NUFORC Sighting 11460

Occurred: 1999-12-25 19:30 Local
Reported: 1999-12-25 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted other objects, Emitted beams, Aircraft nearby

orange light moving west to east, then made sharp turn to the south then broke up into 5 orange lights, faded to the south

At 19:30 hrs we observed an orange donut shaped light moving slowly west to east stopping at times at a very high altitude (higher than commercial air traffic) maybe around 50,000 ft. when the object was approx. due north of us it made a very very sharp right turn and started heading south. the object appeared to be speeding and then slowing down to almost a complete stop at times. The object was not traveling in an exact straight line because at times it seemed to be slightly moving from side to side but continued to move in a southerly direction. I had time to get my binoculars and on closer inspection of the object when it was almost directly overhead of us I could see a dark triangular body (because of the stars behind it) around the orange colored donut shaped light. I could also see a dark triangle in the center of the orange light. I estimate the object to have been maybe 1,000 ft across from tip to tip. As the object continued south the orange light became brighter and seemed to display brighter flashes now and then, almost like the afterburners on a fighter jet. After a few bright flashes another object looking very similar seemed to appear in front of the original object, and it happened very fast. You could also see a rope like outline connecting the two objects. Then a third, fourth, and fith object appeared out in front of the last in a similar fashion. At this point we had been watching the objects for about 10 minutes and they were near the southern horizon below the Orion constellation when they faded quite rapidly. Neither me nor my friend have ever seen anything like this. We live in southern california 75 miles south-east of Los Angeles, and this object when it first appeared to us it was in the north-west maybe over the L.A. basin at a very high altitude, then when it was almost directly north of us, maybe over Antelope Valley - Big Bear, it made a sharp turn to the south and came right over us and kept on a southerly course towards Mexico's airspace.

Posted 2000-01-07