NUFORC Sighting 174389

Occurred: 2023-02-08 22:08 Local
Reported: 2023-02-10 14:20 Pacific
Duration: 5 seconds

Location: Torrington, CT, USA
Location details: Looking toward the east from Torrington Ct.

Shape: Rectangle

Strange object passing across the Moon

I am an amateur astronomer, I use a Sony DSC-HX400V 35mm for Moon shots. It zooms up to 100X optically, you can increase it to 200X digital. It's a pretty good camera.

On Feb 8 I set up to take photos of the Moon. I turned it on and zoomed on the Moon until it nearly filled the camera's viewfinder, around 90X. At first I thought there was a black spot on the screen and touched it to wipe it off. Then I realized it was a black object between me and the Moon. I had the camera set on infinity, I got a very sharp image. It was cubicle, reminded me of our Moon landing vehicle back in the 60s except without legs. This object appeared to me to be in our atmosphere, probably the altitude of an airliner, and as large.

It was moving upward at about a 75 degree angle. It was moving too slow to be an airliner, (which I have seen cross the Moon several times), and too steep a climb for a helicopter. I snapped the shutter, however I have a 3 second delay to allow the camera to settle, and by the time it snapped the object had passed into the darkness at about 2 o'clock.

I am submitting a photo I took that night. I used a photo editor to insert the little black box to indicate the size of this object. It was a very brief sighting, but I got a sharp view of this object, it was not a plane or a helicopter.

Posted 2023-03-06