NUFORC Sighting 18548

Occurred: 2001-07-19 23:59 Local
Reported: 2001-07-21 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 2

Location: Godfrey, IL, USA

Shape: Light

My friend and I saw, two nights in a row, an odd "wobbley" light in the northwest sky behind our home in the country, just over the treeline. The first night, an orange light stayed in one spot for almost an hour. It was moving in little circles. Finally, it took off. To my friend (who wears glasses and has rather poor eyesite) it looked to be in the distant sky. To me (with very good vision) it looked like it was much closer than a star, like maybe a mile or so back in the woods, over the trees, but still small. Of course, it's hard to tell. The second night there were two of them. These did look far away. One in the west, and one in the north sky. Again, these were moving back and forth and in little circles. I would like to know if there is an atmospheric condition that might cause the illusion of movement like this. The only thing is, none of the other "stars" were moving, regardless of their brightness or position.

NUFORC Note:

NUFORC Note; We observe that the description is not inconsistent with a celestial body, a star or a planet. If they were looking to the northwest, the object would not be Mars. PD

Posted 2001-08-05