Two objects flying in formation over Orange County
At about 9:15pm my family had concluded dinner at a friend's house and I was trying to correct the sighting scope on my friend's telescope, so that my son could use it more easily. I had used some distant city lights from his hilltop ome, and had then turned the telescope East to run a test against the brightest object in the Eastern sky. The brightest star (I could probably figure it out on sky charts) visible through the city lights stood about 30-35 degrees above the horizon, due East. As I positioned the scope so that the target came into the cross-hairs of the sighting scope, my son exited the house and stated that it was 9:23, and he needed to get home to study. At that precise moment, two faint lights, similar to stars traversed the field of view, due North to due South, of the sighting scope above and below the target star. Using the moon as a reference of 5%, I would estimate that the two lights were about 2 - 3% apart, with the leading light about 1% below the trailing light. When they passed above and below the target star, the target star did not blink out. I looked around the sighting scope to see if I could pick up the stars with my naked eye. I was not wearing my glasses, but could make out a slight, dull blur about where the two lights should be. I returned to the sighting scope and picked the lights back up once again. They continued to travel in the same direction and at the same speed. I called my son over and pointed up to the are where the lights should be, hoping to take advantage of his better eyesight. He could not find the objects before they disappeared behind the roofline. This house sits right amidst the approach lanes into John Wayne Airport in Orange County. At the same time, about 6 airplanes were in the sky for comparison. If these were aircraft lights, the aircraft would have to be at 30,000 feet (not the couple of thousand that is typical for that close to the airport), be two planes flying in locked formation (to maintain position with respect to one another) and not one (because the target star was not obscured by their passing), and each would have to have a single warning light (white) in operation. Has I been able to see the objects from horizon to horizon in open land, it would have taken the objects about 30 - 45 seconds to travers the entire sky at their observed speed.
At about 9:15pm my family had concluded dinner at a friend's house and I was trying to correct the sighting scope on my friend's telescope, so that my son could use it more easily. I had used some distant city lights from his hilltop ome, and had then turned the telescope East to run a test against the brightest object in the Eastern sky. The brightest star (I could probably figure it out on sky charts) visible through the city lights stood about 30-35 degrees above the horizon, due East. As I positioned the scope so that the target came into the cross-hairs of the sighting scope, my son exited the house and stated that it was 9:23, and he needed to get home to study. At that precise moment, two faint lights, similar to stars traversed the field of view, due North to due South, of the sighting scope above and below the target star. Using the moon as a reference of 5%, I would estimate that the two lights were about 2 - 3% apart, with the leading light about 1% below the trailing light. When they passed above and below the target star, the target star did not blink out. I looked around the sighting scope to see if I could pick up the stars with my naked eye. I was not wearing my glasses, but could make out a slight, dull blur about where the two lights should be. I returned to the sighting scope and picked the lights back up once again. They continued to travel in the same direction and at the same speed. I called my son over and pointed up to the are where the lights should be, hoping to take advantage of his better eyesight. He could not find the objects before they disappeared behind the roofline. This house sits right amidst the approach lanes into John Wayne Airport in Orange County. At the same time, about 6 airplanes were in the sky for comparison. If these were aircraft lights, the aircraft would have to be at 30,000 feet (not the couple of thousand that is typical for that close to the airport), be two planes flying in locked formation (to maintain position with respect to one another) and not one (because the target star was not obscured by their passing), and each would have to have a single warning light (white) in operation. Has I been able to see the objects from horizon to horizon in open land, it would have taken the objects about 30 - 45 seconds to travers the entire sky at their observed speed.
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Orange
USA
15 seconds
15 seconds
33.80
-117.83
light
CA
Occurred : 6/25/2000 21:23 (Entered as : 06/25/00 21:23) Reported: 6/26/2000 14:41 Posted: 7/11/2000 Location: Orange, CA Shape: Light Duration: 15 seconds
Two objects flying in formation over Orange County