2001-02-12 - Olympia, WA - Light

((NUFORC Note: We believe the witnesses were observing Venus in the western sky. PD))

Light hovers over western Olympia, WA for over 10 minutes.

It was close to 9pm and I was listening to the local community radio station, KAOS, out of the Evergreen State College. A woman who sounded like she was in her late 30's-early 40's called in to ask if anyone else had reported an unusual light in the west. The station's talk show host disregarded the caller, but I ran outside and looked to the west. It was a very clear night sky. Low on the western horizon was a very bright light that was magnitude 1 in brightness compared to the rest of the night sky. It was very slowly drifting to the north-northwest. After getting a winter jacket, I ran from my backyard to a better vantage point. I positioned myself on the Capital Blvd. bridge over I-5 and sighted the object in the west. It was just sitting low on the horizon and after a few minutes, it would drift north and then stop again. The bright light was white in nature with an impression of red, but at my distance it was difficult to tell. I am familiar with the flight patterns of aircraft taking off from the Olympia airport to the south and I noticed that several planes had taken off, but changed their flight patterns from the normal pattern that would have taken them within close proximity of the object in the west. The planes were all banking sharply to the northeast. After about 10 minutes, the object had drifted behind some evergreens in the foreground. I decided to run back home for a pair of binoculars. Upon reaturning the object was no longer in view from the bridge. I changed position but still didn't see the object again. I did notice that several more aircraft had taken off and still they veered to the east. I thinking that since I heard of this object on the radio I'm not the only person who witnessed this light. I know that there was at least one other person; the woman who tipped off the radio listeners that Monday night.