NUFORC Sighting 65641

Occurred: 2008-08-22 19:15 Local
Reported: 2008-09-12 10:52 Pacific
Duration: 40 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Westlake, LA, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Aircraft nearby

Summary The appearing/disappearing daytime star-like object appeared and disappeared seven times during daylight hours over a period of 12 days. Three sightings were followed by the appearance of military aircraft.

08/22/2008 (Friday) While sky gazing at 7:15 PM , I noticed a very bright object in the sky due South of my residence in Westlake, LA at 45 degrees above the horizon. The object looked similar to a star, except it appeared to be about ten times larger and brighter than any star or planet that I have ever witnessed. It should be noted that sunset this evening was at 7:46 PM and normally stars would not start to appear until about 30 minutes after sunset. (This “star” was out about an hour early with the sun still shining brightly). I watched the object for several minutes and it appeared to be stationary. I then went into the house and got my binoculars to have a better look at it and still it appeared to look only like a extremely large and bright star. I would say that the object appeared to be very high in the sky but not beyond the atmosphere.

At 7:30 PM, I called my wife out of the house to witness the unusual day light “star”.

I continued to watch the “star” until 7:55 PM (a total of 40 minutes) and to the eye it appeared stationary, but apparently it was slowly moving to the West as it was now clearly located directly South West (a 45 degree change in direction), but still 45 degrees above the horizon. At this point, the very bright clearly seen “star” got fuzzy and appeared to be starting to pull apart and quickly faded away against the cloudless sky.

About a minute after the “star” faded away, an Air Force B-52 flew directly over my house at a low altitude flying South Westerly and flew exactly past the last position of the large daylight “star” that had just faded away. I had called my wife back out of the house to witness that the “star” was now gone, as the B-52 aircraft passed overhead. It should be noted that this is first time that I have ever witnessed a B-52 in flight since leaving the military in 1982. I believe that the closest active military air base to my home in 200 miles to the North in Shreveport, LA and any military aircraft in our area is somewhat rare.

I remained outside to document the time that readily recognized “normal” stars start to appear with the first dim star appearing at 8:00 PM and the second at 8:15 PM. The extremely large and bright daylight “star” that faded away against a clear sky never reappeared in the sky by the time I ended my watch at 10:00 PM last night.

(8/23/08) Saturday At 7:40 PM, I returned to my backyard in Westlake, LA and started a through watch to the South and South West direction. (The same direction that I had observed the “daylight star” a day earlier.

At 7:50 PM, again a very large and bright starlike object appears suddenly to the South West against the still clear blue sky. (Sunset was at 7:46 PM and the sky was still very well lit up at this time).

I watched the object for a minute or so to make sure that it was indeed a stationary object. I then attempted to get the attention of someone inside my home by knocking on the windows while trying to watch the object at the same time. (I did not want to take my eyes off the object just in case it faded away into thin air as it did the day before after observing it for 40 minutes).

After knocking on windows for another minute or so to no avail, I momentarily took my eyes off the object three times and was easily able to re-sight the object each time until the third time and then the object was gone when I looked back up. I remained outside watching for another hour without ever seeing the very large and bright “daylight star” again. However, during this time frame all of the “normal stars” that I normally see each evening began to slowly and dimly appear starting around 8:15 PM. I did not notice any “normal stars” moving or disappearing.

I do not know what this very large bright starlike object is, but I am almost positive that it is not a star or a planet.

8/28/08 (Thursday) 19:35 Observed reappearance of daytime star-like object against a clear blue sky 45 degrees above the horizon SW of my residence in Westlake, Louisiana. Unlike the first two sightings of this object, this time the object was not extremely brilliant. I then observed the object through binoculars and it appeared to be metallic and chrome colored, shaped like a hamburger bum.

19:37 At this point, I phoned my son who was located 10-15 miles SW of my residence and presumably that much closer to the object and ask if he could sight the object. He easily located the object in the same relative position in the sky to him as it was located to myself. When asking my son if he saw the star, he stated that “the object was not a star as it was defiantly metallic, but he was unable to identify what it was”.

19:45 Shot six still photos of the object on a Sony digital camera. (Object appears in the photos as a round white object against a clear blue sky without showing the chrome color or a detailed shape due to the long distance of the object).

19:47 While attempting to locate the object in the viewfinder of my video camera, my son called back and said that the object had disappeared. I looked back up to confirm that indeed the object was gone and no longer appeared against the clear blue sky. I continued to search the sky for 30 minutes without the object reappearing.

09/03/08 (Wednesday) 19:45 Reappearing star-like object appears high in the sky directly above my residence in Westlake, LA. Object remained stationary in the sky.

19:47 Called my son out of the house to watch the object while I laid flat on my back observing the object straight up in the sky with binoculars.

19:50 Observed a much smaller yet very bright star-like object moving towards the original larger star-like object and then it stopped. At this point, I ask my son if he saw the second smaller object without binoculars and he stated that he did not. After about ten seconds, the smaller object moved toward the larger object again. As the smaller object met the larger object, the larger object appeared to become eclipsed by the smaller object and a corona of light could be seen around the larger object with the light at the center of the larger object blocked out. At the point that the larger object became eclipsed, my son stated that he could no longer see the object without binoculars. I continued to watch the “eclipse star” for a minute with binoculars and then it faded and appeared as faint light in three separate spots and then faded out completely.

20:05 Observed a large twin engine turbo prop military type aircraft flying low directly over my residence located in a populated neighborhood.

20:12 Observed a large commercial airline flying low and banking a turn directly over my residence. (It should be noted that large aircraft are almost never observed flying low over my residence located in a populated neighborhood).

09/04/2008 (Thursday) 19:40 Star-like object appears in the South, 70 degrees above the horizon as clouds begin to break at my residence in Westlake, LA.. The object could best be described as a normal star in appearance against the still blue sky in the background. Object appears in wrong part of sky to be a star and 20-30 minutes early for a normal star to appear. Observed object for 16 minutes with binoculars. During the time observed, the object changed from a pale star appearance to a yellow flattened shape.

19:56 Object begins to fade against a still clear cloudless portion of the sky and then appears as faded scattered light in three separate locations in the sky before the object is completely undetectable.

20:06 What appears to be a fighter jet passes directly over my residence flying very low.

(It should be noted that military aircraft are seldom seen in this area over a residential neighborhood, nor are low flying aircraft of any type with the exception of an infrequent Piper or crop duster during the daylight hours).

20:16 What appears to be the same fighter jet makes another very low pass over my residence for a second time.

20:30 Ended sky surveillance without star-like object returning.




NUFORC Note:

Jupiter?? PD


Posted 2008-10-31

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