SIGHTING: REDMOND, OREGON (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"While looking for the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) I noticed a meteor very close to my point of vision which immediately drew my attention. The meteor was quick and glowed to approximately -3.5 magnitude. As my eyes turned towards the meteor, I was able to see the final moment of the meteor as the glow died out. Almost immediately I noticed a dim object which seemed to just appear suddenly along the path the meteor took. At this point the object was slightly north of due east and approximately midway between the horizon and my zenith. The object began moving westward for about four seconds until it was almost straight up from me. At this point, the object abruptly changed direction to due north and seemed to move three times as fast as it was previously moving. When it moved north, it left what appeared to be a vapor trail as it moved north. When the object made its northward direction change, it was approximately 10 degrees north of my zenith point. It quickly moved north for a count of "one" when it began a turn towards the west which it maintained until it was heading due south. The distance between the line along the northward movement and the southbound travel was approximately one degree. I continued to follow the object until an apple tree behind me blocked my view of the object at which time I moved to an area with a unobstructed, but light polluted southern view. I was unable to reacquire the object at that time. The object itself appeared to be about two thirds the size of an aspirin when held at arm's length. It was circular in shape and appeared to be separated into four section. I could easily make out the dark area of the circle with a cross in the center with the arms of the cross extending to the outer circle. Both the circle and cross were the same dark color. However, the areas between the arms of the cross appeared to glow a dull burnt orange color. There was no deviation of the orange-like color in the four wedges. The best comparable description of the object is it looked like one of those Simon games where the yellow areas of the game were the dark color and the colored buttons of the game the burnt orange color. I did not hear any sound coming from the object (when it first appeared, I was wearing earphones listening to music. Moments before it made its abrupt northward turn, I removed the ear buds)."