NUFORC Sighting 176703

Occurred: 2023-07-10 23:00 Local
Reported: 2023-07-11 14:13 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Hutto, AZ, USA
Location details: Object seen flying from the southwest to the northeast

Shape: Light

Very bright orange ball of light passing from the southwest to the northeast over Hutto, Texas

I walked out onto my east-facing, third-floor balcony at approximately 11:00 PM. I then saw coming from the southwest a very bright orange ball of light.

The object was traveling at a steady pace in a straight line toward the northeast, passing right in front of me, and my brother who walked out onto the balcony behind me. It was about 70 degrees up, and looked like it was at about the altitude of a small aircraft such as a Cessna.

There were no blinking lights, and no sound. There was no change in the intensity or size of the light (as big and bright as an airliner's front landing lights) until it had traveled far off to the northeast, at which point it became small and faded out of sight.

My brother said he thought it was a satellite. The object was traveling at about satellite speed, so he may have been right, but I have never seen one so big and bright, nor one that gave the impression of not being in orbit, but rather so low and close in the sky.

I checked the trajectory of the International Space Station for the time of the sighting, and it did pass over the Austin, Texas area at about the same time (11:06 PM). However, it was reported to fly over at only 18 degrees above the horizon, appearing from the west and traveling north, so I don't think that was it.

Posted 2023-07-29