NUFORC Sighting 162708

Occurred: 2021-04-11 00:00 Local
Reported: 2021-04-16 16:41 Pacific
Duration: 4 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Hooper, CO, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

Nothern Light-colored objects and star-like objects moving in sky near Great Sand Dunes Colorado

My dog and I went camping out across from the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado (West side of the Dunes) on (4/10/2021), a Saturday evening. It was very windy all day but eventually settled down after the sun set. I brought my telescope but did not even bring it out of the car as the sky was completely free from any clouds and was incredibly dark to where I could see every star in the sky. The first thing I began to notice in the sky as it was darkening was the incredible number of satellites moving in the sky. Every satellite had a clear path and speed. I made it a point to notice satellites and any aircraft (sound, consistent speed, consistent light patterns) in the area so that when it got dark enough to see without trouble, I would be able try and identify what was in the night sky.

The first occurrence happened just after midnight. I had thought to look at my phone to check the time but cannot remember the exact time. I had forgotten my tent for this trip and ended up sleeping in the back of my SUV with my dog by simply lowering down the back seats and lying flat in the back. As I was resting on my back at this time (feet at the hatch and head towards the engine), I looked out of the back passenger side window (looking North-East direction out of my car window towards the Sand Dunes mountain range) and saw what was the color of the northern lights – a green that wasn’t a solid color but seemed to change as if it were the northern lights) but that color was in what looked like the shape of rings (almost like sonic the hedgehog rings) or disks. The green color was only around the edge of the disks (or at least it appeared the darkest around the disks). The inside of the disks appeared to be dark, like the color of the sky, or was transparent. I could not! make out this detail in enough time before it had disappeared. The rings were moving and bouncing sporadically but as if they were bound within a container, almost as if contained within a large bag in the sky. The space within the container but outside of the disks was that same green color but just much fainter, and I honestly could not tell if it was naturally that color or was just because the disks were moving so quickly back and forth that it made it appear that color). Just as I noticed it, it had disappeared by going over the view of my car, and I did not see it after that. There was no way for me to even estimate a size of this object or have an idea of how far away it was as it was a completely clear sky and was in view above the mountain range, but if I had to make a guess, I would say that if I stretched out my arm and held my index finger out that it might have appeared around the size of my first finger joint (from tip to first joint). I am 5 feet 5 inches ta! ll.

The next event was most likely sometime between 1:30am and probably 3am. The time I cannot be exact on, as I did not look at my phone to get the time. When looking out of that same window as the first event – what looked to be almost the same location as the first, there was what I thought was a star. I felt a bit more gravitated to look in this spot not only because it was more comfortable laying down and looking in that direction, but because I had also seen something through that window already. The ‘star’ did not seem to twinkle like I would expect stars to do but honestly just looked like any other star in the sky otherwise, but as I looked at it longer, it had started moving slowly from its location in the sky (or at least appeared to move slowly since it was coming towards the direction that I was camping). As I kept an eye on it as it approached closer towards the campground – coming from the North-East direction of the mountains and moving in a South-West direction)! , it then appeared to have accelerated very fast (but gradually as it reached a fast speed if that makes sense) and flew out of view. When it flew somewhat overhead of the campground, I never noticed a sound. I had noticed some airlines flying overheard while in my car previously that night and was able to hear them somewhat, so I was carefully listening for a sound as it had flown overhead, but never heard anything or felt anything like a rumble. The only detail I could make out about the object as it flew overhead was that it seemed like it was maybe spherical or oblong and could have been white or possibly silver – almost as if it was a dimmed star. It appeared to me to be fairly low in the sky – appeared as if it could have been lower than the airliners that had been passing overhead from the mountains all day and night.

Around the same time period – I can’t recall if I had seen this object before or after the one just previously mentioned - I had also seen another star-like object in the sky. This one was not seen in the back passenger side window that the other objects were seen through but was seen through the passenger side window. It appeared very bright white in the sky, just like a star, but just a little brighter. In fact, it was just above another star in the sky, which helped give me a reference point. I knew that it was not the star Sirius as it was on the opposite side of Orion in the sky and quite a distance away from the Orion constellation itself. As I watched it for only just for a couple of seconds, it slowly faded out – probably within the timeframe of 3-4 seconds. I guess it could have been an aircraft, but I had not seen an aircraft come from that direction all night and felt that aircraft's light would not slowly fade out and would just turn off and on like a normal ligh! t switch. My other thought was that it was an aircraft with its light on and made a turn while the lights were on, but the light itself dimmed and went out to a single point rather than a light being on in full display and turning to the side. I thought that I saw an object that looked the same as the previous white or silver move away from that location immediately following the light going out, but I am not certain of that as it was fairly far away in the sky. I have no idea the distance away the object was or how large the object could have been.

The final occurrence happened at 4am. I did look at my phone at this instance to check the time. In near the same exact spot as the first and second event, I saw the same northern light-colored green and bag-like, container shape in the sky. The only way I could describe it was that it looked like a flying nebula (basically looked like the first object but you removed the rings or disks). I only caught a quick glimpse of this object – about the same duration of time as the first object - and it followed the same path as the first and went overhead from my view while I was in the car. I got up and honked my car horn in hopes that I could wake up the neighboring campers to alert them to wake up and look out at the sky, but don’t think anyone did. As soon as I honked, I actually jumped out of the car to try and see if I could see it, but unfortunately, I did not see it again. I did, however, see any even darker sky than I thought possible from earlier that evening. The milky wa! y was visible and unbelievable. I would compare the distance and size of this object to that of the first object. For this object, just like all of the others, I did not hear any sound or notice any rumbling as the objects travelled.

This concludes what I witnessed at this location. This is my first-time reporting anything like this as I did not know how to report, or that I should, up until recently. I did experience another object, very large and red right next to my home, just through the tree line – no light that emitted from the object…it was as if the light was contained within itself and made no sound. After about two seconds, it then went out, slowly but not too quick, as though someone turned off a circular LED ceiling light. I noticed that there was very clear and defined detail about the object as it dimmed/turned off. This occurred sometime between June 2020 and August 2020, but I am not sure of the exact date as I did not take note. I recently found a video of exactly what I saw that evening posted by someone online in a different country on the other side of the world around that same time. I am available to be contacted if someone would like more information in regard to this event and mor! e details.

Posted 2021-04-23