NUFORC Sighting 176782

Occurred: 2023-07-13 23:40 Local
Reported: 2023-07-15 12:14 Pacific
Duration: 20-25 min
No of observers: 2

Location: Portland, OR, USA
Location details: Seen from home on NW Portland hill, elevation ~380ft

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Sighted a series of bright lights of varying colors. Appeared to be over NE Portland, descending and moving from south to north

Observer descriptions
1) 71-year-old male, retired physician, education includes bachelors degree, MD, Masters of Public Health. Observer 1 is author of this report.
2) 76 -year-old female, retired visual artist, formal education in the arts with a bachelor’s degree, keen observer of plants, animals and natural phenomena

At 11:40 PM I was getting into bed, preparing to go to sleep. Observer 2 was already in bed, falling asleep. I was sitting up in bed, checking my smart phone before going to sleep. I was facing east, with a clear view out of our bedroom’s 4’ X 6’ east-facing picture window. The window looks out over the NE Portland skyline, but the view is somewhat broken up by a large pine tree near our house.

As I glanced up looking through the window, I noticed unusually bright lights to the east. At first I thought they were aircraft heading to PDX airport, but they were unusual in the following ways: a) the lights were were much brighter than usual aircraft lights, b) they were multi-colored - orange on some of the objects in addition to typical red and white, c) the lights were distributed more broadly than on a typical aircraft, resulting in a larger pattern/apparent size of each object, d) the objects clustered together in groups of 2 or 3 as they traveled from south to north. We have lived in this house for 20 years, and have never seen a comparable pattern of lights. We regularly see aircraft through the bedroom’s north facing window - these form the basis of the comparisons I just cited.

I observed the objects from bed for about 5 minutes, then got a pair of binoculars from a bedside table. I went out onto the second floor deck located just east of the east-facing window. Viewing with binoculars revealed multiple lights on each object more clearly, but I could not discern a shape of the objects themselves nor any other details.

At this point - about 5-10 minutes since I first noticed the lights - I awakened observer 2 who joined me in viewing the objects with both naked eyes and through binoculars. She concurred with my description, and agreed that the appearance was highly unusual and different from our usual experiences looking at that section of sky. We are very familiar with that part of the urban skyline from regular watching of the moon rise.

The pattern of lights appearing, traveling to the north, descending, then disappearing continued for about 20-25 minutes, ending about midnight. I estimate there were roughly 10 objects, but did not make an effort to count them or capture images.

About 20 minutes into the occurrence I called the Portland Police non-emergency phone number and was referred to the NUFORC and made my call a few minutes later.

Posted 2023-07-29