NUFORC Sighting 42774

Occurred: 2005-02-19 02:00 Local
Reported: 2005-03-07 02:38 Pacific
Duration: 20 Minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: La Veta, CO, USA

Shape: Flash
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Unidentified Flying Object Flashing Lights above the ground.

Had just gotten off of work at or just about 2:00 a.m., it is a nightly job I work 7 night's a week so I was wide awake.

When I got onto the street I was facing to the west and saw a unknown craft approximently 10-12 miles which on a compass would be WWS to SW. It looked to be on the otherside of the mountain range which is about 9500 ft. there.

Immediatly after I saw it I killed the light's on my vehicle and drove to a parking lot up the road where I could get a better view. I watched it for about 15 minutes it would hover for a couple of minutes then move left or right a little, it had light's flashing on it that would flash in differnt repertion's of Blue, Red, Green, and White, at times all light's would stay on. During that 15 minutes I had turned my headlight's on to take off and all light's on the craft immdiatly turned off after my light's had been on for 10 seconds,

I then drove back down the street out of view then came back with my light's off and parked again. About a minute passed and the light's came on again on the craft. I decided to a county road that circles around and comes back to town, the road that I took also cut's off and goes in the mountain close to where I saw it at. As I turned off on the county the light's still flashed until a little after I topped a hill where my light's where easily seen in the sky, after that the light's never came on again on the craft.

I came home and then about 30 minutes later one fighter jet possiblly a F-18 (wingspan didn't look like a f-16 th only other jet they fly here) flew about a block or two away from my house coming from a straight from where I saw the light's.

The light's on the craft I saw that night didn't flash at the same rate it varied from somewhere of .20 - 1.0 seconds, it could of been a helicopter I couldn't see a shape because it was so far away, but there are several lavish ranches on the other side of the mountain's just about where the lights was at. The airforce does do training flights here occasionally but I've never seen just one flying that time of night, they alway's have another jet within a couple mile radius and which there was none others that I could see.

It could not have been a star or planet in the sky as what I saw was bigger and brighter than the rest of the objects in the sky.

The Lat/Long for the general area I saw it at is 37.25'N 105.12'W, it is not a tower, the closest one to that area is about 5 miles which is a repetitor tower which has no light on it. In my best opinion the craft was about 1000 ft above the ground based on visual referance with surrounding mountains, the town here is viturally asleep or no one comes out after 23:00 at night untill about about 6:00 in the morning.

NUFORC Note:

We wonder whether the witness might have been looking at the star, Sirius. It gives off vivid color, and it is very bright. Its chromatic nature would be reduced, it the observer were at a higher elevation. PD

Posted 2005-05-11