Star became a bright white light which began moving then disappeared
I am a private pilot and have flown (myself) from corner to corner of the US and Canada. I have also been a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. I am quite familiar with observing various aircraft at various altitudes, meteors, fireballs, as well as tiny polar orbital satellites.
Last night, Wednesday 13th of May 2009, at around 10:30pm I was observing the stars out of my home's side window looking toward the north west and I saw a very unusual event. My home is situated in Orleans Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
One of the “stars” I was looking toward became a stationary, relatively bright white light with a ring around it. It then began moving laterally from left to right, maintaining the same brightness and ring. Then it quickly 'faded out'. When I timed it out later, the whole event probably lasted no more than eight seconds. It demonstrated to me that to see something like this, you had to be in the right place, at the right time, looking toward the right direction. I'm reporting it here (as a UFO) because of the following reasons...
If it was a natural phenomenon: it was most likely a meteor that was traveling toward me. That would explain the short duration of brightness, and the slight travel from left to right before fading out. Some haze in the sky would explain the ring around it. But why did it become very bright and remain stationary in the sky at first? And if pieces breaking off it made it change direction while it was coming down, why did it move horizontally, but not downward if it was under the influence of gravity? If it was an aircraft: it was most likely the landing lights facing me. Once again haze would explain the ring around the central bright white light. But the white was not a 'tungsten' white, it was a pure white light. The brightening of the light and fading of the light is explainable if a rotation of an aircraft toward or away from me occurs, but how could it move laterally from left to right while maintaining the landing lights toward me. (Landing lights shine out ahead of the nose of an aircraft for the pilots to light ahead in the direction of their travel, not out from the aircraft body toward the tips of the wings).
I had continued looking for a long time after its disappearance to see if any aircraft navigational lights appeared moving along the extended path of the original white light, to no avail.
Following the event I began double checking my observation by going through a mental process of critical thinking (which is stated in summary above).
But as I was witnessing it in real time, I was struck with awe, or shock, and an sense that this was perhaps something that was neither man-made nor a phenomenon of nature.
((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD))
((NUFORC Note: Possible Iridium satellite? PD))
I am a private pilot and have flown (myself) from corner to corner of the US and Canada. I have also been a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. I am quite familiar with observing various aircraft at various altitudes, meteors, fireballs, as well as tiny polar orbital satellites.
Last night, Wednesday 13th of May 2009, at around 10:30pm I was observing the stars out of my home's side window looking toward the north west and I saw a very unusual event. My home is situated in Orleans Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
One of the “stars” I was looking toward became a stationary, relatively bright white light with a ring around it. It then began moving laterally from left to right, maintaining the same brightness and ring. Then it quickly 'faded out'. When I timed it out later, the whole event probably lasted no more than eight seconds. It demonstrated to me that to see something like this, you had to be in the right place, at the right time, looking toward the right direction. I'm reporting it here (as a UFO) because of the following reasons...
If it was a natural phenomenon: it was most likely a meteor that was traveling toward me. That would explain the short duration of brightness, and the slight travel from left to right before fading out. Some haze in the sky would explain the ring around it. But why did it become very bright and remain stationary in the sky at first? And if pieces breaking off it made it change direction while it was coming down, why did it move horizontally, but not downward if it was under the influence of gravity? If it was an aircraft: it was most likely the landing lights facing me. Once again haze would explain the ring around the central bright white light. But the white was not a 'tungsten' white, it was a pure white light. The brightening of the light and fading of the light is explainable if a rotation of an aircraft toward or away from me occurs, but how could it move laterally from left to right while maintaining the landing lights toward me. (Landing lights shine out ahead of the nose of an aircraft for the pilots to light ahead in the direction of their travel, not out from the aircraft body toward the tips of the wings).
I had continued looking for a long time after its disappearance to see if any aircraft navigational lights appeared moving along the extended path of the original white light, to no avail.
Following the event I began double checking my observation by going through a mental process of critical thinking (which is stated in summary above).
But as I was witnessing it in real time, I was struck with awe, or shock, and an sense that this was perhaps something that was neither man-made nor a phenomenon of nature.
((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD))
((NUFORC Note: Possible Iridium satellite? PD))
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Ottawa
Canada
8 sec
8 sec
45.40
-75.69
fireball
ON
Occurred : 5/13/2009 22:30 (Entered as : 05/13/09 22:30) Reported: 5/14/2009 9:07:53 AM 09:07 Posted: 6/9/2009 Location: Ottawa (Canada), ON Shape: Fireball Duration: 8 sec Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There was an aura or haze around the object
Star became a bright white light which began moving then disappeared. ((NUFORC Note: Possible Iridium satellite? PD))