Formation over Sonoma, CA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Long Description of Sighting Report: We were near Sonoma Square waiting with several thousand people for the 9:30 fireworks. Several minutes before the fireworks started, a kid pointed straight up with his arm and said something like "Hey, a blue ufo!" Most people who heard him (he yelled pretty loud) looked up and we saw a small, far away group of 6-10 faint starlike objects. The group was traveling NE at about the same speed as the international space station. It approached the moon and disappeared. I was willing to assume it was the ISS. Then, another group appeared in the SW and followed the same NE path and disappeared near the moon, too. That eliminated the ISS. Then a 3rd faint group appeared in about the same place in the SW, traveled near the moon, made a 270 degree turn to the west, went a short distance and disappeared. That really eliminated the ISS. What was interesting was the path of the groups. The path was not a perfectly straight line, it was a series of distinct course changes. At least 40 people that were sitting by us saw and many commented on them. There were probably 4000 people sitting on the field, facing South, all looking up in the sky for the first fireworks when these objects appeared. Expect more reports. I am a pilot and used to flying at night - and they def weren't meteors, airplanes, satellites, fireworks.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #111131). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2014-07-01 → 2014-07-18
From the same sky
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October 25, 2017 · 2:00 AM · CIRCLE
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June 29, 2017 · 9:50 PM · LIGHT
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Very bright orange planet like light with slight orange tail in the North, North-West sky noticed high in the sky at 9:50 pm. I watched the object for 30 seconds or so and noticed it was moving very slowly East. A tiny red light was visible from the tail area. It was brighter than all other stars or planets, and 50% bigger than Venus. Did not look like the space station, which is smaller, moves much, much faster and which appears closer to earth. Went inside to grab camera and binoculars, light was still there, but began to slowly fade away. Red light plus slight shadow of a solid object were the last parts to be seen. We have quite a bit of air traffic in the area, and this looked nothing like an aircraft.