2001-07-18 - Hattiesburg, MS - Light

Bright, red pulsing object in the north eastern section of the sky.

On 18 July, 2001, at approximately 0445hrs my supervisor and I were on duty at a location approximately 15 miles south of Hattiesburg, MS. We were standing outside of our patrol vehicles. My supervisor called my attention to a "bright star" low in sky to the north east. Upon seeing this very bright, red twinkling object I first thought that it was a planet, then the object faded out and disappeared. We thought that maybe a cloud had passed in front of this object that we were still assuming was a planet or star, although the night was relatively clear as one could plainly see the cresent moon. Approximately five minutes later, this object reappeared at what appeared to be a higher altitude and began to slowly become very dim and then very bright, as if someone were playing with a dimmer switch on a light bulb. I retrieved a pair of 10 by 25 binoculars that I keep with my duty gear and again looked at the object. Through the binoculars, three seperate objects could be seen in a tight triangle formation. By this time, around 0500hrs, vehicles were passing by our location, but noone elese seemed to notice the object, as it looked like a "normal" star unless one watched it for a few minutes and noticed it's strange behavior. At dawn, around 0530hrs, the object seemed to stabilize at a constant brightness and ended the pulsing effect. At 0545hrs, with sufficient sunlight, when looking at the object through my binoculars, the three lights were still distinct, although now they were a bright white color, with what appeared to be some sort of solid object behind them, visible only through the binoculars. At this time, the moon and this object were the only visible objects in the sky, but by this time, if one did not know where to look, one would probably not notice it. By 0600, with the glare of the rising sun, the object was no longer visible. I have six years of law enforcement/security experience, with many nights being spent on the overnight shift. I, nor my supervisor, who has over ten! years e xperience, have never seen anything like this object. I have seen satellites and had an astronomy course in college and do not remember studying any know heavenly objects visible from earth that act in this manner. Approximately six months ago I did see something similar but dismissed it as an aircraft or figment of my imagination because it only lasted a few seconds.