NUFORC Sighting 38432

Occurred: 2004-08-01 06:05 Local
Reported: 2004-08-01 03:51 Pacific
Duration: 10-25 sec
No of observers: 1

Location: Marietta, GA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Slow moving bright light that faded out seen before dawn.

It was still before dawn and there was a full moon when this sighting occurred. I had gone out on my deck and was enjoying my spa when I notice a light coming from the west going to the east over the tall trees in my back yard. I didn't actually see this object until it was pretty high in the sky due to the trees. It was going slow, like the speed of a single engine prop plane, and was bright like a planet such as Venus. The jets were going in my spa so I don't know if it was making a sound or not. What is strange is that it didn't have any flashing lights like a plane. There is airplane traffic that does come from this direction at about this speed, but as they get closer you can see the nav lights. It looks like it is pretty high up and I am thinking that since it is high up, has no nav lights, and is pretty bright then maybe its a satellite and its being illuminated as it heads toward the sun that is still below the horizon (sunrise is at 6:50). Then it slowly fades at a steady rate until I can no longer see it. It never changed speed or course, was going much too slow to be a meteor, but just dimmed out just before it go directly overhead. There were some high, wispy clouds in the sky, but not enough to obscure this bright of an object and I can see other dim stars in the same area. I looked farther east, over my house, waited for it to reappear in a totally clear area and it never did.

Posted 2004-08-11