A white light appeared and then disappeared after fading to the left, 5 seconds, no navigation lights, 45 degrees above the horizon.
Not too spectacular of a sighting, but strange to me none-the-less...
I was looking west from just south of Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California. It was just after 7:30pm. The weather was crystal clear. It was so clear tonight that I could see more stars than I’m normally able to. There was a lot of air traffic tonight as well, but something else caught my eye.
About 45 degrees above the horizon, a dim white light appeared. It was only as bright as a star, but it wasn’t there before. It seemed to be as bright as the brightest star in the sky. It seemed to turn left. The light dimmed as it appeared to turn and simply vanished. There was no flashing light. There were no red and green navigation lights.
I moved quickly to a darker spot, away from parking lot lights, and kept my eye on the same spot in the sky, looking over in the direction it seemed to be going, and there was nothing there. I stood and waited for a while, looking for any flashing light, no matter how dim. I have good night vision, had been outside for a while, and 20/20 vision to boot. Nothing appeared. I could see other planes in the sky. Even planes further away could clearly be seen with much brighter lights and the tell-tale flashing navigation lights I’m used to seeing working by an airport all the time. This light was not over or near the airport, however. I believe it was very high up in the atmosphere and possibly off the coast.
In fact, I believe what I observed was a “Iridium satellite flare.” It would be my first time seeing one, if that’s what it was. I thought there would be more of a flash… This simply appeared and faded out after a few seconds. It was subtle, but it caught my eye.
Not too spectacular of a sighting, but strange to me none-the-less...
I was looking west from just south of Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California. It was just after 7:30pm. The weather was crystal clear. It was so clear tonight that I could see more stars than I’m normally able to. There was a lot of air traffic tonight as well, but something else caught my eye.
About 45 degrees above the horizon, a dim white light appeared. It was only as bright as a star, but it wasn’t there before. It seemed to be as bright as the brightest star in the sky. It seemed to turn left. The light dimmed as it appeared to turn and simply vanished. There was no flashing light. There were no red and green navigation lights.
I moved quickly to a darker spot, away from parking lot lights, and kept my eye on the same spot in the sky, looking over in the direction it seemed to be going, and there was nothing there. I stood and waited for a while, looking for any flashing light, no matter how dim. I have good night vision, had been outside for a while, and 20/20 vision to boot. Nothing appeared. I could see other planes in the sky. Even planes further away could clearly be seen with much brighter lights and the tell-tale flashing navigation lights I’m used to seeing working by an airport all the time. This light was not over or near the airport, however. I believe it was very high up in the atmosphere and possibly off the coast.
In fact, I believe what I observed was a “Iridium satellite flare.” It would be my first time seeing one, if that’s what it was. I thought there would be more of a flash… This simply appeared and faded out after a few seconds. It was subtle, but it caught my eye.
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Carlsbad
USA
5 seconds
5 seconds
33.14
-117.32
light
CA
Occurred : 2/15/2008 19:34 (Entered as : 02/15/08 19:34) Reported: 2/15/2008 8:16:17 PM 20:16 Posted: 3/4/2008 Location: Carlsbad, CA Shape: Light Duration: 5 seconds Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
A white light appeared and then disappeared after fading to the left, 5 seconds, no navigation lights, 45 degrees above the horizon.