Light changes direction when military jet approaches.
I am filing this report as an afterthought, and some time after the event, in the hope that it corroborates someone else’s sighting.
I am an amateur astro-photographer, meaning I take photos of celestial objects through my telescope every dark clear night of the year. As such, I am quite familiar with the sky surrounding my area. There are aircraft in their designated lanes, the occasional military plane from a nearby Air Reserve base, and countless satellites. In fact, I see a dozen satellites visually each night out and capture a handful of their trails on each of my photos, to my dismay. There are also bats and owls that fly by, hunting with their squeaks and screeches. I am used to it all.
Last month, I noticed a “satellite” moving east across the sky. I thought nothing of it and diverted my attention. I then heard the sound of a military jet in a hurry to get somewhere, which sounds completely different from the usual passenger planes that fly by. It sounded like an F-16 tanker escort from the military base. I looked back up to spot the jet and saw the “satellite” make a nearly 90 degree left turn as the military jet rapidly approached it from the south-west. The “satellite” proceeded north-east, closely followed by the military jet with its wingtip lights flashing away. I watched the chase until they disappeared over and the horizon, during the time span of maybe 30 seconds.
This happened last month, near April 18th, sometime around 9:00pm. I did not take notes at the time because nothing can really be done about a sighting like this. I know I was in communication with another astro-photographer via email at the time, and I remember typing “I’m watching a UFO chase… So what are you taking pictures of tonight?” To me, it was just another curiosity so I quickly returned my attention to the photographic task at hand.
I don’t know what you can do with this late report; maybe this can be useful as corroboration for someone else’s report of anything similar to this around that date and time.
((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD))
I am filing this report as an afterthought, and some time after the event, in the hope that it corroborates someone else’s sighting.
I am an amateur astro-photographer, meaning I take photos of celestial objects through my telescope every dark clear night of the year. As such, I am quite familiar with the sky surrounding my area. There are aircraft in their designated lanes, the occasional military plane from a nearby Air Reserve base, and countless satellites. In fact, I see a dozen satellites visually each night out and capture a handful of their trails on each of my photos, to my dismay. There are also bats and owls that fly by, hunting with their squeaks and screeches. I am used to it all.
Last month, I noticed a “satellite” moving east across the sky. I thought nothing of it and diverted my attention. I then heard the sound of a military jet in a hurry to get somewhere, which sounds completely different from the usual passenger planes that fly by. It sounded like an F-16 tanker escort from the military base. I looked back up to spot the jet and saw the “satellite” make a nearly 90 degree left turn as the military jet rapidly approached it from the south-west. The “satellite” proceeded north-east, closely followed by the military jet with its wingtip lights flashing away. I watched the chase until they disappeared over and the horizon, during the time span of maybe 30 seconds.
This happened last month, near April 18th, sometime around 9:00pm. I did not take notes at the time because nothing can really be done about a sighting like this. I know I was in communication with another astro-photographer via email at the time, and I remember typing “I’m watching a UFO chase… So what are you taking pictures of tonight?” To me, it was just another curiosity so I quickly returned my attention to the photographic task at hand.
I don’t know what you can do with this late report; maybe this can be useful as corroboration for someone else’s report of anything similar to this around that date and time.
((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD))
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Hemet
USA
30 seconds
30 seconds
33.74
-117.00
light
CA
Occurred : 4/18/2009 21:00 (Entered as : 04/18/09 21:00) Reported: 5/14/2009 12:45:06 PM 12:45 Posted: 6/9/2009 Location: Hemet, CA Shape: Light Duration: 30 seconds Characteristics: There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Light changes direction when military jet approaches.