NUFORC Sighting 25650

Occurred: 2002-10-16 20:45 Local
Reported: 2002-10-16 20:58 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Waco, TX, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Dim light at high altitude moving quite fast seen to reverse course.

Dim light at high altitude traveling in a north weasterly direction at high speed. I thought it was a satilight at first because of it apparent high altitude and it straight track. As We lost the light in the haze about ten degrees above the horizon, it suddenly reversed its direction and traveled back to the portion of the sky where it was first observed. It them became stationary for abut three minutes and then would make short jumps at high speed in what apeared to be random directions. These jumps were aprox. three time the width of my thumb held at arms length. There was some variation this continued intill we lost sight of the object due to haze or high clouds moving in about fifteen minutes after first seeing the object. There was also commercial jet activity at altitude as well as one brief meteor burn. All were clearly different from what we observed.

NUFORC Note:

If the estimate of direction of travel is correct, the object could not have been a satellite. Orbiting satellites almost never have a westerly component to their direction of travel. Please see similar report from Portland, Oregon, for the same date. PD

Posted 2002-10-28