I Know What I Saw

On December 2, 2010, sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time I saw something in the sky. I was facing a southeasterly direction in my backyard. It was a very clear sky; no haze, no clouds. Just me and the stars.

I had already finished one glass of wine and was working on my second. I decided to go out the back door to have a smoke. It was tobacco, by the way. I'm always looking at the stars. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash. Nothing spectacular, but it caught my attention. So I looked in that specific direction expecting to see an airplane passing over high up. Since the lights on airplanes flash about every one to two seconds, I was already curious when it took longer to see the light a second time.

For reference, while facing southeast, there is a star in the top of the constellation Monoceros, just below the left foot of the left sister in Gemini. At the time of this blog, I do not know this star's name or designation.

So after a period of more than two seconds I begin to think I just imagined it when I see the flash again. It was at 10 o'clock from this, as yet, unnamed star. I kept my eyes on that part of the sky. I see the flash again and I begin measuring the time intervals by counting 1-one thousand, 2-one thousand, 3-one thousand, etc. I counted 8 seconds and then another flash. It was more brilliant than Betelgeuse, which was close by and to the right, but no brighter than the marker lights on an airplane. I kept measuring the intervals and found that they were  between 8 to 12 seconds apart; and the light source was NOT moving; it was stationary in the sky, fixed at 10 o'clock from the same star.

I watched this phenomenon for about 5 minutes. I see a shooting star to my left, and shortly after, another to my right. Okay, I think I just ruled out any sort of meteorite. I'm pretty certain it's not a satellite because I've seen plenty of those over the years. Satellites are usually seen within a few hours after sunset. We're way past that time frame. And this light source is still NOT moving.

Now, I don't necessarily "believe" in UFOs, and I'm not the kind of person to categorically neigh-say, but a lot of people are experiencing something. That being said, my next thought was "Okay, so maybe we're dealing with a UFO"; in the truest sense of the acronym, only I can't rightly use the word "flying" since the object is not moving. But let's go down that path. UFO enthusiasts, hunters, and supposed contactees have said that, in a lot of cases, using a flash light is an effective means to get a UFO's attention and to get them to come in closer. So, I get a flash light.

Each time I see the flash I do the same in return with my flash light. The 8 to 12 second intervals do not change. After doing this a few times, I give two flashes for every one that I see. Again, no change in the object's intervals.

After working my flash light for several minutes, I do notice a change: the light flashes in the sky begin to get dimmer and dimmer with each subsequent occurrence. Eventually the object dims and ceases to flash.

For the record I have considered the idea that I could have seen a pulsar, but with the naked eye? Maybe. But I would also think that pulsars would be more consistent in their timing, not that I had a 100% consistent method for measuring time during my experience. But then, pulsars are not fly-by-night events. They last for a very long time, like eons.

For the past two nights, I've gone into my backyard looking at the same point in the sky hoping to see it again. And I find nothing. So, I never saw any flying triangles, circles, or cigar shaped craft. And definitely no little  green men. But I did see a light in the sky that I have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation for. I'm open to any suggestions.

Thanks for reading