sky. It wasn’t a shooting star, It was moving slow. It wasn’t a satellite either, It was much brighter and moving much faster than a satellite would, most likely in a much lower earth orbit. I have seen many satellites in the night sky and this was not one. And it sure wasn’t an airplane. There were no running lights blinking away. I watched it disappear over the horizon and then turned back to look at Mars. It was gone. Where there once was a bright star, there was nothing. My Girlfriend then told me that while I was inside, she saw the object begin to move from its stationary spot in the sky before she pointed it out to me. A while later, I saw the true Mars rising. Just where it was supposed to be.

With so many people looking to the stars in search of Mars, there have got to be more people who have seen the same thing that we saw.

Posted 2004-06-18