NUFORC Sighting 04775

Occurred: 1998-11-06 17:55 Local
Reported: 1998-11-08 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 15-20 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Bend, OR, USA

Shape: Formation

5 objects in straight line following one another. 3 objects in front as bright as surrounding stars; 4th as bright as vega; 5th as bright as Jupiter.

5 points of light observed approximately 20 degrees of arc in the northern skies.

I had just stepped out of my truck after arriving in Bend at my girlfriend's parent's house and the brightness of these lights caught my eye because I hadn't recalled ever seeing a constellation in that area of the sky before. There had been snow showers in the vicinity and the skys were in a broken condition with cirrus clouds also in the vicinity.

Objects were first observed almost stationary. Then, after a few seconds, I noticed they started moving in a straight line towards an approximate 330deg direction. The speed they were traveling was about twice as fast as a satellite would be observed moving but much slower than a meteor entering the atmosphere.

All objects remained equi-distant from one another, approximately 1 finger-width between each. They were all white in appearance, the same as the surrounding stars. No sound, fire trail, strobe lights, running lights, flaring, or fragmentation was observed.

The front 3 objects were as bright as the surrounding stars. The 4th object in line was a little brighter, and the 5th object was approximately the same brilliance as Jupiter.

I had time to call my girlfriend over to my side of the truck to also observe this event. We watched the few remaining seconds as they seemed to fade out of sight at approximately 40deg of arc due possibly to the high cloud obscuration.

I am 50 years old, a Vietnam Era Air Force veteran. I was a weather observer in the Air Force and have been an amateur astronomer for appoximately 15 years. I have been staring at the heavens for as long as I can remember but I have 'never' seen anything like these lights before. My girlfriend is 47 years old and has a master's degree in psychology. She also has never seen anything like this before. (I might add that she says she 'doesn't' belive in flying saucers).

I reported this event to the Pine Mountain Observatory message center outside of Bend at approximately 19:15 11/6/98. They called me back saturday, 11/7/98 and took the information. At that time there had been no other reports of the sighting in any other part of the state or area.

The local newspaper, The Bend Bulletin, also had received no calls or reports on the news wire.

Posted 1998-11-19