Light over Poway, CA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Blue light which changed to orange travelling fast then disappeared.
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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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2013-11-18 → 2013-12-05
From the same sky
Related entries
September 22, 2022 · 9:46 PM · SPHERE
Poway, CA
I was walking my dog when I look into the sky and see a blue orb with a bright aura fly over head at the speed of a fighter jet maybe even faster. That's when I was like wow what can that be till I looked for it again and it was completely paused in the sky, looked exactly like a star till it moved again from left to right than took an immediate stop again and paused for a good 2 minutes. Than it kept doing doing the same thing till 2 planes flew over head and it completely vanished. I was in complete shock so waited outside for 30-40 mins till I saw it dart up from the ground exactly like a shooting star but this time it was more white and took and immediate stop and stayed there for about 50 secs and began to move thru the sky in a zig zag manner but make immediate stops at pause. Till planes came by again and it disappeared again.
August 23, 2020 · 9:30 PM · LIGHT
Poway, CA
I am a gas tanker driver and was delivering to Costco when this sighting occurred. I was already looking in the sky when I noticed a bright flash to my right, similar to a camera flash. I looked in that direction, which was south west and sighted a dull orange light traveling to the north east. The light seemed very high up, and seemed similar to a satellite, except for the fact that it was slowly pulsating . The light would dim to almost nothing and then grow bright again about every two seconds. It also seemed to be traveling in a slight arc rather than a straight line. I know it could not have been a satellite because they only brighten a dim depending on their reflection of the sun beneath our horizon. This object was self illuminated. It had no flashing lights. It only appeared as an orange pulsating light . I followed the light with my eyes until it was no longer visible. A few minutes later I saw an object that probably was a satellite. It was white in color, traveling in the same direction and did not pulsate. It seemed to disappear from sight as it flew into the earths shadow. I was born and raised in San Diego very close to the San Diego airport. I am familiar with commercial air traffic. I also lived close to Miramar air base for a long time and am familiar with military air traffic. This object was neither of these. I come from a family of law enforcement officers who are trained observers, and it was ingrained in me.
November 22, 2019 · 4:50 AM · LIGHT
Poway, CA
Sighted 20 to 30 individual objects, white lights, traveling (spaced apart) in the same path from the SW. Heading: approx 65 degrees. Each object could traverse the viewable area, from SW to NE, in 30 to 40 seconds. Altitude estimated in excess of 100K feet.
January 7, 2019 · 11:30 PM · CHANGING
Poway, CA
My two friends saw something strange in the sky while smoking in the back yard. One of them fetched his high powered video camera and shot a video of it. The object flashed random light patterns. It changed shape constantly. It appeared to be purple, but the outline of the object glowed green. The object moved extremely fast and would change direction on a dime. It would also change shape just as fast. It lingered in the same general sky space for quite a long time and it appears to know it is being watched for it seems to be putting on a show of some sort. Possibly attempting to communicate with the flashing light it emits? After a while it just disappears into the night.
December 19, 2018 · 2:00 PM · CYLINDER
Poway, CA
A cylindrical shaped very shiny metallic object moved South very slowly but at considerable altitude. I thought it was a jet, but it moved way too slowly, no contrail or sound. It moved around and wouldn’t be seen, then shift positions again revealing a cylindrical shaped object without wings or a tail. Finally after approximately 20 minutes it disappeared, not being seen again.
October 23, 2017 · 8:15 PM · RECTANGLE
Poway, CA
This occurred on 10/24/2017. Last night at approximately 2015 +/- 1 hour, I saw the following. The conditions were dark, the only light in the sky was coming from celestial bodies. I live in an area with a moderate amount of light pollution, but this was an abnormally clear night with no fog, significant humidity, or other factors which would further degrade visibility. If it helps to nail down the time, one of the San Diego Sheriff helicopters was flying fairly low in the southeast sky, within a one minute after my observation, going due north. That was a couple of miles southeast of where they normally pass by at that time, as the normal flight path is directly over my house. Its bright red light was on in addition to the mandatory flashing red light, so that was really easy to recognize, and the sound was familiar. The object itself was discernible at first only because it was blocking out the sky behind it. I thought it was an owl or flock of birds, but quickly realized that it was about the size of two aircraft carriers end to end, based on my estimate of the altitude. I believe it was at about 50,000 feet or higher. Unfortunately, there is just no way for me to guess the altitude. It may have been much lower and smaller than I believe, but it was completely silent and it would have taken a massive amount of engine power to maintain lift (although the shape was less than aerodynamic) on anything that size, so I am unable to comprehend it being any lower. I can't imagine anything being much higher, because of the massive size. My rational brain does not compute that. There was no apparent exhaust or visible means of propulsion, which probably would have been evident at lower altitudes. It was jet black, although there were six or seven evenly spaced, small, lighter areas on each side of the craft which provided enough contrast so that I could make out the perimeter and track the object itself rather than extrapolating the path based on the stars it was blocking out. It was all very dark and visually difficult to follow, but it was just visible enough for me to report objective facts with absolute certainty. It was cigar or diamond shaped; the ends were not blunt but there was no way to tell how the ends were specifically shaped from my perspective. It definitely had a length to width ratio of about 1:5 from my vantage point. It was traveling at a high speed regardless of altitude, covering a 20 degree arc of sky in about 30 seconds. It actually looked more like a speeding rail car than an aircraft, just smoothly gliding through the sky. The entire sighting lasted about 45 seconds. At that point, I was no longer able to visually track the object because of light pollution in its general direction. I was quite bewildered. MCAS Miramar is about ten miles west of the objects apparent position. They do operate various RADAR sites. Montgomery field is a municipal airport which has RADAR, 10 miles southwest, as is the international airport, Lindbergh Field, which would be twenty miles southwest of the apparent object position. Miramar maintains 24 hour "full service" jet intercept ability with at least two pilots and interceptor/fighter jets available at any given time, along with proper ground control and communications. That info was provided by the base Provost Marshall several years ago and is not speculative. It would be worthwhile to verify that again. I have seen an intercept; and can safely say that two fighter jets flying at 3,500 feet with afterburners on over a residential neighborhood is quite audibly (and visually) spectacular at night. This occurred minutes after a sighting which occurred with my family in about 2009. A report was filed on that sighting as well; with the in! vestigation ultimately suggesting that we may have seen the ISS in orbit. Last I checked, the ISS was not a self-luminous saucer shaped object making impossible maneuvers and scaring the hell out of my family and myself, only to be chased by jets less than three minutes after we saw it. But I'm no NASA engineer, that's for sure.