Background

The following case was submitted to The Black Vault / TBV Investigations on March 17, 2018, the day of the sighting.  It was assigned to Michael Kelly for analysis.

Witness Testimony

The following testimony was submitted by the witness:

“At 0559 3/17/18 I witnessed a large object shaped similar to the space shuttle but much larger enter the atmosphere. At first I thought I was looking at a falling star. I watched and waited for it to disappear but instead it turned bright orange and grew larger and brighter. I started to see a trail of orange sparks behind it. I lost it when it went behind a house. it was still night it was going towards the coast. it lasted 20/30 seconds i was alone, on my morning walk no photos, i didn’t have time to get my phone out I don’t know what this was. I just don’t think it was a plane because I couldn’t find anything about a plane crash on the news.”

The Analysis

by Michael Kelly, TBV Investigations

The description of the object getting larger and brighter as well as shooting off sparks is consistent with an object entering the atmosphere from space. The most likely scenario of an object entering the atmosphere would be a meteor, but other possibilities are satellites or similar artificial objects.

One likely possibility is a piece of the Chinese Tiangong-1 Space Station which crashed to Earth a few weeks after the witness made the sighting. This object broke into pieces and orbited the Earth a few times before crashing down on March 28th in the Pacific Ocean.

It is possible a piece of the space station entered the atmosphere before that date.

Below is a video of the space station as it enters the atmosphere, for reference:

Additional Information:  https://www.space.com/40101-china-space-station-tiangong-1-crashes.html 

As early as January of 2018 USA Today reported that the space station and its debris would likely fall to earth beginning in March, most likely between 43 degrees North and 43 degrees South latitudes. Bakersfield, CA lies at 35.3733° N latitude, so it is not inconceivable that some of the debris from this space station could have been visible from Bakersfield.

Conclusion

Without more information, this object is difficult to identify exactly, but it is almost certainly a meteor or man-made satellite of some kind. It was undoubtedly an object entering Earth’s atmosphere from space, so the possibilities for what the object could be have to exclude anything incapable of being in space like an airplane or hot air balloon.

My best guess is that the object witnessed by the observer was a piece of the Tiangong-1 Space Station.

The post UFO seen over Bakersfield, California – March 17, 2018 first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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Residents reported spotting a mysterious glowing UFO hovering over Bakersfield, California on April 14, 2015. One resident who witnessed the incident submitted a video via Facebook to the local news channel 23ABC Bakersfield.

The witness, Alex Viveros, captured the glowing UFO in the sky over Central Bakersfield off Union Avenue at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday, April 14, 2015.

Although some suggested the light was from an aircraft preparing to land at Meadows Field Airport three miles northwest of Bakersfield, Viveros’ observation that the UFO appeared and disappeared abruptly raised questions about the suggestion.

The video shows the glowing UFO moving slowly in the sky. It stops at a point and hovers briefly. The light also appears to vary in brightness, increasing in intensity for some time.

Based on the observation that the light appeared to stop and hover in the sky, some argued the UFO’s behavior does not support the theory that it was the light of an airplane preparing to land at the nearby airport.

A 23ABC meteorologist, however, insisted that the light could be from an “airplane travelling in the sky and reflecting the sun off the surface of the plane creating the glow.”

A former resident of Bakersfield reportedly supported the meteorologist’s suggestion, writing on the news channel’s Facebook page that the plane was “Final To Runway 30 Right At Oildale International [Meadows Field Airport]. Lots Of Jet Traffic Early In The Morning.”

Open Mind’s Jason McClellan weighed in, saying that when viewed from different perspectives planes sometime appear to stop and hover in the sky as they prepare for landing.

“And Meadows Field Airport is just three miles northwest of Bakersfield. There was morning traffic at the airport around the time of the sighting. So it’s likely that what the witness caught on video was a landing airplane that looked strange because of his vantage point and because of the reflecting sunlight.”

However, McClellan said the explanation was only an “educated guess.”

The sighting is the third in three consecutive months over Bakersfield. Residents reported a sighting on February 14. On March 14, residents reported seeing a mysterious blue light in the night sky.

The latest sighting was reported on April 14.

Some would consider the recurrence of the 14th day of the month significant.

The post Mysterious Glowing UFO Filmed Over Central Bakersfield, California first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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by Lindsey Adams, ABC 23

Several neighbors living off Alderpointe Street near Panama and Gosford in southwest Bakersfield  say they first witnessed a mysterious blue light in the sky back in February, and again in March. Both times they saw it on the 14th.

“I was taking the recycling out to the trash can, and I saw this blue light in the sky, and I thought, that’s kinda bright to be a star, I’ve never seen a blue star be that bright,” said Kelly Castruita.

“Watched it for about 10 minutes, just doing weird stuff, it would turn on and off and it would disappear,” added Kelly’s husband Jeff.

Neighbors said the blue light was about the size of a dime, and started off just above the skyline, and then migrated northwest.

“It pretty much flew, stopped, then started doing some upward motion and downward motion, so I’ve never seen anything like it,” said neighbor Randy Gabriel.

“We’ll see the police helicopters once in a while, or an airplane go by, but nothing like this,” said Ricardo Pantoja, who has been living in the neighborhood for 23 years.

23ABC’s Lindsey Adams took the videos to Senior Deputy Victor Keesey with the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, whose office works closely in conjunction with neighboring Meadows Field Airport.

“I’m not aware of any calls that we’ve received regarding any blue lights, or strange lights in that area. Very seldom, if ever, have I seen anything like it. However, we are in the age of drones now, obviously we have military drones, but we have civilian drones now and drones for purchase, so that is a possibility,” said Senior Deputy Victor Keesey.

“It looked way too high up in the sky to be a drone,” mentioned witness Kelly Castruita.

“It wasn’t a regular airplane or a drone, it was much bigger than what a drone would be, especially at that distance,” added neighbor Ricardo Pantoja.

23ABC got in touch with public affairs at Edwards Air Force Base, and we were told they have not received any calls about the light, but officials mentioned it could be a possible aurora in the sky, or possible testing from Vandenberg.

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