NUFORC Sighting 76221

Occurred: 2010-07-03 21:35 Local
Reported: 2010-07-07 00:45 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted other objects

Saw unknown persistent light in the sky and then a gray object that arced away when the light stopped.

I was out birding Saturday evening at Valley View Preserve. It was about 935pm. There were scattered fireworks going off to the south and the northeast but I think it was still a little too light out for people to start setting things off in earnest. The sky was clear or had a few clouds. I was looking at and scanning the tree line with binoculars for perched owls when I saw this persistent orange-yellow light in the sky south or southwest hovering in the same spot at maybe 45-50 degrees above the horizon and not flickering. The light was maybe 2 or 3 times larger than Venus in the sky and certainly way smaller than the moon. I had no idea what it was but eventually figured it was either a) some kind of firework b) the back of a distant plane/jet or maybe c)the launch of some kind of rocket or something since the last weird thing I saw in the sky, that was kind of similar to this event, was part of an NSA Atlas rocket launch.

After a few minutes of shining in exactly the same spot in the sky, the light stopped and I saw this gray, blurry object slowly arc a very short distance east from where the light had been until it faded away or I just lost track of it in the increasing darkness. The gray object, which I figured was the emitter of the light, was roughly the same size as the light or maybe slightly smaller and possibly top-like in shape. I watched the whole sequence with and without binoculars but don't recall the binoculars giving me a much better view of the event except that they more clearly revealed a non-flickering light. The light was shining for a few minutes and I saw the gray object for probably less than 30 seconds.

I don't know what it actually was but still think it could have been one of the things I thought it might be. If it was a firework, I've never seen anything exactly like it before. The light looked sort of like a Roman candle if there was just one flare, no smoke trail and the flare stayed in one spot in the sky instead of moving in an arc. If it was a plane, there should have been blinking lights on the object after the light, it should have moved in a more direct way and I should have heard some sort of sound. I don't recall hearing any sounds that I could attribute to the light/object. And if it was some sort of rocket, it didn't seem to leave Earth's atmosphere and was a little different than what I saw before.

I had actually completely forgotten about this until Peter Davenport appeared on Coast to Coast AM and am submitting this report per his request. And I'm not looking at any of the other reports until I submit mine.

Posted 2010-07-10