Map Showing Sighting Time at Knappa.
Sightings of an Unknown Light Occurred on The Same Night
at Warrenton & Gearhart, OR. (Sighting Times Are Shown.)

Date of Sighting: May 11, 2007
Time of Sighting: 10:33 PM PDT
Date Sighting Reported: May 28, 2007
Duration of Sighting: 45 Minutes
Location of Sighting: Knappa, Oregon (About 100 MI NNW of Portland - See Map)
Latitude: 46.18 Degrees North
Longitude: 123.6 Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: Two
Number of Witnesses Interviewed: One
Weather: Clear Skies. (Per Witness Response.)
Astronomical Data: Venus Was Visible at Azimuth 294 Degrees (NW) and an Elevation of 21 Degrees at 10:00 PM PDT. At 11 PM PDT Venus Was Visible at Azimuth 296 Degrees (NW) and an Elevation of About 12 Degrees Above the Horizon.

Description (In Witness's Own Words): I went outside on our porch to have a cigarette & I noticed I saw a very bright light which looked liked it was almost bouncing around. After about a minute or two, I went in the house & got my boyfriend. He came out a watched the very bright light also. We were watching it & it moved around & got higher & lower in the sky. Then all of a sudden it just disappeared. We watched it move around for about 45 minutes or more.

Second Report by Witness (In Response to Investigator Questions):
1. The direction of the sighting was in the NNW.
2. It was moving in small movements in all directions, staying in each spot for a small amount of time. Then it moved in & out of our sight being blocked by trees.
3. The light was about 40 degrees above the horizon.
4. It was a very clear night out.

Investigator's Notes: Two other sightings occurred on the same night in Northwest Oregon. At 10:15 PDT a sighting occurred at Warrenton. Two minutes later a sighting of a light with similar characteristics occurred at Gearhart. Click here to read about these sightings. The sighting at Knappa has different characteristics than the two other sightings. First the sighting lasted much longer and the flight path was erratic. (The flight path of the lights observed at the other two locations was linear.) However, it is interesting that three reports occurred within minutes in the same general area. The sighting at Knappa could be due to the planet Venus. Venus was very bright (magnitude of -4.1), was located in the general direction where the light was observed, and the sky was clear. Given that the witnesses observed the light for 45 minutes and then "lost it" in the trees is consistent with Venus because the elevation would have been low enough to be hidden by the trees at the end of the sighting period. The apparent "bouncing motion" could be due to a phenomenon called "photokinesis" whereby an object can appear to jump when one stares at it for a period of time. (It is an optical illusion.) Other witnesses who saw anything unusual on May 11 are urged to file a report.