NUFORC Sighting 148565

Occurred: 2019-08-29 21:20 Local
Reported: 2019-08-29 19:55 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Beloit, WI, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

High Altitude Strobe Light.

This evening, my husband and I were outside on our deck observing the stars. As we were watching a satellite traverse from north to south, we were surprised to see a very bright, white strobe light flash in the same vicinity, at a very high altitude. About 15 seconds later, it flashed again, having moved only a very short distance in the sky. We observed it flash only 5 times, moving west to east, but at what appeared to be a very slow speed, or at an extremely high altitude. It moved only a few degrees across the center of the sky before the strobe disappeared.

My husband has been a commercial and military pilot for 35 years. He was not familiar with any craft that does not either show a constant light, such as a satellite reflecting the sun, or a known commercial or military aircraft with the required flashing white and red lights. He has never seen a flying aircraft of any kind that carries only a strobe, with 10-15 seconds darkness between flashes, and had no explanation for what this strobe could have been.

Posted 2019-09-06