NUFORC Sighting 26516

Occurred: 1991-09-12 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2002-12-09 20:58 Pacific
Duration: 8 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Nice (France), , France

Shape: Other

dim moving object south to north took a left turn with no curve or change of speed) and began to move east and vanished

I was lying down in a field in the mountains outside Nice, France with a girl whom I had recently met, we were talking. The sky was pitch black and the stars were very bright. Directly over head I saw what I thought was a satellite moving slowly south to north. It was a steady dim light, like a star, but moving. I pointed it out to her and explained the difference, visually, between a satellite and an airplane. An airplane has blinking lights and a satellite looks like a slowly moving star. As I was explaining this, the object suddenly took a left turn (a right angle with no curve or change of speed) and began to move east ((Correction--west. Please see below.)) for a few degrees and faded to black. I stopped speaking and watched in disbelief as I understood enough about physics to know that what I was watching was physically impossible to take place, at least for a satellite. I quickly asked her what she had seen and she said, matter-of-factly, that "it turned left" not knowing or understanding that what we saw could not have happened in a "normal" world. I tried to explain to her what I was thinking and what I understood to be "normal", but she didn't seem concerned by the strangeness of what we had seen. By the fact that my father is a physicist, engineer and an amateur astronomer and that I grew up looking at the stars with more than a basic understanding, and that she had no science background or interest in science at all, my concerns of the abnormality of the moment were not shared. If someone would like to contact me, though I'm sure this is quite insignificant - the adjoining e-mail would be fine.

((FOLLOW-UP CORRESPONDENCE))

Dear Mr. Davenport,

Thank you for your reply.

I would like to make a correction to my text - please change "east" to "west" - since the object first was going south to north, then turned left that would have been west.

Thanks!

PS. My name is really ((deleted)) - but on your website, I would prefer to remain anonymous. Thanks.

((END))

Posted 2002-12-23