NUFORC Sighting 69014

Occurred: 2009-01-18 18:50 Local
Reported: 2009-03-01 14:28 Pacific
Duration: 10 min
No of observers: 1

Location: San Dimas, CA, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object

Oval object, stationary at first, moved north to west at rapid speed after visual sighting. Craft not recognizable.

At approx. 18:45 hours (1.5 hours after sunset) on January 18, 2009, I observed a "fuzzy, bright" object in the northwestern evening sky. It caught my attention because it was stationary, but wasn't of a shape I recognized. It was not a helicopter or other familiar aircraft. The object was fixed in the west-northwest sky, at approx. 60-65 degrees above the horizon. The weather was clear, warm, and no other flying objects, aircraft, or stellar phenomena were visible in that part of the sky.

I used binoculars (10x50) to get a closer look, and was startled to see a grayish-gold oval with small red & green lights, one on each side of the object, plus a white "headlight" - small relative to the object's size. It seemed to be oval, but it also had an oval "ring" or projection at the bottom. The "skin" seemed to have large (relative to the overall size) markings or texture. I figured the sunlight from over the horizon must be reflecting off this thing, so its elevation above ground must have been quite high to catch sunlight this late. I could not venture a guess as to the object's actual dimensions, due to the lack of background reference points.

I thought it was an aircraft - this due to the fact that aircraft typically display a red light on the left wing, and a green one on the right.

I retrieved my digital camera, zoomed into the area where the object was located, and took three photos in succession. I had to guess at the location, because the object was too small to be seen in the viewfinder. When I tried looking at the display, I thought I had taken photos of black sky, as I could not make out anything. It wasn't until I downloaded some other photos from the camera this weekend that I saw the two good images from that evening on my computer screen.

As I checked the pictures I had taken in the camera's viewfinder, I noticed the object start to move. It moved from its initial location to out of sight (into the western horizon) in less than five seconds. It flew roughly parallel to the San Gabriel Mountains, visible to me as the northwestern horizon from my back yard.

The entire viewing and photocapture, plus the object's disappearance, spanned less than 10 minutes.

Posted 2009-03-19