NUFORC Sighting 31742

Occurred: 2003-09-18 23:00 Local
Reported: 2003-09-22 20:32 Pacific
Duration: 3 Minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Edmonton (Canada), AB, Canada

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Two objects with highly intense brilliant white flashes moving slowly north at extremely high altitude in parallel orbit.

My Wife and I go into the outdoor hottub every night and we have an unobstructed view of the night sky. Thursday night, we went into the tub and sat looking at the passing satellites going over and we noticed an extremely bright, pure white flash of light in the southern night sky at about 80 Deg. above the horizon. This light flashed and was gone. It suddenly appeared again but had travelled approximately one fist width (held at arms length) in a northerly direction. This light flash on and of at approximately two second intervals for almost 30 seconds then the frequency changed to an erratic flashing that would pause for a second, then flash, then pause for two or three seconds then flash. This continued for another two minutes or so and then it just stopped and disappeared. Then, at the same line of travel, back in the southern sky came a second flash. This one was also at about 80 Deg. above the horizon. This one continued for about one and a half minutes, following the same pattern of erratic flashes and also followed the same north bound path, but it was further to the west of the first object. It also disappeared (stopped flashing) as it passed overhead.

I have been an avid atronomer for over 40 years and can honestly state that this caught my attention in that when I went inside, I got on my computer and hit the Nasa Site - "J-Track" (Satellite Tracking Software that is available to all) and there were no satellites tracking over our part of Alberta at that time.

I have also been involved in Satellite Tracking of land-based assets and have also participated in the Cobalt Radiation Testing of Chips and related software for the GPS Satellite Constellation Correction and Surveillance Sats Sys that actually tracks and maintains the record of correctional data for the deliniation of the current Glonass and GPS Constellations that are orbiting the earth today. It is not that I do not know what an orbiting satellite looks like as it goes over. THese objects were not satellites or anything that we have sent up. These objects were pulsating at a timed and then erratic rate which indicates a self serving "at the time of initiation" protocol, not one that is programmed by any standard we use on earth.

I have seen hundreds of Satellites that spin along their axis in their orbit and have witnessed their solar panels flashing as they rotate toward the sun and these flashes that my wife and I witnessed were simply not the flashes caused by the solar panels of satellites being illuminated by the sun. The lights were of such an intensity that they were similar to th star burst flares dropped from aircraft to light up ground positions......only so very much brighter. My wife says they were like looking into the flash of a camera.

Finally, I was travelling west on Saturday morning at 0400 and was listening to you on the radio for that hour and was taken with the fact that someone had seen the exact same lights over Seattle only one or two nights prior to my wife and seeing them over Alberta. Incidently, high orbit travel at any conventional sat speed from Seattle to Edmonton is about 11 minutes or so..............rough of the top of the head reckoning.

I hope this helps you in your project and I can honestly state that this did in fact occur and my wife was and still is, somewhat amazed and left wondering.

Posted 2003-09-24