A bright white stationary light resembling a star overhead slowly faded to a pinpoint and then moved slowly south out of sight.
A friend and I were sitting on my deck tonight enjoying an incredibly clear star-studded sky. My friend remarked how clear the Big Dipper was. A few minutes later a bright white light almost directly overhead caught my eye. It may have flashed just as it grabbed my attention. Initially it resembled a star or bright planet. It was stationary at first and faded to a pinpoint of light, after which it began to move south at about the speed of a commercial airliner. I watched it until my house blocked the view.
We are in the Shenandoah Valley which is the path of flights out of Dulles and National Airport in Washington DC. Every evening there are dozens of commercial aircraft that fly over my house. I can hear a jet right now.
The light that I saw did not come from the eastern sky over the mountains. It just appeared, faded and flew south.
I would say that the initial light was similar to that of a helicopter spotlight. This light appeared to be at least 30,000 feet in the sky, not low like a helicopter. There was no sound except the sound of the commercial airliners coming across the mountains.
The light did not resemble a meteor at all. The meteors we see cross the sky from east to west generally and are a split second flash. This light had no characteristics of a meteor other than being a white light. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw tonight in all my 60 years.
((NUFORC Note: We observe that the report is not inconsistent with a sighting of the "flare" of an Iridium satellite. Two such flares were visible from this area on the date indicated. Please see below:
Date Local
Time Intensity
( Mag) Alt. Azimuth Distance to
flare centre Intensity at
flare centre
(Mag.) Satellite
08 May 22:47:00 -6 20° 56° (ENE) 16.0 km (W) -7 Iridium 58
09 May 21:15:31 -3 55° 86° (E ) 19.5 km (E) -8 Iridium 23
09 May 22:41:00 -1 21° 58° (ENE) 58.5 km (E) -7 Iridium 55
10 May 22:44:23 -1 25° 60° (ENE) 58.0 km (W) -7 Iridium 30
PD))
A friend and I were sitting on my deck tonight enjoying an incredibly clear star-studded sky. My friend remarked how clear the Big Dipper was. A few minutes later a bright white light almost directly overhead caught my eye. It may have flashed just as it grabbed my attention. Initially it resembled a star or bright planet. It was stationary at first and faded to a pinpoint of light, after which it began to move south at about the speed of a commercial airliner. I watched it until my house blocked the view.
We are in the Shenandoah Valley which is the path of flights out of Dulles and National Airport in Washington DC. Every evening there are dozens of commercial aircraft that fly over my house. I can hear a jet right now.
The light that I saw did not come from the eastern sky over the mountains. It just appeared, faded and flew south.
I would say that the initial light was similar to that of a helicopter spotlight. This light appeared to be at least 30,000 feet in the sky, not low like a helicopter. There was no sound except the sound of the commercial airliners coming across the mountains.
The light did not resemble a meteor at all. The meteors we see cross the sky from east to west generally and are a split second flash. This light had no characteristics of a meteor other than being a white light. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw tonight in all my 60 years.
((NUFORC Note: We observe that the report is not inconsistent with a sighting of the "flare" of an Iridium satellite. Two such flares were visible from this area on the date indicated. Please see below:
Date Local
Time Intensity
( Mag) Alt. Azimuth Distance to
flare centre Intensity at
flare centre
(Mag.) Satellite
08 May 22:47:00 -6 20° 56° (ENE) 16.0 km (W) -7 Iridium 58
09 May 21:15:31 -3 55° 86° (E ) 19.5 km (E) -8 Iridium 23
09 May 22:41:00 -1 21° 58° (ENE) 58.5 km (E) -7 Iridium 55
10 May 22:44:23 -1 25° 60° (ENE) 58.0 km (W) -7 Iridium 30
PD))
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Woodstock
USA
15 seconds
15 seconds
38.88
-78.52
light
VA
Occurred : 5/9/2007 21:30 (Entered as : 05/09/07 21:30) Reported: 5/9/2007 8:34:36 PM 20:34 Posted: 6/12/2007 Location: Woodstock, VA Shape: Light Duration: 15 seconds Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Bright white stationary light resembling a star overhead slowly faded to a pinpoint. ((NUFORC Note: Iridium satellite? PD))