2006-02-16 - Campbell, CA - Unknown

Observation of a intense orange light that rapidly decelerated, then disappeared.

I was outside having a cigarette and staring at the sky (as usual). I noticed an intense orange light low in the southern sky traveling at high speed. I had seen an object similar to this last week that did a right angle turn so I grabbed my binoculars to see if I could see it closer. Within a one-minute period, the object had traveled from above the hills in the south (15-20 degree elevation) to directly west of me (at about 45 degrees elevation), and had slowed to roughly 1/3 of its speed. I could not make out any discernable features either with or without the binoculars. As I was watching it, it disappeared. I continued watching the sky for another two minutes, and the object did not reappear. I am accustomed to aircraft in their approach patterns here, and the speed and light intensity of this object caught my attention immediately because it was not at all similar to aircraft. As a note, I saw an object similar to this last week (earlier in the evening) traveling east to west at a extremely slow speed, and when I saw it make a right angle turn, I ran for the binoculars. When I returned 30 seconds later, it was gone. In both cases, skies were clear, it was several hours after sunset (and before sunrise), and there were no objects blocking my ability to view the object in question.