Hey everyone,

I just got back from vacation at Perdido Key, Florida. Last night while going crab hunting on the beach with my wife and daughter - I decided to watch the night sky a bit (it was around 9:30pm), looking out toward the gulf which is pretty south. Well, lo' and behold - I spotted a fain star like light headed due north. It caught my eye pretty fast since I was standing still and focusing my eyes on one star in which I saw this object move slowly.

Now, this object was extremely high and was moving faster than a normal aircraft (It had no strobes just a solid faint white-gray color). I kept my eye on it as it moved north and over the beach and alerted my wife to check it out. We were watching it go north still and my wife mentioned that it looks like it is "stuttering" as in it wasn't moving in a consistent line. Sure enough, I focused my eyes on it more and it indeed looked like it was "popping" or "skipping" it's way forward, like extremely short speed bursts.

We watched it continue over the beach and the light pollution was making it more difficult to keep track when it did an unexpected thing - the object got brighter. It brightened up to about the size of mars for a couple seconds and then faded down it's original brightness. After about twenty seconds, the object started to dim in and out and faded away completely.

After witnessing this event, I started to process logical things but none really came to mind other than a satellite. The explanation of it being a satellite didn't fit because of it's usual characteristics such as the "skipping" and brightening up behavior.

Now for the second object, it appeared not too long after the first event. This object came from the same direction as the first, which was out of the gulf heading due north. The object was the same brightness and was moving at the same speed as the first. This one had the same "skipping" motion of movement but did not get brighter as the first one did. We followed it with our eyes and it faded out shortly after it was inland.

I could be wrong, it could've been something explainable but judging from it's characteristics, it doesn't seem to fit in with current civilian aircraft. I wish I had pictures to upload, but I don't. My wife and I tried getting pictures with our iPhone 4s but the object was too faint to pick up.

Anyways, I thought you ATSers would like to hear about it - so here it is.

Also: Perdido Key is not far from Gulf Breeze, where the string of UFO sightings occurred in the late 80's. There's also quite a few military installations in the area.

Satellite!!
Thats what it sounds like anyway!

Originally posted by zerozero00
Satellite!!
Thats what it sounds like anyway!

That's what I initially thought, but the whole getting brighter thing and it fading out in pulses didn't fit well with it. The movement alone was odd, I've never seen a satellite have "skipping" movement. Also, how many satellites move in a south to north trajectory?