Location of Sighting: Ransomville, New York
Date of Sighting: January 28, 2019
Time of Sighting: 1 AM EST
Description: The size was about the same as the stars the shape and color were like that of a star, but flickered different colors blue orange and the movement was erratic. It would go in circles go back to the same position and then zigzag and go back to the stationary position. I noticed that there were a set of three bright stars in the west. It was the one that would be at the peak. To the north of that in a little higher there was a another star doing the same thing. I have been going out for the last hour and they are still there.
Note: It is difficult to interpret the witness’s report. I suspect that he is seeing bright stars flickering in the night sky.
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I have been seeing something similar on every clear night for over two weeks now. Tonight’s sighting began at 11:05 PST, night of August 17th 2019, from Snohomish, WA. The object is visible to the west (West by Southwest, near as I can tell), somewhere between 10 and 15 degrees above the horizon. I use a tree roughly 100 feet west of my location as a reference point. Over the next fifteen minutes, this object flashes red occasionally, moves up and down, side to side, with occasional circles and diagonal movements. If it follows the same pattern as it has on previous clear nights, it will continue to be visible for 2 to 3 hours before it is again obscured by trees (when considerably closer to Ursa Major, maybe as much as 15 degrees). With reference to the tree, tonight the stellar object was first observed at a point nearly obscured by a branch visually “above” the “star”(which at the beginning of my observation period appears just under the middle of the branch). Over fifteen minutes it’s observable location moves (via many small motions, not all at once, though there were several abrupt movements that are large enough to exclude optical illusions from the list of likely explanations, at least so far as my subjective analysis is concerned) to a point that is perhaps 2-3 degrees lower in the sky and laterally far enough to be well beyond the tip of the aforementioned branch. Basically, if I hold my fist at arm’s length, I can visually fit that fist between the object’s starting point and ending point with room to spare. During this time (fifteen minutes) my feet have remained stationary. I have been using a fence-post as a secondary reference point both to the star and the silhouette of the tree. I have also observed the movement of Ursa Major, again in relation to similarly distant tree in my neighborhood, and honestly the stars of the big dipper have not moved enough in the sky for me to be able to see any distinct difference in where they appear compared to the Douglas fir tree I am using as a reference point for Ursa Major. My descriptions of degrees in the sky are based on my own rough guesswork, looking straight up to mid-heaven, then to the horizon, and finding a mid-point so I have a basic reference for what 45 degrees looks like, dividing that in thirds for what fifteen degrees looks like, and narrowing it down from there. They are not exact measurements, but for a guy with no specialized equipment it seems like a decent way to get somewhere close to an accurate description of the observed movements of an object that, to the naked eye, looks like a somewhat bright star with occasional red flashes, until it moves so abruptly and distinctly that two people I know have had extreme reactions to the sudden movement, after I had simply pointed to the object and asked if there was anything unusual about it. Honestly, I know it isn’t a satellite, because I see those all the time. Likewise, living a stones throw from Boeing, as well as a small private airport less than 10 miles away, I recognize a pretty wide variety of commercial aircraft. This thing makes me imagine some kind of space station that somehow stays in orbit without circling the earth, just stationary, moving here and there at seemingly random intervals for reasons I cannot begin to imagine. Frankly, if an astronomer has a reasonable explanation that fits the observed phenomena, I’ll accept it without rancor or even disappointment. So far, haven’t seen an explanation that fits the bill, although I have found numerous other accounts of apparently similar phenomena. Seriously making me question certain assumptions about the world/cosmos around me.
I believe that you viewing the planet Jupiter which is in the location (azimuth and elevation) that you describe. It would be the brightest object in the sky next to the moon.