2013-12-23 - Toledo, WA - Light

Radiant glowing indigo orb seen dancing near I-5 in southern Washington state, 12/23/13.

HD video posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPAJJd2XPds

My wife and I were driving north in Washington State on I-5 toward Seattle when we saw a bright indigo light--about as bright as airplane landing lights--ahead of us in the night sky at approximately 9:38pm, Monday, 23 December 2013. I initially thought it might be a tower light on a hill, but it wasn't blinking, and as we got closer it became apparent that there were no hills; a large, radiant orb hovered high above the freeway against a clear and starry sky. As I kept driving toward it, the light moved slowly toward the southeast and out of my field of view, though my wife could still see it from the passenger's seat. She watched it for a minute and then told me to pull the car over (as we passed through Toledo, WA, because the object was getting closer and was definitely anomalous.

For the next three minutes, as caught on video, we watched it from the side of I-5, facing northeast, where it silently floated around Jupiter to the left of the Orion constellation, putting on quite a show. Our limited iPhone cameras did a poor job capturing what we actually witnessed, missing the star-filled backdrop, the nearby farm house, trees, and horizon, and not really capturing how pretty and bright it was, which was significantly brighter than Jupiter and maintained a steady luminosity throughout the duration of the sighting, apart from its slow color changes (mostly blue, violet, and green, with a bit of red and yellow appearing briefly as it shifted colors). It also seemed to emit two very faint searchlights pointing downward a couple of times, though I couldn't be certain.

After a couple of minutes, it floated down toward the earth and drifted slowly toward the southeast behind some trees, perhaps disappearing into the nearby river valley, or perhaps simply disa! ppearing.

I took some still photos, included at the end of the video, though they all look different, suggesting either the limitations of the iPhone 4S camera (such as one photo that looks like blurred movement) or that the object was changing shape as it moved.

This is my third UFO sighting since 1995, and my first nighttime sighting. I don't know if it was manmade or not, though I suspect most UFOs are. All I know is that it seemed big given the apparent height and distance (judging by the tree line that it floated behind), was brighter than most aircraft lights appear at such heights (and certainly more colorful), and made no sound as it slowly and surreally looped about, dancing in the sky.