Large, bright light moving over Samoa Beach, then disappearing...
My wife and I had gone to the beach, as it was an unusually warm evening for mid-March. The sky was absolutely clear, with a sliver of a Moon that looked like a big smile, and tons of visible stars. I had spotted a satellite moving directly overhead moving from south to north, and we watched it until we couldn’t see it anymore. Just then, my wife says, “Look , there’s another one!”, and points due west. I turned to look, and I saw a very, very bright white light moving from the west toward the east. The light had a blue tint to it, kind of like an LED light bulb is, as opposed to an incandescent bulb which is much more yellow.
When I first turned and saw the light, it was at around 45 to 50 degrees, moving fairly quickly west to east in a straight line, it’s path just south of us. If I held an aspirin tablet between my fingers at arm’s length, that would be slightly larger, but reasonably comparable to the size of the light. It was by far the brightest thing in the sky. As the light moved to about 85 degrees, almost directly overhead, it never deviated in intensity, flashed, or seemed directional in any way, like the headlight of a low flying airplane would. It then began to move in a wide arc toward the southeast. As it did, it began to slowly dim, until it was the size and intensity of any random star in the sky. In fact, it now actually did look like a satellite, except for the fact that it was turning toward the southeast. We watched it for another few seconds, and then it just winked out.
My wife and I were discussing what we had just seen, still facing the direction we had last seen it. I was excited, as I have witnessed the same type of light on two other occasions from my backyard (which, incidentally, faces due west), but I was always alone without any other witnesses. As we were talking, there was a sudden bright flash of light, similar to a camera flash, at about 45 degrees, just a bit east of where we saw the light blink out, maybe 15 - 20 seconds before. We both looked up and saw what appeared to be 2 satellite sized lights moving SE to NW in a path that would go directly over our heads. They were moving parallel to each other, although one was moving slower. As we watched, the slower one started to “pulse”. It was going from looking like a satellite, to slowly dimming until it was completely dark, and then slowly brightening back to looking like a satellite again. I then realized that the faster of the two actually was a satellite, as it continued ! across the sky in a straight line at the same speed. The “pulsing” light now started moving in a more northerly direction rather than northwesterly as it had been. It began moving slower and slower until it eventually stopped, hanging at about 55 -60 degrees in the eastern sky, doing it’s pulsating thing. As I turned back toward the northwest to see if the other satellite (which by now had passed by us) was still acting like a satellite (which it was), we noticed a small plane flying directly toward us at around 700 ft headed toward a small landing strip a mile or so down the road. I immediately looked back to the “pulsing” light. It grew dim and bright a few more times, then it stayed steadily bright, and looked like an ordinary star.
The plane served as a comparison to the original light we saw come from the west. First, the plane’s headlight was very yellow in color and much dimmer. It also had obvious green and red flashing lights, and it was loud; very easily heard over the breaking of the waves, whereas the mystery light was completely silent. Also, the plane’s presence gave me a sense of how high the light was. I guesstimated the plane to be at about 500 - 700 ft and descending, which made me feel like the first time we saw the light, it was about twice that height. The second time, it looked as high as the other satellite, even though it was only 15 - 20 seconds later. My wife told me that when she first saw the light and said, “Look, there’s another one”, it was the size of a satellite, and in a fraction of a second, it was super bright and huge, which is right when I saw it the first time.
After the plane flew by, the light, which was now stationary, and looked like an ordinary star, faded out and we didn’t see it again. I also wanted to say that during the first part of the sighting, my wife had a feeling of dread, and had started to cry. She kept saying, “I don’t like it.” over and over. I, on the other hand, was excited, and was extremely happy to have a witness with me.
My wife and I had gone to the beach, as it was an unusually warm evening for mid-March. The sky was absolutely clear, with a sliver of a Moon that looked like a big smile, and tons of visible stars. I had spotted a satellite moving directly overhead moving from south to north, and we watched it until we couldn’t see it anymore. Just then, my wife says, “Look , there’s another one!”, and points due west. I turned to look, and I saw a very, very bright white light moving from the west toward the east. The light had a blue tint to it, kind of like an LED light bulb is, as opposed to an incandescent bulb which is much more yellow.
When I first turned and saw the light, it was at around 45 to 50 degrees, moving fairly quickly west to east in a straight line, it’s path just south of us. If I held an aspirin tablet between my fingers at arm’s length, that would be slightly larger, but reasonably comparable to the size of the light. It was by far the brightest thing in the sky. As the light moved to about 85 degrees, almost directly overhead, it never deviated in intensity, flashed, or seemed directional in any way, like the headlight of a low flying airplane would. It then began to move in a wide arc toward the southeast. As it did, it began to slowly dim, until it was the size and intensity of any random star in the sky. In fact, it now actually did look like a satellite, except for the fact that it was turning toward the southeast. We watched it for another few seconds, and then it just winked out.
My wife and I were discussing what we had just seen, still facing the direction we had last seen it. I was excited, as I have witnessed the same type of light on two other occasions from my backyard (which, incidentally, faces due west), but I was always alone without any other witnesses. As we were talking, there was a sudden bright flash of light, similar to a camera flash, at about 45 degrees, just a bit east of where we saw the light blink out, maybe 15 - 20 seconds before. We both looked up and saw what appeared to be 2 satellite sized lights moving SE to NW in a path that would go directly over our heads. They were moving parallel to each other, although one was moving slower. As we watched, the slower one started to “pulse”. It was going from looking like a satellite, to slowly dimming until it was completely dark, and then slowly brightening back to looking like a satellite again. I then realized that the faster of the two actually was a satellite, as it continued ! across the sky in a straight line at the same speed. The “pulsing” light now started moving in a more northerly direction rather than northwesterly as it had been. It began moving slower and slower until it eventually stopped, hanging at about 55 -60 degrees in the eastern sky, doing it’s pulsating thing. As I turned back toward the northwest to see if the other satellite (which by now had passed by us) was still acting like a satellite (which it was), we noticed a small plane flying directly toward us at around 700 ft headed toward a small landing strip a mile or so down the road. I immediately looked back to the “pulsing” light. It grew dim and bright a few more times, then it stayed steadily bright, and looked like an ordinary star.
The plane served as a comparison to the original light we saw come from the west. First, the plane’s headlight was very yellow in color and much dimmer. It also had obvious green and red flashing lights, and it was loud; very easily heard over the breaking of the waves, whereas the mystery light was completely silent. Also, the plane’s presence gave me a sense of how high the light was. I guesstimated the plane to be at about 500 - 700 ft and descending, which made me feel like the first time we saw the light, it was about twice that height. The second time, it looked as high as the other satellite, even though it was only 15 - 20 seconds later. My wife told me that when she first saw the light and said, “Look, there’s another one”, it was the size of a satellite, and in a fraction of a second, it was super bright and huge, which is right when I saw it the first time.
After the plane flew by, the light, which was now stationary, and looked like an ordinary star, faded out and we didn’t see it again. I also wanted to say that during the first part of the sighting, my wife had a feeling of dread, and had started to cry. She kept saying, “I don’t like it.” over and over. I, on the other hand, was excited, and was extremely happy to have a witness with me.
No
Yes
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No
Off
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Yes
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No
Eureka
USA
5-10 minutes
5-10 minutes
40.78
-124.16
light
CA
Occurred : 3/18/2010 21:04 (Entered as : 03/18/10 21:04) Reported: 3/19/2010 2:23:13 AM 02:23 Posted: 4/13/2010 Location: Eureka, CA Shape: Light Duration: 5-10 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Large, bright light moving over Samoa Beach, then disappearing...