NUFORC UFO Sighting 193728
Occurred: 2025-11-01 06:01 LocalReported: 2025-11-01 12:05 Pacific
Duration: ~6 minutes
No of observers: 1
Location: Yucca Valley, CA, USA
Location details: on a south-facing hillside, between populated valley (S) and dark mesa (N), looking north then east
Shape: Light
Color: White light
Estimated Size: Between military helicopter and commercial jet?
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: North-Northeast
Angle of Elevation: 45
Heading: South, then East-Southeast
Closest Distance: Similar to circling hawk/ small private aircraft?
Estimated Speed: Slower than an a small plane (Cesna, etc.)
Characteristics: Lights on object
Southbound silent white light from north switched directions to east before disappearing
At approximately 5:59, I stepped into my backyard to let my dog outside and looked up to admire the dark autumn sky. I looked straight up and spotted Orion slightly to the south and west of my position. Then as I directed my view more eastward to look for the Pleiades, I noticed what I assumed was a small eastbound satellite moving quickly in a straight line, just a satellites do. Subsequently, I looked north towards the dark skies above Landers and the eastern areas of the Twentynine Palms Marine Air Combat Center to look for other interesting objects.
I scanned the northern horizon, which is about 25 degrees higher than my backyard, due to our hillside location, and spotted the usual neighbors' porch lights, as well as another bright star I frequently see, but don't know the name of. Up and slightly east from there was Polaris steadfast above our salt cedars (maybe 45 degrees up from my position?). I scanned down and slightly eastward near the horizon at about 35 degrees and noticed a bright white light appearing to move slowly towards me in a southbound direction.
I took a moment to look for flashing red or green lights and compared it to the other airplanes in our nearby flight paths, but it was brighter, slower, solid, silent and appeared to be moving a lower altitude than the commercial jets. I also paid close attention to its path to try and figure out if the proximity was an illusion from the pending dawn, thinking perhaps it really was just another satellite.
Once it appeared about 45 degrees above me to the northeast (still moving southbound), it appeared to slowly divert east-southeast towards the sunrise. I moved to a higher spot in my backyard, approximately 4 feet higher and 30 feet north, with fewer trees obstructing my view to watch its progress. It faded and brightened a couple times as it continued slowly, but did not appear to get much smaller as it traveled away. When it was about 30 degrees higher than me, east-southeast of me, it faded and disappeared.
I looked around the sky once more, to see if anything else has appeared or that might provide more context to what I'd just seen, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Only the usual stars, planets, commercial planes and town lights remained, along with the earliest faint glow of dawn at the horizon. My kitchen clock read 6:08 AM a couple minutes later when I brought my dog in and went back to bed.
Posted 2025-11-02