NUFORC Sighting 71619

Occurred: 2009-08-12 12:30 Local
Reported: 2009-08-12 10:21 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 2

Location: North Bergen, NJ, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Pulsating light moving very slowly around the sky.

I was sitting in my yard watching the sky for the Perseid meteor shower, when I noticed what I first thought was a dim star moving very slowly and, seemingly, erratically. Sometimes it would move from side to side and then make a full stop for a few seconds before continuing. I watched it for about ten minutes (trying to comprehend what I was seeing) then ran in to call my brother outside.

He looked up and could see it right away. He confirmed that it didn't look or act like any plane or helicopter he'd ever seen, either. It was very difficult to determine the shape of the object, but to us it seemed either circular or spherical.

From what we could see it didn't have lights in the usual sense, but seemed that the object itself was lit. However, it could be that we were unable to see the whole object. At one point the light was vibrating or dimming and brightening very quickly; my brother said he thought it was changing colors, but I was unable to detect a color change. But we both agreed that it was clearly pulsating.

It moved around in a random pattern, almost aimlessly, but always remained within clear view.

After about 40 minutes my brother went back inside and I watched it for a bit longer. I noticed that it moved back and forth several times, as though someone repeatedly driving a car forward and reversing. It began pulsating heavily (the light seemed to be making patterns, but I can't be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me).

After that it moved into a cloudy area and it became far too overcast to be able to spot it anymore.

Just a note: Afterward I thought it might just have been a man-made satellite, some of which are visible to the naked-eye in certain conditions. I read through a lot of information online, but from what I've gathered a satellite's orbit does not match the behavior of this object. I have no idea what we saw, but I'll be watching the sky far more often.

Posted 2009-08-27

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