San Luis Valley Experiences Sighting Events
The first reports come from a longtime SLV skywatcher, the second detailed report(s) were witnessed by members of the San Luis Valley Camera Surveillance Project.
For the past two years a team of independent investigators (in conjunction with Orange County MUFON) have been planning a seven-camera surveillance set-up to monitor Colorado’s San Luis Valley. In October 2011, the first of these cameras became operational in the center of the SLV at a base station location near Hooper, CO. These cameras are hi-rez Sony surveillance cameras with 36X optical zoom and can be operated remotely over the internet.
On December 30, 2011 we had our first unusual sighting event that was recorded for analysis.
“December 31, 2011 @ around 8:30 PM. My wife and I watched a rare light show! The lights were Emerald green with a boomerang shape... This is the second sighting we have seen this past week... both happened here near Center, Colorado. A lot has been going on [in the San Luis Valley] this past week... If you are still investigating I am still keeping an eye in the sky. I am now armed with a video camera.”
Two of our team members, Wayne (an amateur astronomer) and Andrew (an electrical engineer) shared the following sighting events that were recorded:
“Tonight [at 2236 PST, Friday 12/30/2011] may well have been the most dramatic UFO sighting of my life. Although I've had a couple of sightings, I can explain them away by mundane means. This one was being recorded in RealShot manager while both Wayne and I (and my 11 year old daughter) watched the live feed from the Hooper camera - and it was awesome.
“Wayne confirms, via playback, that the recording is solid…Here's what happened:
“Wayne called me to announce that there was some funny business going on around 2236 PST, Friday 12/30/2011. A bright object had split in two and the independent parts had gone their own way. I got my camera feed up a few minutes later and I (later) determined that we were now observing Mars (I recommend pbs.org sky chart for this - free and no registration). Nothing untoward for me to see myself. Just a few minutes later at 2303 PST the event occurred. Note this is from memory for now. A very bright object (WAY brighter than Mars) entered frame left and traveled within a couple of seconds horizontally across to exit frame right. Cruise velocity was constant. We almost didn't see it as it was almost off the top of the frame. The direction was pretty much directly east, towards the Great Sand Dunes… The elevation was estimated to be at about 45 degrees or perhaps lower. Did not have visibility of the Blanca massif. Zoom was nominal - about 3 bars on the control. No FAA lights or other identifying signs of anything other than a bright light. We were running MPEG4 at 30 fps, and there was no slow shutter or other light/time integration enabled. So what we saw was pretty much realtime.
“The noteworthy characteristic was that three times it stopped dead and left a bright blob behind directly where it had stopped, and then immediately restarted. No deceleration to a stop was noticeable, and neither was any acceleration back up to cruising speed. It just stopped on a dime for an instant to leave its blob, and started back up immediately. So the final image in my mind was a row of three bright equidistant blobs and this thing racing off towards the south, exit frame right. The blobs faded out, having remained in place, within a couple of seconds, maybe less.”
The following day, two “jet black Blackhawk” helicopters were reported headed down the Rio Grande river (north to south). Normally, military choppers fly south to north in the SLV, so this flight path appeared somewhat unusual. Later that evening we had the green bolide event that was witnessed by many across the southwest.
The first reports come from a longtime SLV skywatcher, the second detailed report(s) were witnessed by members of the San Luis Valley Camera Surveillance Project.
For the past two years a team of independent investigators (in conjunction with Orange County MUFON) have been planning a seven-camera surveillance set-up to monitor Colorado’s San Luis Valley. In October 2011, the first of these cameras became operational in the center of the SLV at a base station location near Hooper, CO. These cameras are hi-rez Sony surveillance cameras with 36X optical zoom and can be operated remotely over the internet.
On December 30, 2011 we had our first unusual sighting event that was recorded for analysis.
“December 31, 2011 @ around 8:30 PM. My wife and I watched a rare light show! The lights were Emerald green with a boomerang shape... This is the second sighting we have seen this past week... both happened here near Center, Colorado. A lot has been going on [in the San Luis Valley] this past week... If you are still investigating I am still keeping an eye in the sky. I am now armed with a video camera.”
Two of our team members, Wayne (an amateur astronomer) and Andrew (an electrical engineer) shared the following sighting events that were recorded:
“Tonight [at 2236 PST, Friday 12/30/2011] may well have been the most dramatic UFO sighting of my life. Although I've had a couple of sightings, I can explain them away by mundane means. This one was being recorded in RealShot manager while both Wayne and I (and my 11 year old daughter) watched the live feed from the Hooper camera - and it was awesome.
“Wayne confirms, via playback, that the recording is solid…Here's what happened:
“Wayne called me to announce that there was some funny business going on around 2236 PST, Friday 12/30/2011. A bright object had split in two and the independent parts had gone their own way. I got my camera feed up a few minutes later and I (later) determined that we were now observing Mars (I recommend pbs.org sky chart for this - free and no registration). Nothing untoward for me to see myself. Just a few minutes later at 2303 PST the event occurred. Note this is from memory for now. A very bright object (WAY brighter than Mars) entered frame left and traveled within a couple of seconds horizontally across to exit frame right. Cruise velocity was constant. We almost didn't see it as it was almost off the top of the frame. The direction was pretty much directly east, towards the Great Sand Dunes… The elevation was estimated to be at about 45 degrees or perhaps lower. Did not have visibility of the Blanca massif. Zoom was nominal - about 3 bars on the control. No FAA lights or other identifying signs of anything other than a bright light. We were running MPEG4 at 30 fps, and there was no slow shutter or other light/time integration enabled. So what we saw was pretty much realtime.
“The noteworthy characteristic was that three times it stopped dead and left a bright blob behind directly where it had stopped, and then immediately restarted. No deceleration to a stop was noticeable, and neither was any acceleration back up to cruising speed. It just stopped on a dime for an instant to leave its blob, and started back up immediately. So the final image in my mind was a row of three bright equidistant blobs and this thing racing off towards the south, exit frame right. The blobs faded out, having remained in place, within a couple of seconds, maybe less.”
The following day, two “jet black Blackhawk” helicopters were reported headed down the Rio Grande river (north to south). Normally, military choppers fly south to north in the SLV, so this flight path appeared somewhat unusual. Later that evening we had the green bolide event that was witnessed by many across the southwest.
