NUFORC Sighting 36060

Occurred: 2004-04-03 18:45 Local
Reported: 2004-04-08 19:47 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Pinellas Park, FL, USA

Shape: Changing

Glowing object at sunset

I left work in Brandon, Florida at about 18:00 hours on 4/3/04 to head home. The weather was cool, and the sky was blue and cloudless. As I got into my truck, I noticed the moon had just risen in the east and was just above the treeline.

I headed west on Interstate 4, then to Interstate 275 which crosses Tampa Bay on the Howard Franklin Bridge. There was an airshow at MacDill AFB that day so I kept glancing to my left (south of the bridge) to see if I could see any interesting aircraft. (To give you some background, I'm 39 years old and have grown up on or around military bases my whole life. My father and ex-husband were both in the USAF and my daughter is now in the USAF. I know many USAF planes by sight and sound.) I was disappointed to see that the only thing in the sky was what looked like a commercial jet from the Tampa Airport, along with it's contrail.

I continued west, enjoying the beautiful sunset. After the bridge, the interstate takes a southern curve so I was out of the sight of the sunset for a few minutes until I headed due west again on the 118th Avenue exit. The sun was not yet touching the horizon when I saw what I first thought was Venus, since it was in the same location that I usually see Venus around 9pm or so. However, this was NOT Venus.

It was a very pure white, oval shaped object about 1/2 the size of 1/2 of a full moon. It looked to be over the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed very high in the sky and did not move, it just glowed. At this point I pulled over on the side of the road so I could watch it uninterrupted. As the sun lowered, the object went from an oval to more of a triangle with softened corners. As the last of the sun went below the horizon, the object faded away right before my eyes. Could it be the reflection of something?

Posted 2004-04-09