Glowing object at sunset
I left work in Brandon, Florida at about 18:00 hours on 4/3/04 to head home. The weather was cool, and the sky was blue and cloudless. As I got into my truck, I noticed the moon had just risen in the east and was just above the treeline.
I headed west on Interstate 4, then to Interstate 275 which crosses Tampa Bay on the Howard Franklin Bridge. There was an airshow at MacDill AFB that day so I kept glancing to my left (south of the bridge) to see if I could see any interesting aircraft. (To give you some background, I'm 39 years old and have grown up on or around military bases my whole life. My father and ex-husband were both in the USAF and my daughter is now in the USAF. I know many USAF planes by sight and sound.) I was disappointed to see that the only thing in the sky was what looked like a commercial jet from the Tampa Airport, along with it's contrail.
I continued west, enjoying the beautiful sunset. After the bridge, the interstate takes a southern curve so I was out of the sight of the sunset for a few minutes until I headed due west again on the 118th Avenue exit. The sun was not yet touching the horizon when I saw what I first thought was Venus, since it was in the same location that I usually see Venus around 9pm or so. However, this was NOT Venus.
It was a very pure white, oval shaped object about 1/2 the size of 1/2 of a full moon. It looked to be over the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed very high in the sky and did not move, it just glowed. At this point I pulled over on the side of the road so I could watch it uninterrupted. As the sun lowered, the object went from an oval to more of a triangle with softened corners. As the last of the sun went below the horizon, the object faded away right before my eyes. Could it be the reflection of something?
I left work in Brandon, Florida at about 18:00 hours on 4/3/04 to head home. The weather was cool, and the sky was blue and cloudless. As I got into my truck, I noticed the moon had just risen in the east and was just above the treeline.
I headed west on Interstate 4, then to Interstate 275 which crosses Tampa Bay on the Howard Franklin Bridge. There was an airshow at MacDill AFB that day so I kept glancing to my left (south of the bridge) to see if I could see any interesting aircraft. (To give you some background, I'm 39 years old and have grown up on or around military bases my whole life. My father and ex-husband were both in the USAF and my daughter is now in the USAF. I know many USAF planes by sight and sound.) I was disappointed to see that the only thing in the sky was what looked like a commercial jet from the Tampa Airport, along with it's contrail.
I continued west, enjoying the beautiful sunset. After the bridge, the interstate takes a southern curve so I was out of the sight of the sunset for a few minutes until I headed due west again on the 118th Avenue exit. The sun was not yet touching the horizon when I saw what I first thought was Venus, since it was in the same location that I usually see Venus around 9pm or so. However, this was NOT Venus.
It was a very pure white, oval shaped object about 1/2 the size of 1/2 of a full moon. It looked to be over the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed very high in the sky and did not move, it just glowed. At this point I pulled over on the side of the road so I could watch it uninterrupted. As the sun lowered, the object went from an oval to more of a triangle with softened corners. As the last of the sun went below the horizon, the object faded away right before my eyes. Could it be the reflection of something?
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Pinellas Park
USA
5 minutes
5 minutes
27.85
-82.71
changing
FL
Occurred : 4/3/2004 18:45 (Entered as : 04/03/2004 18:45) Reported: 4/8/2004 7:47:00 PM 19:47 Posted: 4/9/2004 Location: Pinellas Park, FL Shape: Changing Duration: 5 minutes
Glowing object at sunset