SIGHTING: ROCHESTER HILLS, MICHIGAN (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"Went outside to set up my telescope (schmidt-cassegrain type, orion star-seeker iv 127mm with 10mm 62 degree lens). first warm night of the year for observing and i had much to see. was out just a minute when i observed star-like objects. i saw 4 objects this evening, all pseudo-stars, all white and of magnitude +3 to +2. here i report mainly the details of the second object i saw (the 229nd object i have seen in the last two years). i spotted the first two objects near the cup of the big dipper. object #2 was moving from east to northwest, came from behind the cup, passed through the cup and stopped a few degrees west of it. at 7:51pm a plane few from west to northeast. two additional star-like objects came out of nowhere from the north and came within ten degrees of the plane. object #2 moved south a few degrees, also toward the plane. after the plane was gone, the two additional objects disappeared in the north; object #1 stay positioned in front of the cup. object #2, a yellowish-white pseudo-star, about +2 mag., moved eastward back through the cup, then curved southeast along ursa major until it reached the area of the real star alpha lin (lynx). the pseudo-star stopped there at 8:06 pm and remained stationary for almost ten minutes. i turned the telescope on the object, it was yellow-golden yellow, about +3.5 mag., but shining brightly compared to the stars in the immediate area. in the telescope i viewed a curved line of 7 stars. the object moved to three different positions along that line: it was close to alpha lyn but was not at it. once when the object dimmed i could see the dark, grayish outline of a craft through the telescope; most times it looked spherical though light often reflected to a more cylindrical shape. at 8:13pm the object dimmed out completely to the naked eye. at 8:14pm it brightened to about +2.5, moving southward along the line of stars in the telescope. i pointed my orange light at the object and it moved about 5 degrees toward me, then returned to its position. at 8:18 pm another plane flew within 20 degrees of the star-like object, and as the plane neared, the object "elevated" by 15 degrees to "plane level." it came within a few degrees of the plane, then returned to its position at alpha lin at 8:22pm. this object #2 covered a total of about 40 degrees of the sky. at 8:45 pm i had to leave (without getting my astronomy done!). the final location of the object was still near alpha lin, approximately 30 degrees northwest of regulus, behind the head of leo. see attached star chart for simpler explanation."