NUFORC Sighting 167513

Occurred: 2022-04-15 21:05 Local
Reported: 2022-04-16 07:14 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute / 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Tiszanana, Heves County, Hungary
Location details: Close to Great Hungarian Plains (flat lands), small village, 5km from Lake Tisza

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail

Light in sky does physically impossible maneuver with split second acceleration and speed, disappears then returns and hovers.

Last night (4/15/2022) was near full moon phase, and since initially it was a clear cloudless sky, I went out into the front yard for some fresh air to marvel at the sky. I currently live in a rural part of Hungary with little to no light pollution so the stars and the rather frequently passing satellites are almost always easily visible. As I was taking in the interesting light conditions caused by the illumination of the moon, I spotted a faint light, what I initially suspected to be a satellite. It entered my sight of vision from the north west and it had a south-easterly heading. I normally would have dismissed it as a satellite as it mostly behaved like one; the speed seemed constant and it was heading on a straight trajectory. The only thing that made me maintain visual contact with it was that it randomly and abruptly flashed up (twice maybe 3 times) with a white light similar to what I could describe as camera flash. It wasn't plane strobe lights--I'm familiar with those--and it wasn't random due to cloud cover, as it was completely clear and all the starts around it were clearly visible. In addition to the few and random flashes, it also began to fade somewhat but then in a matter of seconds it would go back to its original brightness. All of this was still nothing out of the ordinary. The fading and the flashing I assumed could be the result of the satellite turning and reflecting the light of the sun and/or the moon (sun was obviously not visible to me as it was 21:05 (GMT+2) +/- 5 minutes). The fading I figured was the object getting slightly closer to where the moon was (thus the moon light overpowering the illumination from the sun in the back). However, I found the re-illumination a little strange, but still nothing out of the ordinary. The flashing I also attributed to the possible drone activity--due to the current situation in Ukraine there's frequent aerial military presence in the region with NATO drones monitoring the area (I regularly check adsbexchange for activity). Once again, until this point there was nothing I hadn't seen before. However, after its re-illumination, the object (I'm still having goosebumps as I'm typing this) all of a sudden (literally in a split second) accelerated while doing a half infinity symbol like loop and shot off back to where it came from with now a north-westerly heading. The acceleration and the loop-like movement happened simultaneously and in a fashion I had never witnessed before; there was no anticipation or build up of any kind--they were both instantaneous. As the object shot off to where it came from, it even left a small light flare like tail behind it (for a millisecond) similar to a tracer bullet. The acceleration with the loop like turn and the disappearance all happened in less then a second. Obviously, all of this happened without any sound so it could not have been a jet fighter (familiar with those too and they are not capable of such movement). It also wasn't a shooting star; I've seen plenty of those too and I have never seen them do a 180 turn. I couldn't believe what i had just witnessed. I then entered the house to tell a family member who in response also ran out to observer the sky. We continued to monitor the sky for a few minutes, hoping it would come back, but it obviously didn't. 10 to 15 minutes later, we went back inside, and that's when I messaged my brother about what I had seen (that's how I have the accurate time). I also checked adsbexchange to see if there was any military or drone activity in the area, but other than the usual commercial traffic (often quite busy) and a few military transport planes (US and German Military) there was nothing in the area. Even if there was, this was definitely not plane like performance. For the next hour or so, I continued to go out and check to see if I could spot something similar. I even grabbed a pair of binoculars. I observed the occasional air traffic and some common satellite movement, which I now understandably followed with more scrutiny, but for a while there was noting unusual. Then, at around 22:00+gmt (maybe +30min), a similarly satellite like object appeared from the north north west. The object was once again approaching silently with an average satellite like speed and a constant whitish glow. Once again, not unlike a common satellite. Except, this object began to slow down and eventually came to a full stop above me with a 5-10 degree deviation to the north north west from the Zenith. As it began to slow down, I once again alerted the same family member, who instantly ran out and witnessed the slowing of the object. The object then began to slowly shift back and forth, left and right, and doing little but observable adjustments in its movement. In the binoculars it seemed like a regular star accept it was slowly moving. The motion was not due to shifts in my movement (due to breathing, etc.) nor would I attribute it to the shake in the binoculars. The small movements were clearly visible by both me and the other observer. After about 5-10 minutes of no other action, a cloud cover crept in, at which point the object along with all other celestial objects were no longer observable. The rest of the night was overcast and so is the following day (4/16/2022). I couldn't take a photograph or record it on video as the light was too faint and little to be picked up on camera. The first observation happened unexpectedly and very quickly. I have no idea what this object was, but based on the physics of the first observation, this was definitely not an airplane.

Posted 2022-04-22