NUFORC Sighting 72150

Occurred: 2009-09-03 22:30 Local
Reported: 2009-09-08 17:44 Pacific
Duration: 1+ hours
No of observers: 4

Location: Healy, AK, USA

Shape: Light

Objects in night sky over Healy, AK, moving at high speeds and changing directions instantaneously.

After finishing hunting for the day we had returned to camp and were starting dinner just after dark, around 10pm or so. One of the persons in the party asked me if a light in the sky was a meteor; I looked up and saw a bright light and said no, because a meteor would have been streaking across the sky and this was stationary. I then went back to digging out my MRE.

A few minutes later someone else in the part said it might be a satellite because it was moving. I looked again and verified that it was moving and likely was a satellite.

About 5 minutes later the second person pointed out the same light again at which point I looked up and it was still in the same area of the sky but was no longer moving, and could not be a satellite as far as I could tell. I then began watching the light, which remained stationary for several seconds and then started moving in a corkscrew fashion. To be sure that I wasn't seeing things, I asked the rest of the party to look at it at which point the person who originally observed the light said it has been moving on and off since he asked about it the first time and validated that it was currently moving in the corkscrew fashion that I was observing.

At this point we all laid down on the hillside and watched the light, which was moving in alternate corkscrew and fishook patterns, and also randomly moved quickly across the sky in straight lines, while making 90-degree direction changes as well as reversing instantly. All four of us observed identical behavior, and we soon found a second light to the west performing similar behavior. As it was still just past dusk and there was a full moon, the only other objects visible in the sky were the moon and Jupiter(?).

We continued to watch these lights as other stars appeared in the sky for the next hour or so, and validated that they were moving in relation to each other and the stars. Given that we could not determine how high or how big these objects were, it was not possible to tell how fast they were moving, but the instantaneous changes in direction were strong indicators that they were not satellites or the ISS. To the naked eye they appeared to move at about the same speed as a satellite for 3-5 seconds before changing direction. Both objects never left the general areas of the sky (almost straight above us and East of us towards the rising moon respectively) and eventually we got cold and hungry and went on about getting dinner and going to sleep.

On Sept. 6th from my home in Wasilla I again looked the general area of the sky at around 10:00pm just after dusk and did not see either object present, nor any other objects moving around in odd patterns although I did see several meteors and satellites over the next hour, again confirming what we saw did not resemble either in the least.

Posted 2009-12-12