2012-07-20 - Robertsdale, AL - Light

Small point of light crossing the heavens changed speed twice and "wobbled" before finally vanishing.

I was shucking oysters in our garage with my nephew when I stepped outside onto the edge of the driveway to take care of some personal business… While standing there I looked skyward at the stars directly overhead as we have had days and days of rain and the sight of stars was a welcome one. I noticed a very small point of light moving across the heavens and I initially figured it was an airliner. After viewing it for a few moments I couldn’t spot any red, green, or other marker lights which would be visible from the ground of an airship passing six miles overhead… It was not a bright light, at all. I continued to watch it and it suddenly slowed its speed to almost half of its previous speed then actually wobbled a bit to the side and then sped up continuing its previous heading. At that point I yelled for my nephew to rush out and look at this strange light with me. He immediately spotted it and then the object repeated the same motion of slowing down, jogging a bit off course then speeding back up to its previous speed. And then it vanished. It moved from directly overhead to the ENE. Total sky travel was from directly overhead to a little less than 45 degrees from that first time I spotted it. We remarked with a “What the hell was that?” then laughed about the notion of telling anyone about it… Firstly, I do not drink alcohol since a heart attack earlier this year. Secondly, I am a retired federal weatherman, namely a “meteorological technician” for 37 years. I spent my professional career staring into the sky at all hours and shifts judging weather phenomena to report in aviation weather observations and forecasts. I have never seen an object I would classify as a UFO, until now. And it’s not because I didn’t try! I have released many high-altitude radiosonde weather balloons with lighting attached and know well what that looks like. I have also seen the International Space Station pass overhead several times and even pointed it out to younger family members as a “Wowee!” The object I am reporting looked like neither… I’ve seen “burn-ins” of manmade and extraterrestrial objects. This dim, fast-moving light was nothing like that, either.

Had the object simply maintained its speed and heading, I wouldn’t have thought much of it. I still wouldn’t have know what it was… But, when it slowed down and momentarily wobbled and varied its trajectory, TWICE, then sped back up to the original pace it was then that my childlike curiosity took notice. And then it was gone. Had it disappeared behind a thin deck of cirrostratus I would accept that. But, the stars in the background were still visible… I’ll just scratch my head over this one and wait for a logical answer if one is ever served. This was not a dramatic sighting, by any stretch, but something different than any other point of light I have ever observed in the heavens. If it was indeed manmade, it surely has some of the finest control surfaces ever built. And quiet, too!