Rocket Black Brant XII, UFO case solved on September 19, 2009
"On September 19, 2009, a Black Brant XII that was launched to study clouds caused numerous calls from the northeastern U.S. reporting "strange lights in the sky". NASA reported that the light came from an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket's fourth stage at an altitude of about 278 km (173 mi)." (wikipedia)
On 19 September 2009 MUFON and NUFORC received lots of sighting reports. The map above shows all of them. The influence area was the East Coast of the United States.
In the map we have placed a marker in the location where the rocket was launched and around it, there are lots of sightings that were reported to MUFON and NUFORC (you can click on the icons to see the report). Most of the sightings were reported with the following: "cone-shaped burst of light".
This cone-shaped burst of light was an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket's fourth stage at an altitude of about 278 km (173 mi). Here are several sketches which were reported to MUFON:
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Below you can see some photos of this cone-shaped lighting:
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