Appearance / Description of Object(s)

See above.

Size of Object(s)

Original size a dot of light. At brightest, it seemed about 10-20 times larger than Jupiter and much brighter.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

Very distant.

Description of Area / Surroundings

Suburban area with some nearby street lights and a couple of cars passing by.

Full Description & Details

While outside to get the newspaper I noticed how clear and bright the stars and Jupiter (I think) were in the early morning sky. I was looking at the constellation Orion when I noticed a small white object travelling through Orion down towards the southern horizon. It reminded me of times I've watched satellites cross the night sky. However this one did something I have never seen before. It started to increase in brightness as if it were burning up. After about 3-5 seconds it became as bright as a meteor. It then retrurned to its original brightness and continued on its path. After about 1 minute it faded until I could no longer track it. The whole time it continued on its original trajectory.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

My guess is that this was either a satellite or a meteor although I have never seen a meteor move so slowly and I have never seen a satellite flair up to become very bright in the sky.

Witness Background

Software Developer, Manager, Consultant.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

No strong views. I have read a couple of books about UFO's.

Other Comments

I'd like to know if this is normal satellite behavior.

Reported Sighting? 

Reported To: 

Your Location: 

Additional Information or Comments by the Editor:

UFOEvidence.org editor's note: This is an 'iridium flare' - a kind of satellite.