NUFORC Sighting 111302

Occurred: 2014-07-07 21:00 Local
Reported: 2014-07-07 19:25 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Arlington, VA, USA

Shape: Circle

Stationary white light observed by two people for several minutes

Bright, non-flickering white object in sky before any stars were visible. "Star Walk" iPhone program located it in roughly the location of star Dubhe (end of bowl in "Big Dipper").

Appeared to be stationary during several minutes of observation (we didn't see it appear--it was already visible when we went out on our deck), though there were no nearby visible reference objects for confirmation. Brightness roughly that of Jupiter, but way too far from the ecliptic to be a planet.

My wife & I looked away for a few seconds while discussing where our binoculars might be, and when we looked back it had completely vanished, So, unfortunately, we did not see if it flickered out or vanished in an instant.

Thought it might be a meteor headed directly towards us, but the brightness seemed too steady for that. We sometimes observe rocket launches from Wallops that appear as stationary spots when headed away from us, but there were none scheduled toda! y that we know of.

Definitely too little motion over the period of the observation for it to be an ordinary aircraft. Seemed too bright (and stationary) to be a satellite.

Posted 2014-07-11