NUFORC Sighting 82066

Occurred: 2011-07-01 21:45 Local
Reported: 2011-07-01 21:48 Pacific
Duration: 45 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Belton, MO, USA

Shape: Cross
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

A bright cross shaped, fire colored with diamond shaped aura flew straight north directly over head of me, heading towards k.c., mo.

First of all, this had a very straight trajectory and it appeared to maintain a constant altitude much like a satellite. I tried to look at the maps, but i couldn't find anything that matched up its orbit to what/when i saw this.

I live in Belton, MO, which is about 20 miles south of downtown Kansas City, MO, and really close to the Kansas state line.

Friday July 1, 2011. It was a little before 10:00 p.m. I'll estimate 9:40 or 9:45. It had just turned dark with the rest of the twilight disappearing. I was sitting on the front porch facing due south. People were shooting fireworks off. There is a tree line about a block in front of me, so the horizon isn't visible.

I saw what appeared to be a very bright glow or light that appeared through the trees to be going straight up. It didn't make a sound at all.

As it cleared the trees, i was waiting for the fireworks to explode out of it. Instead what i saw was a triangle/diamond shaped glow. I realized that it wasn't going up, it was going across the sky traveling due north and the curve of the orbit/flight made it appear to be climbing at first. I am assuming this, although i couldn't see through the tree line to know this for sure. It appeared to be directly over head, maybe a little to the east of here, but almost directly overhead.

I stepped down away from the house to have a better view of it as it traveled. At first, I thought it was a diamond shaped glowing object, it appeared shaped like a kite but as it neared, I noticed this was just an aura around it. It was shaped more like an airplane.

It didn't appear to be solid but more like an object that was made out of fire or an intense orange colored light. It looked like a phoenix but not flapping any wings, more like an phoenix airplane. If most jets fly about 30,000 feet, i would estimate the altitude of this object to be about 5,000-10,000 feet or less, it's hard to tell.

There is a 200 foot water tower across the street from me, so it was substantially higher than several hundred feet, but appeared to be very low and bright with the glowing aura and the bright object in the middle suggesting that it was pretty low.

As i watched the object continue straight north, pretty much flying directly over Kansas City, MO, I noticed that it did not make a single sound, and it didn't appear to alter its course directionally or altitude wise. I like to watch satellites across the sky and this seems to have had a very similar path, just much lower.

Due to its shape, my immediate thought was maybe this was the space station on a close fly by, or some strangely shaped comet. However, it didn't have a tail like a comet and looking up the path of the space station and satellites, I couldn't find anything that matched up, assuming I read the information correctly.

I am a 38 year old male. I am a teacher. I enjoy looking at the night sky on a regular basis. I have never seen anything like this before.

NUFORC Note:

We spoke via telephone with this witness, and we found him to be exceptionally objective and capable in his description of his sighting. We suspect that he is an excellent witness. PD

Posted 2011-07-04