SIGHTING: EL RITO, NM
Witness Testimony
"Bright object descended rapidly, leaving a shower of sparks, and turned in a J shape, then stayed the same.I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to behold a bright yellow light, about three times bigger than a bright star, even with the ridge top east of El Rito. The ridge is about 500 feet above the valley floor where the town is situated. I was looking east at this object.Within 5 minutes, it had risen about an “inch” above the ridgeline. In two or three more minutes, it had risen about 2 “inches.” (If I hold up my fingers horizontally and squint with one eye, it seems to have risen to two fingers above the ridgeline.Then, as I sat there watching it, it started to descend rapidly, throwing out a shower of sparks behind it. A shooting star was descending at the same time, to the northeast, but this object was not near it, and it was bigger than the shooting star. Suddenly it turned in a J shape, and began ascending again, then stopped and stayed in the same place.I continued to watch it for 45 minutes, until 4:45 a.m., when I became so sleepy that I couldn’t keep watching anymore. In that time, it had risen 6 finger-widths from the ridgeline, faster than the sun rises, so I think it was rising faster than the rotation of the earth.Part of the time, I watched it through binoculars. When I did, I seemed to be able to discern a crescent shape, and through the binoculars, it appeared to be sending out rays in all four directions like a cross.Perhaps I was looking at Venus, which my almanac says is bright in the morning sky right now. But if that was Venus, then why was it brighter than a shooting star, and bigger, and why was it rising so rapidly, and why did it descend, sending out a shower of sparks behind it, and then turn in a J shape and ascend? I think this is very unusual.I spoke today to a local astronomer, who hadn’t noticed it. I’ve agreed to get up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow and observe again, and he has agreed to observe also, and I will call him at work on Monday morning, June 1, and we will compare notes."
