2003-12-25 - Indianapolis, IN - Other

Gathering of six objects with pulsating red and white lights, no sound, broke into 2 groups of 3 traveling in different directions.

I observed a gathering of 6 red and white pulsating objects that were in a loose formation when I first observed them. There were two outer red lights with a white light in the center of each of the objects. The formation then broke into 2 groups of 3. 3 moved to the west, the other 3 moved to the southeast. From our vantage point from a second story apartment balcony, I would estimate that the objects were approximately (at first) 15 -20 miles to the northwest at an altitude of approx. 5 - 10 thousand feet. The objects appeared to travel at a steady pace; somewhat faster than would an airliner. The westward moving objects went out of visual range within about 3 minutes. The three ojbects moving to the southeast passed just to the west of the apartment complex. It also seemed that two of the objects passing over the area where we were were gaining altitude, while the third remained at consistent level. There was no sound that could be heard from the objects. As they were passing above us, I pointed out a high flying airliner to my friend, to compare the difference of the airliner's running lights as compared to the objects. The original formation's exact location would most likely have been about 2 -3 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis.One interesting point is that while I was in route to the apartment complex, I noticed airliners coming in to the airport on their regular flight paths with what looked to me to be extremely - almost excessive - displays of brilliant "collision" lights. They were so bright that when I spotted the first one, I wasn't sure if I was actually seeing an in-coming aircraft or a brilliant UFO. This would have been about 30 minutes prior to the sighting of the formation from the balcony. On my way home, at about 9 PM, I couldn't help but noticed that all large in-coming aircraft to Indianapolis International were displaying the same "excessive" brilliance as the ones that I had seen about an hour before. This causes me to wonder if what we saw from the ! balcony was only the final minutes of an episode that had gone on in the skies above the city for some time. I have seeen UFO's before this incident, and would like to think of myself as a seasoned "sky watcher". I have become familiar with aircraft standard night time appearnces and proceedures in the area. From the points mentioned in the above despription, I would have to say that there was nothing "standard" regarding the brilliance of the aircraft or the appearance, movement, and formation of the unknown objects.