NUFORC Sighting 69814

Occurred: 2009-04-22 21:10 Local
Reported: 2009-04-25 09:34 Pacific
Duration: 1-2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Saline, MI, USA

Shape: Light

4/22/09 Point of light in sky that made 90 degree turn

I saw something extremely weird on 4/22/09 between the > hour of 9:10-9:15 P.M., I know 9:15 is the end time because I looked > at my watch right after. I was standing on my back deck looking up at > the stars (which I usually do whenever I go out to smoke after dark) > and noticed what I first thought was a satellite. I see them on > occasion as I'm looking up at the sky. As I'm watching it, it went > from the dim glow of what satellites look like to a very bright point > of light that kept moving, at which point I started thinking maybe > it's space junk re-entering the atmosphere... even though it was > moving slower than any shooting star I've ever seen. It then dimmed > again to what a satellite looks like, but I noticed at this point that > it wasn't moving in exactly a straight line like a satellite would...

> I don't know how to explain the movement, generally forward, other > than to say it almost looked like it was vibrating very tightly within > a somewhat forward motion. It then turned into a very bright point of > light again (still moving), dimmed, became bright again and did a 90 > degree turn before dimming and moving behind some clouds. At this > point I started backing toward the sliding door to the living room to > call my 5 almost 6yr old son to come see it... I figured it was a once > in a lifetime opportunity, and I wanted to have someone to back up my > sighting... even if he is only about 6 years old. By the time I got > him out, which was maybe 5-6 seconds after I lost sight of it's last > position, a huge cloud had formed right over the area. I kept looking > at the edges of the cloud at the parts of the sky I could see, but it > never came out of the cloud bank, that I know of. It was originally > moving from S to N and drifting slightly Eastward, when it made the > right angle turn it was moving E.

> I know it wasn't a plane as it didn't have any of the other lights a > plane would have, and the brightening/dimming wasn't regular time > wise. The brightness is something hard to describe... when it got > bright it kind of looked like a star but without some of the colors > you might get from the light interacting with the atmosphere. The best > way I can describe it was that it looked like a fluid like point of > light. It definitely looked like it was outside the atmosphere around > the level of where satellites travel, which is why I at first thought > that's what it was. I also noticed that it seemed to increase in size > very slightly whenever the brightness increased.

> > I have NEVER seenanything like this before, and since I spend a fair > amount of time looking at the sky whenever I'm outside at night I know > what planes, shooting stars, satellites, helicopters, blimps, para > sailors, planets,etc. look like, because I've seen them all in the > night sky before. I also know it wasn't a high flying jet, or the > international space station because those things don't make right > angle turns.

> > I'm really still kind of in shock from what I saw...

Posted 2009-05-12