I think I saw a UFO tonight

I think I saw a UFO tonight about 1 hour ago ago. I felt compelled to post because I keep thinking about it.

I started going walking at night to get some exercise, primarily for cardiovascular benefits. I've been doing it for about 6 months. I see numerous planes in the sky on the 3 to 4 four nights per week I walk. I see their blinking lights and differing velocities and altitudes.

Having said that, I was on the final leg of my walk around my neighborhood when I see what I thought was another plane, but NO blinking lights whatsoever. It looked just like a typical star, but, clearly moving in a trajectory. So, I stopped to watch it and to make sure that it was moving and not me or my perspective. It was moving. I keep watching it, no flashing lights...it travels in a long arc then gradually disappears behing some very light clouds.

The sky tonight is Very clear; you can see many stars and constellations well delineated. There are only a few clouds here and there, but no real cloud cover.

*This happened on January 7th, 2008, 6:24pm Central over Jefferson County, Alabama.

Besides the no blinking lights, it was the fact that it disappeared! On a night like tonight you can watch and see several planes come and go and it takes them a while, maybe two or three minutes to see them vanish eventually. This thing came and went. If it was a plane of some kind, I should have been able to keep seeing it leaving out of sight.

I cancelled it out being a shooting star, which I see time to time on my walks, because they are short bursts with a appreciable tail.

The last thing to note is that I saw this Star/UFO at 6:24 pm Central time. I saw a plane heading in that direction at 6:26pm. That could have been a coicidence, but, who knows?

I think it was a UFO, other explanations fail.

If you were in the general area and time, please reply.






mod edit: title

[edit on 1/7/2008 by kinglizard]

I saw something very similar, and i see them often as well, tonight about 8:30pm at the back of my work.

Exactly as you said, no lights, the one i saw took a trajectory through orions belt down towards the horizon. Very clear night, in the past. i've always thought of them as orbiting satellites or something, as the ones i've seen recently don't seem to change direction.

If a straight line trajectory and "star sized" and brightness then almost definitely a satellite.

Dissapears because moves into the shadow of the earth and therefore unable to reflect sunlight.

Best seen just after dusk, as stars become visible and for the next hour or so. From my relatively light pollution free location I can see at least 10 every night within 30 minutes of dusk.

In early fall I was deep in the country on a clear moonless night and saw exactly what you describe--twice in a five minute period. I am sure they were satellites as both fixed, star-like objects traveled in straight paths. The second one winked out after observing it a few seconds, which gave me some pause, but satellites are rather easy to see. There's even a wonderful line from a Laurie Anderson song (remember her?) "Satellites are out tonight," instead of stars.

Originally posted by chunder
If a straight line trajectory and "star sized" and brightness then almost definitely a satellite.

Dissapears because moves into the shadow of the earth and therefore unable to reflect sunlight.

Best seen just after dusk, as stars become visible and for the next hour or so. From my relatively light pollution free location I can see at least 10 every night within 30 minutes of dusk.

Possibly, however, I walk for twenty minutes a night 3 to 4 times a week and think I would have seen a satellite before.

The other point is that at that time of night, the sky was crystal clear. Many constellations and planes were easily visible. Traveling planes this night would take quite a while to traverse from point a to point b. This thing traveled an arc trajectory for an amount of time, about 20 seconds then disappeared. How come the planes took seemingly forever to vanish?

I'm not sure about this point, but, I thought satellites stayed in a relatively fixed position, this object was moving at a good pace before it was gone.

>bump...due to many threads.

I'm no expert but maybe you are not under a "standard orbit flight path" or whatever and therefore they are fairly rare.

From your description you saw a satellite.

reply to post by EclipseReloaded


Why not a satellite? Early evening is the most likely time see satellites in the Winter...

Waht constellations did it cross?

This is a great site to see if there are any satellites passing over your area, you can also check flight paths for the ISS, Space Shuttle, and orbiting telescopes. Just click on your state and go from there.

Human Space Flight

I have seen hundreds of these, I'm not saying that it is or isn't what you experienced, but you might want to check it out.

Quick note, the ISS now has additional solar panels, depending on how low it is orbiting, it can appear very bright.

Also note: not all satellites will blink. The orbiting telescopes, ISS, and space shuttle (when in orbit) do not blink.

[edit on 11-1-2008 by hsur2112]

You might want to check this out too...

Satellite Spotting...

Sorry for the added post, wouldn't let me edit the other.