Triangle over San Rafael, CA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Very bright high flying Orange Triangle over San Francisco during Leonid Meteor shower
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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What would the paper say?
For a dated, located U.S. sighting, FAA radar data and ATC communications are the records most likely to exist. Through Aletheca, the house instrument, anyone can commission the request — filed, chased, and published in the open, refusals included. The draft goes over already written: the records sought, and the date window they would live in.
Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 1999-11-14 → 1999-12-01
From the same sky
Related entries
May 12, 2022 · 4:51 PM · EGG
San Rafael, CA
I was working outside on a deck job when I saw a crow chasing off a large hawk that I assumed was getting too close to its nest. It had been occurring over the course of several days, I'd look up and notice these two in some sort of acrobatic aerial dance, almost playful so I decided to capture some of it on my iPhone 13 camera. One day I saw the birds were doing their thing and moving closer to where I was working so I decided to film them. As I was filming I noticed a small bright glowing object moving slowly from right to left at the bottom of my screen. At that point I began to focus on it and after a second or two it paused and reversed direction I followed it and noticed it stopped again and switched back as I was adjusting to the switch and starting trying to lead it in the screen it switched again and by the time i noticed and panned back to try to locate it again, it had disappeared. The whole thing lasted about 16 seconds.
August 29, 2020 · 11:50 PM · OVAL
San Rafael, CA
At approximately 23:50, while exiting Highway 101, I noticed an object in the sky approximately 250-300 feet in the air over a shopping center across the street from my location. The object was slightly oval and was flickering orange. At first glance, I thought it was a light on a crane, until the object started to move. I then thought it might be a helicopter. I rolled down my window to hear it, however, the object made no noise. I kept the object in view as I continued my drive three blocks down the road to my house. When I exited my car, the object began to move towards my location and descended slightly in altitude. I immediately went into my home and got my 14 year old son to come outside and see what I was looking at. As we both got outside, the object continued to hover over the intersection next to my home for about 30 seconds or so, then shot straight up in the air at an amazing velocity. The object continued to climb until it disappeared. About 10-15 minutes later, I went outside and saw two more objects hovering at about the same location as the original object. These two objects appeared to be identical to the first one and maintained the same distance from each other at all times. Both my son and I took pictures of the objects and then as we began to discuss what we were seeing, both objects began the same maneuver that the first had done. We estimate the size of the objects to be about the size of a small automobile. The objects flickered in the dark and had no other visible structure to them. It should be noted that the sky condition was slightly smoky from nearby wildfires and the moon was creating sufficient light to create ample light to see non-illuminated objects in the area clearly.
August 15, 2020 · 1:30 AM · LIGHT
San Rafael, CA
Saw a pinpoint of light travel horizontal across sky in my viewing direction of the Moon and Venus in the night sky. It appeared, traveled in a straight line horizontal direction,very fast,then disappeared. My estimate is 3 seconds viewtime. It could not have been an airplane, because it was a pinpoint of light very far away, and airplanes dont travel that fast. The light was constant and not flashing. It could not have been a shooting star because it did not change its density of light. It traveled horizontal, straight, even line, and shooting stars travel in a "falling, shooting" motion.
November 30, 2018 · 11:20 PM · OVAL
San Rafael, CA
I was watching what started out as a pulsating orange light bobbing up and down and hovering in the same general area. After about 3 to 5 minutes of watching this light, a second light appeared real close on the right side. It now looked like a large black object hovering over the Bay near San Rafael. I looked away for a couple seconds to check the time on my watch, and when I looked back the object was gone. The time was 11:20 P.M. . The weather was crystal clear and cold and there was a lot of strange lights swarming in this area. The sightings started again on 11-24 and 11-25 after the fire smoke filled skies finally cleared after 16 days of bad weather. It is amazing how nobody is ever outside when this activity is going on.
August 31, 2018 · 3:11 PM · SPHERE
San Rafael, CA
Date: Friday 31st Aug Time: 3:11pm Altitude: 15-20 feet Appearance: Small dazzling orb size of a softball. Almost transparent, like a bubble but defined Weather: Sunny, clear, daytime Activity: Seemed to hover I called the CHP and they suggested it was a drone. No visible propellors. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
November 9, 2016 · 9:30 PM · CIRCLE
San Rafael, CA
At approx. 9:30pm, Weds., Nov. 9, 2016, as I was driving from the Richmond Bridge, to connect with 101 North, I saw what at first thought was the moon. But, then realized that it was 1/4 the size of the moon. As I drove into San Rafael, on the freeway, I was very confused trying to figure out what the h this object was. It lit up the top half of the mountainside in San Rafael. It was a round glowing thing. As I got closer, it began to look like a white glowing hot air balloon, minus the top half, and it seemed like a person was hanging below it, air glider style. Could it have been a helicopter at night? But, I've seen a million helicopters at night, and it wasn't a helicopter. As I rounded the 90degree bend in the highway, and continued north, the object was then behind the mountain, and I could no longer see it. Just then I realized that the moon was almost directly above me, so it was definitely not the moon. The cars were all driving slowly, so other d! rivers surely saw this. Anybody else see this tonight?