NUFORC Sighting 54466

Occurred: 2007-01-03 20:30 Local
Reported: 2007-01-04 17:57 Pacific
Duration: at least an hour
No of observers: 3

Location: San Pedro, CA, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Unidentified Celestial Object over San Pedro, CA

I noticed an especially "twinkly" star that seemed to have a faint hint of changing colors on 1/3/07 at approximately 830pm. It was located directly below Orions belt half way to the horizon and was the brightest object in the sky. I got a pair of binoculars out (7x35) to take a closer look and became intrigued. Through the binoculars the color changes were more prominent and I was convinced it wasn't a star. We had just gotten a new telescope over Christmas (Celestron) so I called my husband up (who is a total skeptic) and showed him thru the binoculars and had him bring the telescope out on the patio and focus on the object. What we saw left us both speechless. It was a spherical shaped object with a 2 rows of spinning color lights and an open center (like a donut). There were at least 5 different colors and they were spinning very rapidly. We don't have a video recorder, but did attempt to video it on our camera. I was so excited!! I called fox 11 news, and reported it on a different ufo sighting website. I ran and got my 7 yr old daughter and let her watch thru the telescope. I also called a friend that I was hoping had a telescope - but turned out not to have one. I then called the Griffith Observatory. The man who answered listened to my description and put me on hold. When he came back, he said it was just a star (the brightest one in the sky with an orange tint - and said it was called something like Orions dog?).

I am certainly not an astronomer... but, since when do stars have holes in the middle and spinning rows of light? The object did not change its behavior other than drifting upward very gradually until I went to sleep at 930pm. It's too cloudy tonite for me to check for it again.

My husband and I are both Management level professionals in the healthcare field, and neither of us have ever seen anything looking like a UFO before.

NUFORC Note:

Sighting of the star, Sirius. PD

Posted 2007-02-01