NUFORC Sighting 14479

Occurred: 2000-07-01 02:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2000-10-09 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Bismarck, ND, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

A small light slightly bigger than the surrounding stars darting to and fro for about ten minutes.

I stepped out of the garage about 2:30 in the morning to have a smoke. As I always do, I looked skyward to see what could be seen. I spotted a light slightly bigger than the surrounding stars darting back and forth...moving to the left, hovering, then moving to the right. It would hover there, than move to the left again. Rather than a straight to and fro motion, it's path had kind of a circular jog at 9am and 3pm. It was like it was circling around in a very tight arc instead of going in reverse, if this makes sense. It repeated this pattern over and over again the whole time I was watching it. It was not exactly regular though, the time it hovered at opposite poles varied slightly. As I recall, the light was comprised of three smaller lights, red white and green side by side, perhaps slightly triangular. It randomly glittered but was not blinking. It didn't seem to always return to the same place...it would dart rather quickly to it's next position, seem to hesitate momentarily, then move back again. Because of it's dimunitive size, it was hard to gauge it's distance. I could think of no earthly object or reason for this manifestation. I finally became cold and went indoors. I went back outdoors several times in the next hour to see if it was still there, and it was. I finally fell asleep around 4am and that was the last I know of it. Not very spectacular, but that's the way it happened. The thing that most stands out in my mind is that I could think of no rational reason for this to be occuring in the middle of the night in the middle of North Dakota. I did look for it several nights afterwards and did not spot it.

Posted 2000-12-02