NUFORC Sighting 133100

Occurred: 2017-03-12 20:00 Local
Reported: 2017-03-13 14:34 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 2

Location: Redlands, CA, USA

Shape: Sphere

Extremely bright LED-like light over Southern California.

It’s now mid-March 2017, and since mid-February I’ve seen an extremely bright light (reminds me of a huge LED tactical light) early every evening in the eastern ((sic. western)) sky over Southern California. It’s large enough to make a person assume that it’s close to the observer’s neighborhood, but its size and brightness make it likely to be seen by many residents living in Southern California.

The light always appears around 8 p.m., sitting low in a dark sky, without any other visible stars. The light is bright in one position for approximately 30 minutes, then the light goes out, and it pops up again nearby, again parked for another 30 minutes in a new position.

I first noticed it in February and, like my husband, instantly thought of Saturn. But the light was so “artificial” and too low that I couldn’t bring myself to believe it was Saturn. My thought was that it’s more likely a satellite or a surveillance device (drone? balloon?) possibly launched by the police, or by USGS, or by CALTRANS. I’ve found no evidence on the Internet, but if any of these surveyors want anonymity, there wouldn’t be an announcement or explanation posted to the Internet.

I believe I’ve noticed lights-out once a week (does the object need a break to re-adjust?), and then re-activated the following night for the rest of the week.

I’m not certain why the foregoing surveyors would survey at night, except to avoid small aircraft from local municipal airports that would not be flying at night in the object’s altitude thereby not interfering with the object’s mission. Large airlines flying to Ontario or to Los Angeles can be seen and are distinguishable because they move higher in the sky than does the bright light that parks low in the sky and does not move at all while lit.

Thoughts rush through my mind of foreign surveillance by China, Russia, North Korea. Could that be true? Don’t know. “It’s a puzzlement!”

Posted 2017-03-17