NUFORC Sighting 146510

Occurred: 2019-05-27 00:20 Local
Reported: 2019-05-29 18:58 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Niverville, MB, Canada

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Lights on object

On Sunday night May 26 2019, as I often do, I decided to go for a late night walk in Hespeler Park. It had been raining and cloudy all day and was now clear. It appeared overcast to the far east and far west with small scattered clouds to the south. It was completely clear overhead and to the north with a 5 to 10 kilometer breeze from the north west. It was about 5 degrees Celsius.

As I entered the park, I noticed the stars seemed particularly bright and beautiful this night. I was grateful for good walking paths as it allowed me to concentrate on the night sky. I was walking due west along the southern edge of the park parallel to Crown Valley Rd. I prefer this area because it is shaded by trees from the bright parking lot lights at the north east corner of the park.

At approximately 12:18 a.m. (I checked the time on my cell phone approximately 2 minutes later. It was 12:20) three lights appeared from behind the clouds to the west at approximately 15-20 degrees up from the horizon and slightly north of my position. They were headed straight east and never deviated from this path. They were perfectly in line and in sync with each other and were white or light blue in color with similar intensity to nearby stars or a brightly lit satellite. (not as bright as the ISS) They were moving across the sky at a similar rate to a slow satellite.

As it was approaching almost directly overhead I decided I should check the time and attempt to record the event by video recording it. But, when I pressed record the camera light came on and I thought this likely wouldn't work. Instead of taking the time to go into settings to switch off the light, I decided it likely wouldn't show anything anyway and I didn't want to miss anything. I put the phone back in my pocket.

When I gazed back up at the lights I was utterly shocked to see that the lights were not three individually flying crafts but rather one very large craft with the three lights in the center or belly of the craft. I could not see any detail other than the lights and the shape. From the front of the craft to the first light was as long or longer than the distance from the first to last light and the same distance from the last light to the end of the craft. In other words, it was at least three times as long as the distance from the first to the last of the three lights or longer.

It was long and narrow and slightly wider in the center area by the lights. An elongated diamond shape. It was dark gray in color, only slightly lighter in color than the black sky around it. While it clearly covered the stars in the back ground, it unfortunately did not pass under any of the brightest stars which would have made it much more obvious. Incidentally, it passed directly through the pot section of the Big Dipper. At it's highest point overhead, I would estimate to have been 75 - 80 degrees from the horizon. It was completely silent.

As the craft passed by I fully extended my arm and was just barely able to cover all three lights with the second knuckle of my index finger (22mm. wide). It would have required 3 or 4 fingers to cover the entire craft. This thing was absolutely massive! It is extremely difficult to accurately estimate it's altitude however by the way it entered and left my vision I am quite certain that it was at least as high as an ordinary passenger jet at cruising altitude (30,000 - 35,000 ft). Indeed, it may well have been much much higher.

It was 12:23 when I lost sight of it. I immediately entered notes in my phone. The event lasted approximately 4 1/2 - 5 minutes. The ISS passed by to the south west just minutes later.

NUFORC Note:

Satellites? PD

Posted 2019-06-07