2008-01-20 - Haleyville, AL - Triangle

Triangle seen in silhoutte against lunar disk

Time of sighting: January 20, 2008
Time: 10:09 p.m. CST.
Location: 87.6 West, 34.2 North (name deleted residence on Dilashaw Road, Haleyville, AL 35565). Conditions: Moon waxing gibbous, 96% visible, time of transit 10:46 p.m., moon distance 228,156 miles.

Weather conditions: Temperature 210F, DP 70F, RH 55%, wind 3.5-7.5 SSW. Sky very clear with visibility excellent. Witnesses view of sky is unobstructed. Lunar disk very bright and crisp with barely perceptible atmospheric edge glow.

Witnesses: **names deleted** dinner guests and main witness **name deleted**. I had left his dinner party early, around 9:00 p.m. and was not a witness. All witnesses are professional, informed and responsible people between the ages of 30 - 45 with good eyesight. For example, **name deleted** is a journalist and an associate newspaper editor, **name deleted** is an attorney at law and as a hobby is a professional-level portrait artist. He has a very acute eye for detail.

Just after 10: p.m., as his guests were leaving, **name deleted** noticed that a small section in the lower right quadrant (between the 4 to 5 o'clock position) of the lunar disk was "missing" and called it to the attention of the others. Someone asked if there was an eclipse expected. Sam answered "no" but called me at home at 10:13 p.m. to confirm that there was no eclipse (I dabble in astronomy and the next eclipse visible here is a total, February 20, 2008), and asked me to take a look at the moon. My wife and I immediately went outside and checked the moon unaided and with 10 x 50 binoculars. Nothing abnormal was visible on the lunar disk from our location approximately 2.75 miles south of the **name deleted** residence.

Upon closer observation **name deleted** determined the black area's shape was actually triangular with a slightly rounded apex rather than the eclipse-disk-shape they originally assumed. It was oriented with the apex pointed toward and slightly below center of the lunar disk. He noticed that the object was very slowly withdrawing from the lunar disk. By the time he retrieved his camera, a smaller portion was visible due to the withdrawal motion, and this combined with the brilliance of the moon, completely washed out the object when he attempted to photograph it approximately 4 to 5 minutes later with an automatic Sony 6 megapixel camera.

He also noticed, when he changed his position 30-40 feet, the object's position seemed to change slightly in relation to the lunar background. This slight but detectable parallax would indicate that they were viewing a very large, nearly stationary object closer to earth than the moon, in silhouette, between his position and the lunar disk. There was no penumbral shadowing noted as would be evident in a shadow cast by a large object between the sun and moon.

He estimated the sighting lasted about 8-10 minutes. During the time of observation the object completely withdrew from the lunar disk. As it withdrew, nothing of the object could be seen outside the lunar disk which seems to indicate a very dark, non reflecting, large object at a considerable distance. By approximately 10:19 p.m. the object was no longer visible.

Size / Distance Estimates

Lunar disc circumference = 6790 miles -:- 360 degrees = 18.86 miles per degree at periphery of lunar disk. Witnesses agree that the illustration accurately represents what they saw. Measuring the illustration, the widest point of the object subtends an angle of about 18 degrees of the lunar disk, which equals 339.48 miles. (180 X 18.86) For calculation purposes object width is rounded to 340 miles and the sighting-date moon distance of 228,156 miles is rounded 228,000 miles..

The easiest way to get some feel for the size/distance question was to set the distance and size figures as two legs of a right triangle. Using a right triangle with leg A of 228,000 miles and leg B of 340 miles, chart below was created by halving A and B dimensions then halving the results repeatedly. At minimum, I feel that the distance/object size ratio data after the seventh iteration (inside the box - below 1781 X 2.6 miles ), could not produce the observed phenomena. Witnesses feel that a small object of 100 - 200 feet and close enough to produce observed effect would have been detected by them due to the brightness of the moonlight.

Distance Object Size (Miles) (Feet) (Miles) Feet) 228,000 340 114,000 170 57,000 85 28,500 42.5 14,250 21.2 7,125 10.6 3,562 5.3 1,781 2.6 890 1.3 445 .65 3,432 222 990 111 495 55 248 28 148,000 124 14 74,000 62 7 37,000 31 3.5 18,500 15 If object was a triangle there is no way to know if its silhouette was seen in its entirety or if only a portion of it —or which apex it might have been. It could also have been a square or rectangular configuration with only a corner of the object occulting the disk. Obviously the exercise above cannot give any accurate clues as to the actual shape, size, or orientation of the object in relation to the observers, other than it was probably very large and quite distant. The viewing opportunity-window probably was limited to a small area around the viewing position.

Illustration Caption View looking south. Motion of moon is to the right. Object slowly withdrew from the lunar disk as indicated by the arrow. The object's withdrawal motion could be caused by the movement of the object descending, reversing or changing its orientation relative to the observer.

Also possible considering the estimated 8 to10 minutes of time elapsed, the apparent withdrawal motion of the object, if stationary, could have been due to the moon's normal track toward the SSW. although the observer did not notice any radial movement along the disk that would have been evident.