New personal sighting

[dant]

Approx: 11:00PM PST, 7/23/2006
View Location: Beaverton
Sky Viewing position: West, 80 degrees from horizon.
Movement: South to North
Visible area: Approx: 20 degrees before it disappeared.

Description:

When first noticed, it appeared as a satellite of size of a
pin-prick (barely visible) and as it moved, it grew in light
size as that of a dime, then it dimmed again, then grew
again then dimmed again, pulsating like a sine wave before
it dissappered behind the "Big Dipper" constelation. The rate
of pulsation seemed close to 1 second apart. The pulsation
is NOT like that of a flash bulb - it is a slow rise and slow
fall like that of a sine wave which is what makes it unusual
at least to me.

I have never seen anything like this before. It is the same
color as the stars. Keep in mind that I live between Portland
and Hillsboro, heavily light polluted and only the strongest of
stars appears. This "satellite" was barely seen as a pin-prick
in size and when it grew to max light size it was 4-8 times larger
than the brightest star making up the big dipper.

I have seen other satellites passing from south to north in the
same general area at the same general time, only to have it
dissapper behind the big dipper constelation. Hmmmm.....
this is getting interesting or ... is it my mind playing tricks
with me :P

 

[foofighter]

I saw something very similar on Mallorca last month, and I know a couple of other people in the Cass group also saw something very similar. In my case it was also preceded by three other more obviously saucerish UFO's, moving erratically, extremely fast and low (i.e. definitely not airplanes, and not satellites).

 

[mugatea]

I say you're lucky if you've seen a ufo. I saw something just a few minutes ago. It's 4am here and I was just in the back garden with the dog while he sniffed and did his business and I was looking up at the stars on this very clear night. I was looking just over the roof of my house and a star began to move. I could see that it wasnt a plane or a helicopter and it wasnt moving that fast, more like gliding and as it did it faded into nothing, not burning up, but fading.

I am not startled by what I saw, but I dont know what it was. It was all very smooth and calm.

Jamie

 

[Pierre]

II was looking just over the roof of my house and a star began to move. I could see that it wasnt a plane or a helicopter and it wasnt moving that fast, more like gliding and as it did it faded into nothing, not burning up, but fading.

I am not startled by what I saw, but I dont know what it was. It was all very smooth and calm.

Jamie

It might be a satellite.

 

[dant]

II was looking just over the roof of my house and a star began to move. I could see that it wasnt a plane or a helicopter and it wasnt moving that fast, more like gliding and as it did it faded into nothing, not burning up, but fading.

I am not startled by what I saw, but I dont know what it was. It was all very smooth and calm.

Jamie

It might be a satellite.

Possibly. Since this object was continuous and then faded may imply to me several
things, the object went behind a cloud or that it moved out of light-reflection range.

I have seen many of these types. I have seen two objects at the same, one moving S-N
and the other moving SE-NW in a path-crossing direction only to see one of them fade out,
reappear then cross path with the other and then continue on. It is very difficult to see the
clouds at night especially when there is light pollution. I am guessing that if you are in a
pitch-black sky with no light pollution, then you may see the the clouds?

 

[Pierre]

One factor that could explain the "disappearance" of the item is that the sunrays don't reach it anymore.

 

[Nienna]

I wasn't going to say anything about an experience I had similar to these because 1.) it was over a year ago, and 2.) the object I saw wasn't moving. But, I cannot think how it could be explained by the sun shining on it. I used to leave for work a 3:15 am. After closing the gate to my driveway I would always stop for a minute and look at the stars. This one time as I was looking up at a patch of stars, one of them, straight over my head, grew from the size of all of the other stars around it to the size of three Venuses. Then, it shrunk back to star size and just kept shrinking until it completely disappeared. It happened in a matter of seconds and I was completely dumbfounded. I couldn't even move for a few more seconds while my mind tried to come to terms with what I had just seen. I haven't seen anything like it since, either.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Russ]

Lynne, do you know about iridium flares? Theres a description on this website:

http://www.astronet.ru/db/xware/msg/1167675

 

[Nienna]

Russ,

Thank you for the info. No, I had not heard of iridium flares. I suppose it is possible, but as I said, the whole time I saw the objext, it never moved from the spot it was in. However, I am not saying it was not an iridium flare either. I just don't know.

 

[VKTD]

Did anybody see anything recently like ... in the past 12 hours ?