NUFORC Sighting 132255

Occurred: 2017-01-21 05:00 Local
Reported: 2017-01-21 04:49 Pacific
Duration: 1.5 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Tulsa, OK, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Large almost stationary distant object with white and blinking red lights

Noticed an extraordinarily bright star NE of my location; after several seconds of watching it, the star appeared to be blinking. Figured it was a distant airplane.

Some minutes later, I looked again, the object appeared stationary. After several more minutes, same thing. The blinking was intriguing, so I grabbed my binoculars.

I braced the binoculars against a door to get a steady focus. The object appeared to be a string of horizontal lights, with red lights blinking somewhere along the middle and another on the left end. Figured it was a very distant jet, and the sighting was occluded by atmospheric conditions.

Over the space of about 45 minutes, the apparent direction of travel was to the east and it may have been moving with the earth's rotation. Thinking it was a planet (unlikely, as it was well to the north), I double checked with "in-the-sky.org." All of the planets were eliminated as an explanation.

After a total of about 90 minutes, I went back to look again and the object had moved well north and slightly west of its previous position. Another look through the binoculars provided pretty much the same description, with the possible exception of a gap in the lights.

As I type this, it is moving below the tree line out sight in the general direction of Wichita, Kansas.

Posted 2017-01-26