NUFORC Sighting 36504

Occurred: 2004-04-23 21:20 Local
Reported: 2004-04-24 19:04 Pacific
Duration: under 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

A pair of orange lights rapidly crossed tha Santa Cruz sky.

While outside my home observing the positions of the planets Saturn, Mars, and Venus, I saw a pair of lights moving together across the sky in a South-to-North direction. The lights moved at a high speed, crossing from horizon to horizon in an estimated 6 seconds, straight and close to the zenith, many times faster than any aircraft or satellite that I have observed. The lights maintained their position relative to each other, but I couldn't see whether they were part of the same craft. One light was behind and to the left of the other; if one imagines a triangle moving point-first with lights on the leading point and on the leftmost point behind, with no light on the right, then one can get an idea of what I saw. The lights had an orange color similar to that of a sodium street lamp. The sky was slightly hazy, and the haze appeared to be at a very high altitude, since a commercial jet observed a moment later appeared very clearly. The lights of the unidentified object, on the other hand, looked as if they were above the haze. No sound could be heard, though I listened for a long time (since the sound of fast-moving aircraft can seem to lag behind the image). The apparent altitude and speed of the object were such that I stood agape for a few moments. This is the only time I have seen something in the sky that I could not identify.

Posted 2004-04-27