Encounter at Karratha, Western Australia

Hi all,

Introduction

In the process of collecting reports from Western Australia, I heard from a Karratha resident about an incident which occurred to him in 2010. He kindly provided me with the following details.

Courtesy Google maps

The encounter

"Driving to an 8am meeting at DPA in October 2010 from Karratha (it was the same day and year that everyone in New York saw heaps of white orbs above New York – I found this out much later, a year or two later on the internet). There was no-one on the road as everyone on the Burrup Peninsula goes to work at around 6:30am and this was at 8am.

Came just past airport looked east and saw a strange object hovering (white, shaped like a lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear) over water to the north of the airport just around (South and slightly west) from Hearsons cove (the object seemed to be about 1km away but actually on Google earth it measures more like 3km and I estimated its size to be a football field long – about 150m).

I thought “what is that?” and initially thought “it can’t be a ufo it’s not a disk or cigar shape” thought it must be perhaps new grandstands at the speedway but I could see underneath so it didn’t make sense. My mind then became confused trying to work out what it was. I carried on out along the Burrup rd as was very close to meeting time with the DPA.

About ¾ along Burrup Rd I suddenly saw a light grey sphere rise up straight from behind the hill (where the first object would have been). It then proceeded to travel from there across the south of BFPL fertiliser plant over KBIE hover for a while and then it sped off out north over DPA to sea (either sped away or shrunk to nothing, hard to say) I remember groping for camera and realised all I had was new S2 Samsung phone which takes ages to get into camera and would have taken too long. Besides I didn’t want to stop or draw attention to myself in case it was aggressive but it didn’t give off aggressive vibes necessarily. When I got home that evening after work I told the wife about the whole thing. I think she thought I was mad but I know what I saw."

Questions

After reading the above, I formulated a number of questions, which my correspondent kindly answered in detail. I present these below.

Q1 Does DPA stand for Dampier Port Authority?

A1." Yes. Now the PPA (Pilbara Ports Authority)."

"There was no-one on the road as everyone on the Burrup Peninsula goes to work at around 6:30am and this was at 8am."

Q2 May I just clarify, was the meeting at 8am and so your observation was sometime before 8am? If so, can you estimate the time of the start of the observation? (I will then use an astronomical program to determine the exact elevation and azimuth of the Sun at that time.)

A2. "Meeting was at 8:00am but I had contacted client saying I was going to be 15 minutes late. I was in a great rush). Start of observation was from about 8:05am and finished at about 8:10am. With a 3-4 min gap in between where the lipstick shape object went out of view and the grey sphere came into view."

"Came just past airport looked east and saw a strange object hovering (white, shaped like a lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear) over water to the north of the airport just around (South and slightly west) from Hearsons cove."

Q3 Have you ever drawn this object on paper? If not, would you be able to? (It seems a most unusual shape.) If you can, could you then send me a scanned copy of the sketch? Thank you.

A3. "Refer attached PDF."

"(the object seemed to be about 1km away but actually on Google earth it measures more like 3km and I estimated its size to be a football field long – about 150m)."

Q4 Do you estimate the distance to the object, by assuming it is stationary over some precise geographic point? If, so over which point?

A4. "The Dampier Salt Eastern Salt Ponds and the nearby Quarry. Also the airport to the south."

Q5 Can you estimate the angular size of the object by reference to the size of the full Moon on the horizon .

A5. "0.5 degrees."

Q6 Can you estimate its angular elevation above the horizon?

A6. " It seemed to be at horizon level almost, the object seemed to be hovering about 20’ above the ground."

"I thought “what is that?” and initially thought “it can’t be a ufo it’s not a disk or cigar shape” thought it must be perhaps new grandstands at the speedway but I could see underneath so it didn’t make sense. My mind then became confused trying to work out what it was.

"I carried on out along the Burrup rd as was very close to meeting time with the DPA."

"About ¾ along Burrup Rd I suddenly saw a light grey sphere rise up straight from behind the hill (where the first object would have been)."

Q7 Did the hill hide your view of the lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear object?

A7. "Yes."

Q8 Is this 3/4 of the way between Karratha and Dampier?

A8. " No just that road. It is point C on the attached PDF and I meant ¾ to the turn off to the DPA but it was more like ½ way after drawing it out. "

Q9 At what point did you lose sight of the white, shaped like a lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear object?

A9. "At point A."

Q10 I take it you did not simultaneously see both the white, shaped like a lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear object and the light grey sphere?

A10. "No I first saw the sphere at point C (it popped up from behind the hills at point D) and last saw it at point E (it sped off or disappeared to nothing at point F).It floated across from D to F very slowly and I watched it the whole time."

Q12 Do you mean that the light grey sphere was now in same direction that the lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear object would have been if you could still see it? A12. "Close. Refer attached. I may have the positioning of the two objects slightly wrong. It’s possible it came from the same place."

Q13 What was the angular size of the light grey sphere by reference to the size of the full Moon on the horizon (0.5 degrees)?

A13. "20-25 degrees say."

"It then proceeded to travel from there across the south of BFPL fertiliser plant over KBIE hover for a while and then it sped off out north over DPA to sea (either sped away or shrunk to nothing, hard to say)"

Q14 Can you estimate the total time duration of your observation of the white, shaped like a lipstick container on its side with a dark grey disk sticking half out of rear object?

A14. "Maybe 30 seconds to a minute."

Q15 Can you estimate the total time duration of your observation of the light grey sphere?

A15. "Maybe 30 seconds."