NUFORC Sighting 149674

Occurred: 2019-10-09 06:45 Local
Reported: 2019-10-09 09:58 Pacific
Duration: Seconds
No of observers: 0

Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

I saw a very, very bright light in the eastern sky above/behind mountain range. It lasted only seconds-it appeared then disappeared.

October 9, 2019 This morning I was driving to an appointment I had at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque, NM. My wife and I moved to Albuquerque late last year. I saw a stationary, very, very bright white light above the Sandia Mountain range at approximately 6:45AM. It was difficult to look directly at the light. When I saw the light I was traveling east on the Paseo del Norte (an east west four lane highway). The light lasted just a few seconds before it "winked" out. I didn't see a tail that one would see if it were a meteor. I can't say if the light was above the mountain range or east of the range. At whatever distance it was at it appeared to be the size of a pin head. I don't know if it was a UFO.

Currently, Albuquerque is celebrating the annual Balloon Fiesta. The fiesta started last weekend and ends this weekend. There were balloons in the sky but they were all above the Balloon Park or spread out to the north. It was no more than 5-15 minutes after the light went out that I saw a helicopter flying south towards the general location of the light. The helicopter may have turned east, but the distance was too far for me to be sure if it went east or turned west. By then I was merging onto Interstate 25 going south to the VA hospital. One thought that occurred to me at the time was that the light I observed was a star becoming a super nova. A second thought was that it may have been an airplane coming in to land at the Albuquerque airport. I scratched that idea by the way the light disappeared and its high intensity. By the way, there were no stars to be seen in this part of the sky as the sun was up on the other side of the mountain range. I'm sure other people driving east would have seen the same light. There were hundreds of cars on the road heading to work or the balloon park.

Posted 2019-12-01