2019-09-08 - Santa Barbara, CA - Other

Another closeup

Conditions at the time of the sighting were dark, clear, and windless.

While driving southbound on the 154 at the dead top of the pass I witnessed what at first seemed to be a meteor flying directly overhead in the same direction as I. San Marcos pass summit is at approximately 1000 m in elevation and drops rapidly to sea level. At the summit there is a clear view out over the Santa Barbara channel for about one half mile.

The initial brightness of the object as it passed directly overhead entering my field of view through the windshield is estimated at -8, i.e. much brighter than Venus. Within seconds the object had descended to at or below my elevation and was approximately five miles ahead of me now directly over Santa Barbara town. The brightness of the light did not change in this period even though I now witnessed it from behind rather than below. Within thirty seconds the white light changed to red flashing port side and green solid starboard which seemed like "domestic" aircraft but the lights weren't distinct and separated as normal aircraft lighting is. Both red and green lights displayed laser-like qualities rather than incandescent or led. Furthermore the lights seemed to blend with one another to a degree as though seen through a haze. The flashing of the red light was not metered in any sense either as though it was randomly flashing in about one second intervals.

At this point my view was obscured (and I hadn't crashed the truck (I refer to this stretch as "the death zone" due to the number of car wrecks here)). Within seconds the view opened back up and the uap was now at least fifteen miles to the southeast over the channel off Port Hueneme. The light now appeared further away, but more intense which defies my understanding of the physics of light. At this point my view was obscured.

In retrospect I estimate the object traveled approximately 500' overhead at a rate of 1000 mph.