NUFORC Sighting 11230

Occurred: 1980-06-01 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1999-12-02 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 3

Location: Marlow Heights, MD, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Emitted other objects, Aircraft nearby

Appeared to be a star moving at great speed, breaking up, disappearing then reappearing in another location. Very erratic behavior.

While parked at a dead end street with a couple of friends I observed what appeared to be a star moving slowly accross the west northwestern night sky. I thought it to be only an airplane and didn't think anything else about it. The following is my recollection of the objects relative position, distance, movement, speed, shape and size elevation: 45 degrees distance: unknown movement: approximately 45 degrees left and right of center. shape: round light size: alternated from a pinhead to a dime at arms length. As mentioned above I really thought this was only an aircraft as we have heavy air traffic in the Wash. D.C. area. This point of light however would move from it's central position approximately 20 degrees north or south then return to the exact same spot. I watched this and said nothing to my friends as I still thought this was an aircraft of some sort. Suddenly this point of light moved at incredible speed and stopped instantly in a new position and just as quickly returned to it's exact original location. I grew up the son of an Air Force pilot and have a very good grasp of what various aircraft can and cannot do. (I since have become a private pilot) This thing is moving like nothing I have ever seen. I finally ask my friends if they see this funny light. They both responded yes and that they too have been watching it. So now there are three people seeing it do the same thing at the same time. We got out of the car to get a clearer view and for the next forty five minutes watced in amazement at what happened next. This "star" would shoot accross he sky in all directions and return to the same point as stated earlier however now it would take up a new position and begin to pulsate and grow/shrink in size. Then, in one of it's hyper speed moves it seemed to blow apart and leave glowing fragments in it's wake. These fragments would then move in various directions then rejoin the main "star" Then it would completely disappear. After about five seconds it reappeared in yes, exactly the same begining position! It did this several times in all directions and as always, would reappear in it's starting position. At one point it remained motionless while it pulsated and began to grow in size. Within ten seconds it exploded with fragments going in all directions. This time it and the fragments disappeared right after this explosion only to reappear in another part of the sky. This behavior went on for approximately forty five minutes before the "star" began to move off and finally could no longer be seen. To better envision what we saw and it's relation to the sky, try this, take a piece of letter size paper. This represents that portion of the sky the object moved in. Now draw a dot about the size of a pinhead in the center of the paper. This represents the object. If you place your pencil on the dot and draw a straight line about four or five inches in any direction as fast as you can you can get an idea of it's relative speed. Even though many years have passed since this incident, it remains clear in my mind. I believe this is due to the spectacular way in which this object moved and the fact that two other people saw it perform the same maneuvers, at the same time, as myself. I know this information may be dated. The only reason I am reporting this is because of an episode of Sightings I watched this week in which they reported on what they referred to as "Cluster UFO's" and how rare they are supposed to be. If I can be of any assistance feel free to contact me. Thanks, ((name deleted))

Posted 1999-12-16

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