NUFORC Sighting 39421

Occurred: 2004-09-21 22:15 Local
Reported: 2004-09-22 08:52 Pacific
Duration: <1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Browns Point, WA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Bright light over South Puget Sound.

My wife and I were looking towards the Big Dipper when we noticed a very bright white light traveling through the constellation. It was headed in an easterly direction over Puget Sound, about 20 degrees above the horizon. My first thought was that it was a plane, but there were no colored or strobe lights.

I see airliners in flight patterns all the time because my house looks north towards Sea-Tac Airport, and there were a number of commercial aircraft in the air at the time. The lights flight path seemed to be crossing the flight paths of the air traffic.

My guess on the altitude was about 10,000 - 15,000 feet, and there were no clouds to interrupt our sighting. We used a pair of binoculars to try to determine what the light was, and all we could see was a very bright light traveling in front of a star filled sky. As we determined that it wasn't a plane, and way too low to be a satellite, it started pulsing then dimmed for about 3-4 seconds turning a soft redish color; and then it just vanished in the area of the constellation of Cassiopeia. I used the binoculars to try and see if it was still visible, but I couldn't see anything moving among the star filled background.

The speed seemed to be about the same as a mid-altitude airliner, and the direction was steady. We watched it for 20 or 30 seconds.

My wife is a UFO skeptic, but she was at a loss to determine what we had been watching.

NUFORC Note:

The object could not have been the International Space Station, if the time and date above are correct. PD

Posted 2004-09-29