POMPTON LAKES NEW JERSEY
My wife and I were walking down the street to go to a restaurant. I was looking up to see if there were any meteors because some were expected this day. I then saw a bright star like object moving across the sky like a satellite, but a bit brighter than a satellite given it wasn’t crystal clear enough to see satellites so easily – I tracked it behind trees as we walked but looked forward to a clearing ahead to point it out to my wife. 30 seconds later we got to the spot and I stopped her to point up at the small high up light. At that point, stopped on the sidewalk we both shouted out in surpise – it wasn’t following a normal trajectory, it started turning sharply then reversed direction very fast, like an insect flying.
It then disappeared from my view totally but my wife was looking toward a point of the sky where she was able to see it for a few more seconds, before she said it moved back and forth a little bit before taking off at an impossibly fast speed. It was very far away, not a satellite and not a meteor, also not a planet – I’m an amateur astronomer and Jupiter was very bright and right next to the moon at the time – in fact it was one of the brightest moon nights I’ve ever seen, so perhaps the moon reflection is the source of light on whatever it was. Mostly disbelieving my own eyes. Still trying to come up with explanations like my own dizziness that made stars seem to move around or something, and I might have convinced myself if not for the 2nd witness confirmation of everything I saw and more. Just very interesting really. I really just want to know from someone if anyone else saw something like this on this night.
This case is being investigated by Ken Pfeifer Chief Investigator for MUFON in New Jersey.
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I used to live in Pompton Lakes. On a clear night, about 3 years ago, I was in my backyard looking at the stars with my fiance. I saw something that looked like a bright star, but it suddenly began to move in a strange zig-zag pattern. It moved back and forth very quickly. I said to him, “Do you see that?!!” Apparently he did, because he got scared and pulled me into the house before I could finish watching.