Woman Observes Bright Light Move Slowly Across Sky Three Consecutive Nights

Listen to Audio Report by Witness (MP3 - 1.3 MB)

Date: September 25-27, 2005 
Time: First Night 8:30 to 9:30 PM CDT
Second Night - 8:00 to 9:30 PM CDT
Third Night - Sighting in Progress at Time of Report
Date Reported: September 27, 2005
Duration of Sighting: 90 Minutes
Location: Como, Texas (Northeastern, Texas - About 85 Miles Northeast of Dallas)
Latitude:  33.06 Degrees North
Longitude:  95.3625 Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: Two
Number of Witnesses Interviewed: Two
Weather: Clear Stars Visible (Each Night of Sighting)
Astronomical: Moon not Visible at Time of Sighting. Planet Venus Bright to the Southwest after sunset.  Sunset a Few Minutes After 8 PM CDT.  Venus Set at About 9:15 PM CDT.
 

Description (In Witness's Own Words): A woman and her husband have been watching a very bright light move low on the horizon (above treetops) for three consecutive nights. They had never seen anything like this before. I interviewed the woman by phone (voice-mail portion of her report can be heard - see above).  The woman's husband was offering comments in the background while I conducted the phone interview.  The witness said that the object was about the size of a dime held at arm's length.  The object was very bright (white light), but occasionally flashed red on the bottom.  The light was seen to the southwest and was moving from her right to left (moving southward).  The witnesses watched the light for about 90 minutes before it disappeared behind the trees.  The same phenomenon occurred on all three nights, but I am not sure when they lost sight of it on the third night because the light was still visible when we finished our phone conversation. The witness stated that the object zig-zagged back and forth on one night.  She said that the object was visible about one hour on day one (September 25) and about 90 minutes on September 26.  She also stated that her cordless phone wouldn't work on one night of the sighting.

Investigator's Notes: It is my opinion that the witnesses saw the planet Venus given how bright it was (magnitude -4.1), position (Southwest), and set time (after 9 PM CDT).  The apparent blinking of a red light and zig-zag motion could be attributed to a phenomenon call photokinesis.  This phenomenon will produce an illusion of something moving when one stars at an object long enough.