Fireball over Manson, WA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
My wife and I were sitting on our deck looking out at Lake Chelan when we noticed a bright light sitting stationary on the water. The light looked like a giant bonfire in the middle of the lake but without the smoke. The light was orange and yellow and changed shape as we watched it, almost like a flame changing shape as it burns. This light appeared at the same time, and in the same place, two nights in a row. I thought it was a reflection from the sun but the sun was setting in the west and we were looking south. After 20-30 minutes the light disappeared.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #170138). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2022-06-21 → 2022-07-08
From the same sky
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December 12, 2021 · 5:15 PM · LIGHT
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May 13, 2020 · 12:00 AM · LIGHT
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I, my daughter, and two of my adult granddaughters were vacationing on Lake Chelan this past week. We'd rented a vacation home there (we were SO over the stay home orders and lockdown and needed a break). Wednesday night we were down on the beach and had built a fire in the fire pit. It was a beautiful clear night and, due to a lack of light pollution, we could see the Milky Way. We were listening to music, enjoying the fire, our conversation, and just being together when we noticed a really bright star that got brighter as we watched. We were facing SE on that beach., the lake was calm and reflecting the lights of the homes across it like a mirror. We soon realized it was not a star, because it was moving slowly toward us. It was quite large and brighter than Venus, which planet had gone out of sight a bit earlier that evening, when we first spotted it. At first it got larger and brighter, then as it moved toward the NE it slowly dimmed and appeared to get smaller and smaller until it disappeared from our sight, as if it had gone into space or just disappeared. It moved quite slowly but steadily. and was in view for about 10 minutes, perhaps longer. We are avid sky watchers and are familiar with satellites, planes, choppers, the space station, and drones, it was none of those; it was much slower than any of those move across the sky and we could hear nothing after turning off the music to check. All of us kept saying to the others "Are you seeing this?" and of course, we all were. I'm not exactly certain what time it was; obviously, it was after 9 PM, because it was full dark and Venus had gone behind the hills to the NE quite a bit earlier. It was before midnight because my daughter headed to bed at midnight and that was at least an hour after the sighting. Nor am I absolutely certain how long it remained in view though it seemed to us to be about 10 minutes, but none of us are very good at judging the passage of time, so it's merely a guess.
July 31, 2019 · 9:52 PM · LIGHT
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Four of us star/planet gazing. Checking out Jupiter with binoculars in attempt to see its moons. Jupiter was almost due south, maybe a few degrees east of due south. Guessing 20 degrees above horizon. Turned away for a second, other 3 witnesses started saying "what is that". Look again toward Jupiter. (unit for distance I will use the width of thumbnail at arm's length). About 1 unit left (east) of Jupiter and 2 or 3 below, two bright lights had now appeared, one exactly over the other. Spacing between the two lights was one unit or very close. Brightness of each was not quite as bright as Jupiter, or brighter than the few stars around Jupiter. Motion, barely detectable, but I felt they were moving north. The top one dimmed out in about 3 to 4 seconds, and then the bottom one dimmed out in the same amount of time. Checked phone app, could not find any satellites to match this close pair. Found some that were about a minute and a half ap! art on the app I have, but nothing found being that close together. One witness perceived their height to be lower than jet liner altitudes. I could not tell. My perception of their speed, after spotting satellites for years, is that they were moving far slower than the usual satellites I see. We did see the ISS at 22:25 hours as well.
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Manson, WA
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July 4, 2011 · 9:40 PM · CIRCLE
Manson, WA
Unidentified object fades from sight above Lake Chelan near Manson WA