1981-07-10 - Connorsville, WI - Light

Object or light makes 90 degree turns in night sky

I was about 13 at the time my sister the boy next door and I where in the yard on the grass looking up and the sky chatting and looking for shapes in the stars. At that time was aware of shooting stars, meteors and commets. I was also aware that satilites and planes cross the sky at night. Being a farm boy I was also a good observer. Also I grew up coon hunting at night so I am very comfortable at night and not spooked by things that go bump in the night. While on the grass looking up the boy next door noticed what at first seemed like a slow shooting star but it was much to slow. I determined that it was probably a satilite. The object was no larger or brighter than any of the background stars. That was all that was normal about this object or light in the sky. The object was traveling in a east north east direction it was directly overhead. Our location was almost exactly 45 degrees north. The object or light moved in a steady striaght track and suddenly took a sharp 90 degree turn (angular not a curve) to the north. If you held you arm out in front of you and stuck your thumb out the object traveled about the length of your thumb. Then it took another sharp 90 degree turn to the west and again to the north. This went on over and over and over until it left our view in the sky.