Crescent shaped object gliding soundlessly overhead through sunny skies
I was in the parking lot of my health club, walking from my car to the club door. I climb mountains a lot – the Cascades are only 30 minutes due east of my house. My instinctive habit is to look up to check the clouds for possible upcoming weather changes. I looked up and noted it was sunny but slightly hazy, with some high clouds to the southwest.
Almost immediately after noting the weather I saw a black object gliding from my left to right, which was southeast to northwest. It was about 2/3 of the way up from the horizon to the zenith; I had to tilt my head back to view it. It appeared black in color, but due to the background of a bright light blue sky black may have simply been the default color not the real one. The apparent size of the object was approximately 1 centimeter at my arm’s length.
It was shaped like a crescent with end points that extended slightly farther than a classic crescent, to where the points of the two ends started curving into a slight “C” shape. I was tempted to originally say batwing shaped, but it was actually more like a slightly extended crescent. It was thickest up front, then gradually tapered in thickness toward the end points of the crescent. I saw no protrusions anywhere along the object, so the outline of the object appeared as a smooth curve with pointed ends. It made no sound.
For about 3 minutes it went relatively slowly in a perfectly straight line on the original southeast-northwest course. As an idea of its speed, it was about half the apparent speed of a commercial airliner flying overhead on its way to land at SeaTac Airport, which was about 30 miles from my viewpoint. 3 commercial airliners cruised through the sky descending for landing while I watched the object. By comparison it appeared to me that the object was smaller in size and lower in altitude than the airliners. For some reason I got the impression that the object was about half the size of the airliners. However if the object was bigger than an airliner its true altitude would have been higher.
After about 3 minutes the object turned smoothly to its left. It now traveled on a nearly due west course in a straight line. Its speed did not change. The turn was not 90 degrees like a classic UFO description, nor was it a long curved turn as I would expect from a plane or a bird. It was a small, tight little curve as it turned. Maybe an 80-degree turn.
The object continued west at the same speed in a straight line for about a minute, then did another small, tight little curve to its left that put it on a nearly due south course. Again it moved in a straight line at the same speed. It continued on this southerly course until I lost it in the distance after about 2 more minutes.
During each turn I observed no apparent tilt. The object’s appearance remained exactly the same during the turns. The object's speed remained constant from the beginning to the end of the sighting.
I see military and civilian fixed wing aircraft and helicopters on a somewhat regular basis in my area. This was not one. It did not appear to be a bird either flapping its wings or gliding. I spend about 30 days a year in the wilderness and I see many hawks and other birds gliding through the air. At Lake Sammamish, a mile from my home, bald eagles nest and I see them gliding through the air fairly often as well. Their wings are always extended in a roughly straight angle as they glide. There is no crescent shape to their appearance. When a bird turns, I see the tilt in the direction of its turn and I see a relatively wide curve as it turns.
The object I saw was not in the shape of a bird or an aircraft. The turns it made showed no visible tilt, and the turns were much tighter than those of a bird or aircraft. The object’s appearance was simple enough that I drew a rough example as it appeared to me and I will mail it to the National UFO Reporting Center. I will also send a map pinpointing my location as I viewed it.
My background: I am a lawyer and a lobbyist, a father of two, an avid mountain climber, and an amateur astronomer. I am 43 years old.
I was in the parking lot of my health club, walking from my car to the club door. I climb mountains a lot – the Cascades are only 30 minutes due east of my house. My instinctive habit is to look up to check the clouds for possible upcoming weather changes. I looked up and noted it was sunny but slightly hazy, with some high clouds to the southwest.
Almost immediately after noting the weather I saw a black object gliding from my left to right, which was southeast to northwest. It was about 2/3 of the way up from the horizon to the zenith; I had to tilt my head back to view it. It appeared black in color, but due to the background of a bright light blue sky black may have simply been the default color not the real one. The apparent size of the object was approximately 1 centimeter at my arm’s length.
It was shaped like a crescent with end points that extended slightly farther than a classic crescent, to where the points of the two ends started curving into a slight “C” shape. I was tempted to originally say batwing shaped, but it was actually more like a slightly extended crescent. It was thickest up front, then gradually tapered in thickness toward the end points of the crescent. I saw no protrusions anywhere along the object, so the outline of the object appeared as a smooth curve with pointed ends. It made no sound.
For about 3 minutes it went relatively slowly in a perfectly straight line on the original southeast-northwest course. As an idea of its speed, it was about half the apparent speed of a commercial airliner flying overhead on its way to land at SeaTac Airport, which was about 30 miles from my viewpoint. 3 commercial airliners cruised through the sky descending for landing while I watched the object. By comparison it appeared to me that the object was smaller in size and lower in altitude than the airliners. For some reason I got the impression that the object was about half the size of the airliners. However if the object was bigger than an airliner its true altitude would have been higher.
After about 3 minutes the object turned smoothly to its left. It now traveled on a nearly due west course in a straight line. Its speed did not change. The turn was not 90 degrees like a classic UFO description, nor was it a long curved turn as I would expect from a plane or a bird. It was a small, tight little curve as it turned. Maybe an 80-degree turn.
The object continued west at the same speed in a straight line for about a minute, then did another small, tight little curve to its left that put it on a nearly due south course. Again it moved in a straight line at the same speed. It continued on this southerly course until I lost it in the distance after about 2 more minutes.
During each turn I observed no apparent tilt. The object’s appearance remained exactly the same during the turns. The object's speed remained constant from the beginning to the end of the sighting.
I see military and civilian fixed wing aircraft and helicopters on a somewhat regular basis in my area. This was not one. It did not appear to be a bird either flapping its wings or gliding. I spend about 30 days a year in the wilderness and I see many hawks and other birds gliding through the air. At Lake Sammamish, a mile from my home, bald eagles nest and I see them gliding through the air fairly often as well. Their wings are always extended in a roughly straight angle as they glide. There is no crescent shape to their appearance. When a bird turns, I see the tilt in the direction of its turn and I see a relatively wide curve as it turns.
The object I saw was not in the shape of a bird or an aircraft. The turns it made showed no visible tilt, and the turns were much tighter than those of a bird or aircraft. The object’s appearance was simple enough that I drew a rough example as it appeared to me and I will mail it to the National UFO Reporting Center. I will also send a map pinpointing my location as I viewed it.
My background: I am a lawyer and a lobbyist, a father of two, an avid mountain climber, and an amateur astronomer. I am 43 years old.
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Sammamish
USA
6 minutes
6 minutes
47.61
-122.04
other
WA
Occurred : 7/21/2007 14:30 (Entered as : 07/21/07 14:30) Reported: 4/16/2009 10:42:20 AM 10:42 Posted: 5/12/2009 Location: Sammamish, WA Shape: Other Duration: 6 minutes Characteristics: There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Crescent shaped object gliding soundlessly overhead through sunny skies