would we know a ufo when it bit us? UFO SIGHTING

When driving one night i encountered a street light. Yes i know... nothing unusual here except the streetlight was about 400 feet off the ground and about 150 feet away from the nearest cliff. Oh and it was also about 30 miles from any city in the middle of new mexico. It was off of HW84 in between Las Vegas NM and I40. and it was about 1:45 in the morning. When i looked at the clock again it was 3:30. I felt no time loss, just driving in the zone on one of my many nighttime roadtrips. The whole event didn't even register until the sun came up. When i first saw this, my mind immediatly thought oh goody, i get to see a ufo. I saw it about 5-10 miles before i was perpindicular to it. During the whole approach i was watching it to see if it moved. I could dicern no movement. When i got closer i saw a round object with a very fuzzy lightbulb in the center of what looked like a illuminated reflecting parabola (a old fashioned type streetlight) it was when i saw the bottom clearly that my mind resolved that it was just a streetlight. I continued to look over at it (it was the brightest thing i had seen since my last city i had passed through. While i was looking at it, i kept thinking... odd place for a streetlight... oh well. when the sun came up and I was more alert, my mind seemed to "unfuzz" and the details of the incident finally overrode my visual assertion that it was only a streetlight. I couldn't believe that my mind would ever have assumed a light so far up in the sky and so bright in the middle of nowhere was a atreetlight. my assumption here is that when people are vulnerable for various reasons (i.e. sleep deprived) that a wave or emmision from a ufo can confuse or help the person explain away any sighting. I would assume it was just my own rationalization if i hadn't been so hopeful that it was a sighting upon the approach. Also i wasn't concerned about documenting the time of sighting (which is the first thing i would ordinarly do when seeing any unusual lights in the sky). I travel a lot for sales and prefer to travel at night so i am always "on the alert". feel free to respond with any similiar situations or explanations.

[Edited on 15-9-2003 by LazarusTheLong]

I am frequently outside with one of my telescopes, although it doesnt happen often I have seen things I dont understand. I got into astronomy about 14 years ago, so I am not new to it. Although I have never been able to say I have "lost time", I have seen things that just blow me away. I know satalites and fly across the field of view and airplanes as well, but one time I was viewing a spiral galaxy and saw something small and VERY faint go across the sky and turn so sharp it had to be artificially controlled. I am not aware of any technology we have that could have done this, even in space. I am not saying this was alien, it was just strange to see an object do this and not be able to figure out what it was. I was viewing through a F5 12.5" reflector on an equitorial mount with a 35 mm Nagler eyepiece, which translates into a very wide field of view and a magnification of about 60x. The skys were extremely clear that night and the atmosphere was very steady, so everything was very sharp. My regret that night was that I didnt have my meade 14" with a video camera on it. Would have been cool to get video of it.

They could have been just doing some excersizes out in the desert... and then again maybe it was an alien streetlight.

Do aliens need streetlights? I always kinda thought they could see int he dark. on the other note. I went on a ufo hunt about a month ago, and went through that area again. i also went by area51, dulce, lower colorado, and other hotspots. Saw a big glorious nothing. i did spend about an hour on my hood with high power binocs and saw some similiar upper atmosphere or outer space lights that went faster than they should. no odd angle turns though. i wondered if my latest sightings were sattelites. i have no idea how fast they go.