Light over Portland, OR

The report, as filed

Beginning around 3:55, I went outside for a cigarette and as is my custom, craned my neck staring at the sky. Spotted the popular three star triangle, and the waning moon to its left. Viewing from the SW to SE skies, directly above me. In Homestead neighborhood right next to OHSU hospital. It started with one object, I assumed was a star shifting its light. Then it began to move sporadically, circling and zig-zagging... slowly drifting upwards and to the right. I used the moon as a still-object to make sure I wasn't seeing things. The longer I watched it, the more it moved. No blinking or flashing lights. Quick, sporadic movements in short spurts; sometimes in longer spurts. Sometimes it grew still. Around twenty minutes into the sighting, while moving in circular motion, a smaller light spat out from it and vanished. I also find it interesting that during this 40 minute time period I saw two very large meteors and several much smaller ones. I report four objects, as there were two other much, much dimmer objects nearby moving in similar fashion. The third appeared after one of the large meteors, zig-zagged a small amount, and then moved on much like an airplane straight across the sky. The other three sightings were not as spectacular as the first, which remained... even after I ran back upstairs to grab my camera. Of course, since the light is the size of a star it was impossible to capture on my digital camera. Also worth mentioning is that last night, my roommate (who also witnessed this sighting) and I were driving home and saw what can only be described as a carousel-like ship. Rotating slowly and moving slowly, with alternating white lights fading in and out. They were not blinking, were not airplane beacons and were not red or green. Just white. Rotating, or spinning, and moving across the sky in a diagonal manner. I am hesitant to label this immediately as a UFO, as it could very well be a drone. However, due to the strange optical lights, fading alternately; and after doing a few hours of research on drones and their lightings, I found that most drones have stationary or flashing lights much like airplanes... not this gentle, soft fading white lights in alternating fashion. And lastly, on the fourth of July during fireworks, I also saw three star-like objects much like tonight's sighting: sporadic movement and quickly disappearing. These sightings lasted mere seconds, unlike tonight's sighting in which the first object remained for 40+ minutes. In conclusion, tonight's sighting of the continuous object with sporadic movement: spat out a smaller light that vanished. A few times very vague trails with its quicker movements. Wish I had binoculars or a telescope. Will invest as I seem to be sighting more and more UFOs lately.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #120919). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.