NUFORC Sighting 44297

Occurred: 2005-06-07 00:50 Local
Reported: 2005-06-07 01:52 Pacific
Duration: about an hour
No of observers: 1

Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Odd long-interval flashing lights surrounding bright star (Jupiter?) at very high altitude for almost an hour.

I went outside on the patio about ten minutes to one in the morning because it was hot in the house. The night was clear. I was facing almost directly west, perhaps a few degrees south also, looking at the stars. I picked out the Big Dipper, and a very bright star/planet (Jupiter?) south following the arc of the handle at about 45 degrees or a little more up in azimuth. (There is another group of stars that is like an inverted triangle at a higher azimuth, and Jupiter(?) was straight under the point star of that. I am in the city so only the brightest stars of most constellations are visible.) As I was wondering if the bright star was a planet or what star, I noticed an odd flash of a light near it. The object seemed very, very high up in altitude, higher than a plane would normally be, so at first I thought I was seeing a satellite, then two satellites. The first object I saw did seem to appear at each flash farther to the right (north) to about four fingers' width, but did not continue on beyond that and disappeared at that position. As I watched I noticed that there was another light, and then two more all surrounding Jupiter(?). Most appeared less than a finger's width from Jupiter(?), but one was out about two fingers' width. These flashes of light were distinct and quick, not twinkly like stars, and there were no visible clouds. Either the object I had first seen was moving to all sides of Jupiter(?), or there were several objects, as these flashes would appear at about 11 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 5 o'clock, and 7 o'clock positions around it with no regularity as to which light went on where. One light seemed to have an interval of about 45 seconds for a few flashes. They did not seem coordinated with each other. The lights were small and contained, not lighting up the sky, just themselves. They were white, and perhaps a little red. They flashed one at a time very quickly on and off again--if I blinked I missed it, which made it hard to pick up a pattern. They stayed off for varying periods. There was no sound, and no smoke trails. A jet in another part of the sky looked completely different and could be heard as it went on. The environment was otherwise very quiet except for an occasional car passing on the street in front and a little rustling of leaves in a light breeze. The objects stayed around Jupiter(?) for about an hour or more altogether but seemed harder to see later as Jupiter(?) sank a little to the west. I could no longer see four. I also looked at other stars in the sky but nothing similar seemed to be happening with them. I could see only the light flashes, not the actual objects making them. This is the first time I have ever seen anything I felt I should report.



Posted 2005-06-20

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