Bright light attracts 8 planes
At approximately 8:30 Wednsday night October 15, 2003 I was setting up my telescope and ccd with my daughter. She noticed a bright light and asked me what it was. It was below and to the left of mars(I was looking SE at the time)and shining at the same or slightly brighter magnitude than Mars. I looked in my software to verify that there was not a star/object that bright in that area. After I verified in my software(The Sky) that there was nothing of that magnitude other than Mars in that area of sky, I went to set my telescope up to try and photograph the object. It was at this time that the object disappeared. We then noticed approaching out of the east some red/blue blinking lights. As they got closer we could tell that there was 8 planes flying two abreast. Two continued heading west, two circled around overhead, two went south, and two more went north. This continued on for about 30 minutes with the planes continuing to fly back and forth, always two side by side. About 15 minutes after the first planes appeared, helicopters were heard but never seen. The planes were witnessed by myself, my daughter, and my neighbor(who came out to water his dog); however my daughter and I were the only ones to see the initial light.
At approximately 8:30 Wednsday night October 15, 2003 I was setting up my telescope and ccd with my daughter. She noticed a bright light and asked me what it was. It was below and to the left of mars(I was looking SE at the time)and shining at the same or slightly brighter magnitude than Mars. I looked in my software to verify that there was not a star/object that bright in that area. After I verified in my software(The Sky) that there was nothing of that magnitude other than Mars in that area of sky, I went to set my telescope up to try and photograph the object. It was at this time that the object disappeared. We then noticed approaching out of the east some red/blue blinking lights. As they got closer we could tell that there was 8 planes flying two abreast. Two continued heading west, two circled around overhead, two went south, and two more went north. This continued on for about 30 minutes with the planes continuing to fly back and forth, always two side by side. About 15 minutes after the first planes appeared, helicopters were heard but never seen. The planes were witnessed by myself, my daughter, and my neighbor(who came out to water his dog); however my daughter and I were the only ones to see the initial light.
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Knoxville
USA
30 minutes
30 minutes
35.95
-84.01
light
TN
Occurred : 10/15/2003 20:30 (Entered as : 10/15/2003 20:30) Reported: 10/16/2003 5:57:27 AM 05:57 Posted: 10/17/2003 Location: Knoxville, TN Shape: Light Duration: 30 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Bright light attracts 8 planes