NUFORC Sighting 10403

Occurred: 1999-11-01 17:50 Local
Reported: 1999-11-01 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: San Diego, CA, USA

Shape: Egg
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Noticed illuminated egg-shaped object with strobe lights travel from N to S/SW. No engine noise and travelled slowly. Object emitted pale-white light.

I am a biomedical scientist and my wife is a business owner. I noticed an egg-shaped object travelling slowly towards Southwest from Carmel Valley. The object was visible from 17:50 to about 17:59 PST (complete darkness) and had an approximate altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 ft above ground and 2 to 3 miles out. The object had two or three strobe-lights. Their apparent location was on top of the object and on the bottom of the object, and one at or near the tail region. The strobes flashed top-bottom--top-bottom--pause-tail-top-bottom ... the tail strob could have come from an object following the first at close distance. The object emitted a pale, white light and appeared to have dark, window-like areas. I was unable to hear any engine sound, which at that distance should rule out any conventional helicopter. It could have been a blimp, but the egg-shape and light emitted from the object would rule that out. I managed to alert my wife who can corroborate my observation and take several digital pictures of the object.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr. Davenport,

thank you for your interest. Here are more details:

1. Other witnesses: the ones I know are my wife and our 5 year old daughter.
I noticed it when turning into our street while driving home. Given its size
and the illumination, it should have been noticed by anybody in Carmel
Valley at that time. My first thought was, why is a coast-guard helicopter
hovering over our area, but after a closer look I noticed that the shape was
too round to be such a helicopter, plus the object was illuminated, which
would not be the case for helicopters, and also there was no red painting on
the object. The object seemed to radiate a dim light all over the surface,
ruling out a search light. My second thought was that it was a blimp, but
the shape was more egg shaped than cylindrical, and again the illumination
radiating from the object would make it unlikely. In addition, it did not
appear to have any carriage attached underneath, and window like structures
were on the body, which would not be the case for a blimp. Given the
proximity to Miramar, it could have been some experimental aircraft (I did
not see any wings attached). Also, sunset was much earlier, so I do not
think I saw a reflection of the setting sun at a higher altitude in the
object.

2. When I first saw the object, it appeared to be stationary, but after
getting my camera and following it carefully, it seemed to move towards
South/Southwest about 1 mm/ min at a meter's length from my eye. It moved in
a straight line and appeared to head towards Miramar. It did not make any
engine noise, which I should have definitely heard if it was a helicopter
from the distance I was at.

3. I was facing SE and the object moved from left to right away from me. I
will confirm this with a map and send it to you, since I never paid much
attention to the direction our house is facing.

4. The apparent size when I first saw it compares to the moon in length and
3/4 of the moon in height. When I took the pictures, it was about 1/3 of the
moon in size and when it disappeared behind a hill it was about 1/4 of the
moon. It was much bigger than any star or planet.

5. The pictures were taken by hand - exposure was automatic (probably in
the range of 2 seconds) the light appeared whitish-gray by eye, but looks
more yellow on the picture. You should have received one set of 8 images
(DSCN0080 through 0087), they look pretty bad and you will have to correct
for my movements because I did not have a stand to put the camera on. I did
not have binoculars handy unfortunately.

Let me know if you need exposure times for the images.

Sincerely,

NUFORC Note:

Witness forwarded eight digital photos of object. They are interesting in appearance, but unambiguous identification of the object is not possible from the photos. Text of follow-up report included below.

Posted 1999-11-02