NUFORC Sighting 73359

Occurred: 2009-11-17 17:35 Local
Reported: 2009-11-17 20:19 Pacific
Duration: 6-9 Seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Death Valley (Stovepipe Wells), CA, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object

Rust-orange colored segmented lights in a curving oblong shape at least a half mile in length.

Wife and I were just exiting vehicle at Stovepipe Wells Village (Death Valley, Ca) at around 1735 hours on 11/17/2009. My wife said what’s that pointing to the east at an large object stationary in the sky. The object appeared to be oblong in shape and a bright rust-orange color. It looked like separate lights (you could see dark between the lights making it look like segmented lighting) lined up in a row slightly curved to the east. The object brightened in intensity then faded quickly and was not visible (this sighting lasted 7-10 seconds). We both watched the area and then the same type of object started to appear again approx. 6 miles south of where this last object had disappeared from. It was not as bright and faded quickly and was not visible (this second sighting lasted maybe 4-6 seconds).

The object was located over the Armargosa Mountain Range in Death Valley (the ridge line of the mountain was still quite visible). I did a compass bearing after the sighting which was 29 degrees (declination set to 15 east) from Stovepipe Wells Village. The line of sight runs from Stovepipe to Corkscrew Peak to Armargosa Mountain Range to North of Beatty, Nv.

We watch the International Space Station and Space Shuttle quite often from here. Neither of these were visible tonight in the Death Valley area (11/17/2009) in checking the ISS Human Space Flight Site.

The size of the object is what amazed us! The Space Station and Space Shuttle (even when docked together ) are just large moving (non-blinking) lights in the sky. And regular aircraft in the area are just small to moderate blinking lights in the sky. In comparison and distance from us, this object had to be at least a HALF MILE in length!

Posted 2009-12-12