NUFORC Sighting 08475

Occurred: 1999-06-09 21:58 Local
Reported: 1999-07-29 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1-2 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Shape:
Characteristics: Left a trail

An intensely white-phosphorus colored streak heading down vertically from the overhead sky like a ballistic missile and disappearing in the SE direction

Incorporate by reference the Summary Description above The streak had a duration of 1-2 seconds, and occurred in the sky far distant from Redondo Beach. It was the track and intensity of the streak that gave me the impression of an incoming ballistic missile. I actually looked for a place to take cover should there be an explosion. However, to my relief, there was no follow-up sound or explosion. Shortly thereafter I arrived home to tune-in to the start of the Art Bell show. Mr Davenport was being interviewed about strange lights over Las Vegas within the "last hour" or less. I'd say that my sighting was approximately coincident with the time frame expressed by Mr. Davenport in his report. The time coincidence motivated my original e-mail report. I have checked my maps while writing this report. Las Vegas appears north east, and Phoenix slightly south of east of Redondo Beach. I am an aerospace engineer who has worked for more than 10 years on space programs, including support of space launch vehicles. I have a BSEE and 3 graduate degrees in Engineering, including an MS in Aeronautics & Astronautics.

((FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE FROM SAME WITNESS))

Message--

I looked at the picture of Dec 19. The white trailing streak rang a bell.

I filed a report of an evening event (6/9/99 21:58 from Redondo Beach Cal.) seen from Redondo Beach on my way home to listen to the Art Bell show. It so happened that you were being interviewed about the same time about strange lights over Las Vegas. I went back to again read my report on
www.ufocenter.com and it describes "An intensely white-phosporous colored streak heading down vertically from the overhead sky.." The event appeared SE from my observation point while Las Vegas is generally NE. Thus the streak did not show vertical where the reported event occurred. OK.

First, for what it is worth, that white streak trailing that white ball in subject Dec. 19 photo reminds me of what I saw and reported upon that evening. It might be that what I saw was thicker and traveling vertically. However, the white trail is of Dec. 19 is what I meant by an "intensely white-phosphorus colored streak" seen against a background of a dark.

Secondly, another point now captures my detection. I consider it of second order but worthy of consideration. In the Dec. 19 photo, the white streak and ball is approaching a "target" horizontally after a vertical decline. In other words it does not descend vertically into its apparent target-the
volcano. But this too is consistent with the observation and proximate time report out of Las Vegas. I saw the vertical streak SE from Redondo Beach while the action you were reporting upon was over Las Vegas which is NE from Redondo Beach (see my account in the report of 6/9). So to me this suggests that vertical streak sightings and somewhat distant horizontally observed arial phenomena may still be causally connected.

One other unrelated point. In the past from time to time observers in your reports on the air refer to flying objects as being "motionless". Remember now, that an earth bound observer "observes" from a rotating reference frame (the earth). So if an object is witnessed as being motionless, it is to say
that v=dR/dt = 0 relative to an observer on a rotating reference frame. It is also to say, that the object has the same motion as the earth-bound observer, which is probably not zero in an absolute sense.

((name deleted)) (Redondo Beach, CA) ((e-mail address deleted))

NUFORC Note:

Our gratitude to the witness for the excellent report, and for the useful follow-up data about this incident. PD

Posted 2002-02-22