NUFORC Sighting 53337

Occurred: 2006-11-09 18:00 Local
Reported: 2006-11-10 05:48 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Alto, TX, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object



White light lower than aircraft slowly moving across sky

I left messages with 2 different TV meterologists who have not returned my calls. About an hour ago right before it got totally dark, I saw a light go to the southwest from where I am in East Texas. It looked like a spot light from a helicopter or something. But it was too high to be a helicopter. The speed was steady and not too fast. It just caught my eye and I followed it for about a minute before it went over the tree line. I could see planes very high in the air and of course stars. But this was a bright white light. No red lights. No flashing. I was outside by myself and then my girlfriend came out and I was telling her about it. Then within about 10 minutes, we both saw in the same general area, a bright white light. It did not move. And then it faded. I was pretty big. It did not streak. It did not blink. It just went out or if anything, it's like it went up. I was much lower than the airpalnes flying at night, which I could see them. I don't know if I believe in UFOs. I always sort of believed in them. But this was not an airplane, helicopter, or anything man made. It was not a meteor. It was kind of like the international space station flying over, but this was pretty low. Any ideas? Did I just see a freaking UFO?

((CORRESPONDENCE WITH WITNESS))

Thanks for the note, ((name deleted)), and thank you for the report!

I believe you witnessed the International Space Station, which passed over Texas at from 17:54 to 17:57 hrs. on November 09. It was approximately 400 statute miles from you, at the time you witnessed it.

Here is the table of times for the ISS over Texas:

Date Mag Starts Max. Altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
09 Nov 0.8 17:54:32 10 WNW 17:57:10 36 SW 17:59:45 10 SSE
16 Nov 1.9 06:00:54 10 S 06:03:14 22 SE 06:05:34 10 ENE
17 Nov -0.9 06:20:59 10 SW 06:23:52 78 NW 06:26:43 10 NE
18 Nov 1.9 05:08:08 13 S 05:09:45 19 SE 05:11:56 10 E

Here is a link to an illustration, which shows its groundtrack:

http://www.heavens-above.com/gtrack.asp?date=39030.9980291036&lat=31.650&lng=-95.073&alt=121&loc=Alto&TZ=CST&satid=25544

Thank you, again, for sharing the information!

Cordially,

Peter Davenport, Director
National UFO Reporting Center
Washington State

((END CORRESPONDENCE))

NUFORC Note:

Sighting of International Space Station. PD


Posted 2006-12-07

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