NUFORC Sighting 38699

Occurred: 2004-08-12 02:00 Local
Reported: 2004-08-16 16:13 Pacific
Duration: 2 Hours
No of observers: 4

Location: Barnegat Light, NJ, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Changed Colo

Stationary Bright Pulsating Light Over Long Beach Isalnd NJ

While on vacation on Long Beach Island, Myself and three of my friends saw an unexplained light in the eastern night sky. I first noticed a bright white object out over the ocean while I was outside at approx 230 am. It was a very bright light, with a huge ora around it and looked out of place compared to the other stars out. So I watched it for a while and all of a sudden it dimmed out into nothing, then it slowly got brighter and brighter, all while not moving in the sky. I ran inside to get my friends because by this time I didnt know what it was. So they came out and watched it with me for 2 hours. In this time the object pulsated out over the ocean. But it didnt just go back and forth from light to dark, it was irratic because it would dim, then come back half way, then go out for a minute, and then go back to bright. A few times, it changed to a redish color. Distance wise, it was clearly out over the ocean, maybe 2 miles or more. After watching for a while, I remembered my father had his video camera inside. So I got it and brought it out. When I zoomed in on the object, I first thought it was the moon, because it was a sphere and had dark areas all over it. Unfortunatly the battery died after a few seconds, but I did get a small amount of footage. After watching for abount 2 hours, the object dimmed out and vanished. We stayed for another half hour to see if it reappeared, but it did not. I don't know what we saw, but it was not a star, a plane, flare, or light house. Anybody else who say this please file reports to varify its authenticity.

NUFORC Note:

We suspect the witnesses may have been looking at the star, "Sirius," in the northeast sky. PD

Posted 2004-08-24