NUFORC Home Page

National UFO Reporting Center
Sighting Report
Occurred : 7/4/2017 21:55 (Entered as : 07/04/2017 21:55)
Reported: 7/5/2017 12:26:17 AM 00:26
Posted: 7/7/2017
Location: Woodinville, WA
Shape: Light
Duration:5 seconds
ISS-looking bright ufo flies over Washington at great speed or low altitude, or both....

I am open to any explanation as to what I saw, but, I feel I am pretty good at identifying aerial phenomenon, and I can’t figure this one out.

7/4/2017, 2155 hours PST, watching fireworks. I already know what you are thinking. No.

Not 30 seconds before I stated, maybe we will see a UFO. And then there it was. The following is why I am baffled.

Location, general, King County, Washington State, general street coordinates 195 Av NE/NE 175 St. Direction of flight, southeast.

Appearance, looked like the ISS going over, but about 5 or more times faster in travel, and….maybe twice as bright. ISS is not supposed to be visible here tonight. There was an Iridium Flare listed for about 2155, but I thought it was going to flare to the north, not travel southeast-bound like a bright, non-dimming object that looked like a bright ISS.

My millisecond thought process as I watched it for about 4-5 seconds (it was moving out!) was at first….oh, there’s a piece of burning magnesium powder from a firework.

Wait, it is not dimming, and it is moving in a straight line. Oh, looks like the ISS. Negative, it is not visible tonight. This is too fast, the speed is like a low flying airplane going over. But it is bright. Maybe an aircraft, no, not seeing any green/red navigation lights, just looks exactly like a bright ISS.

The only way I can try to explain it is, but I don’t believe my own explanation because of what I saw, was, a helicopter flying over with a bright search light shining mainly downward, drowning out the red/green nav lights, and I can’t hear it because of the fireworks in the area.

So, UFO is correct in that, I can’t identify what I saw. I would welcome any explanation because I am not sure how to classify this in my own mind. If I could look at radar recordings in this area, I would do so. If anybody can, and they can tell me what the heck it was that we saw, I would appreciate it. I only had, at best, 10 degrees of view because of a nearby tree, but we saw it continue on, without dimming, through the branches a couple times.

UPDATE: I started reporting this at about 2245 hours PST, 7/4/2017. My brother texted, and we have since spoken on the phone. He is in Maui. His text, at 2252 hours PST was, “I think I just saw the space station go over Maui here and it was hauling as_”. More texts, and I had to call him. He is in Kaanapoli. Looking WNW between Molokai and Lanai Islands. He sees something in the sky to the SW, south of Lanai, moving generally west to east, but south of his location. I questioned him carefully. No nav lights, looked exactly like the ISS, not dimmer or brighter, but many times faster. He thought, jet airliner altitude (30000 feet or so). He explained it away as the ISS, but hauling as_.

He next explained it away as a satellite losing altitude and coming back to earth. No trail at all, like shooting stars or space debris (which I have seen back in I believe the 90’s when a piece of Soviet debris came down and was visible from Washington State, it left a green trail! as it burned on re-entry). How long did he see it? 2 to 3 seconds! Wow. Mine was 4-5 seconds, and I am sure he had a better view in Maui. The thing was moving fast!.

Ok, I am done for now. I have not been stumped by objects in the sky until tonight, and I am in my 50’s. So, there it is, for comparison to other reports. My gut feeling is, if my girlfriend and I saw something and my brother saw something far away in Maui, there may be a slew of sightings coming in! While I was typing this, my girlfriend already found youtube videos from tonight with ufo’s, UFO spotted in Norwalk, California, July 7th 2017. But, the ufo in that video was barely moving compared to what we saw. And, what we saw was more of a white light, like the ISS, not orange.

Signing off.

I hope to learn from other reports if I am still waiting to see my first UFO, or if this is explainable and I need to keep looking.

Thanks PD!

And, PD, please reply if this can be explained.