SIGHTING: SUNDERLAND, MASSACHUSETTS (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I was watching the moon on june 4 at 9pm, a nearly full moon, and a partly cloudy night. then i saw a pulsating/rotating light showing through a thin patch of clouds. it remained in place for about 5-10 seconds, then stopped. i watched for a while to see if anything would exit the cloud patch, but saw nothing, though i did not have full view of the entire cloud. the lights were consistent with the pattern you'd expect from an object with a ring of lights around it's edge, rotating. it was fairly large, roughly the angular size of the moon, and just above the clouds. using the angular size of the moon and approximate altitude of stratocumulus clouds (which i estimate to be the cloud type), of about 7000ft, i estimate the objects size to be between 60 - 200ft. i've watched the sky for many years, having an interest in space and studying physics, and i've seen many strange, but explainable things; satellites, nasa rocket launches, all types of lightning. this was something i could not explain. the nearest thing even remotely similar would be lightning, however, there are some issues with that. facts in favor of lightning: a light seen in/behind a cloud facts against lightning: there were no thunderstorms that night, and no other flashes of lightning were seen throughout the night. the pattern of light was not a flash, it did not light up the cloud, it did not have any bolts or streaking. it was a strobing/rotating light, which was steady for about 5-10 seconds. there was no thunder. lightning is not typical to this type of cloud, though the type of cloud (stratocumulus) is only my best estimate. "