16 orange "fireballs" of light seen on Christmas Eve, 2010.
December 24, 2010
Approximately 7:30 PM
Gainesville, VA.
My husband and I were watching TV in our living room, that is in the east part of the house, when he saw some very strange orange lights coming into view through the window. He ran outside, yelled at me to come out on the deck, and I ran to join him, along with our seven year old daughter.
Up in the eastern sky were small, orange spheres of light, silently and slowly flying to the west. Each one (we counted 16 in all) was perfectly and evenly spaced from the others, glowing a bright orange, and each one banked to the north at the exact same point in the sky. The night was completely still, cold, no wind, and as far as we know, there were no other witnesses, even though we live in a highly populated suburb.
My husband, an aerospace engineer/physicist, ran inside to grab a pair of binoculars to get a better look at them. At first he thought they were Chinese lanterns, but upon closer examination with the field glasses, he could ascertain no form, no type of material whatsoever, in their makeup. They appeared to be made of light. Also, they did not vary in altitude or waiver in any direction, as might be the case if there had been a current of wind that could affect them.
They were completely silent, and really beautiful to watch. I am not a good judge of altitude, unfortunately, but I would estimate that they were about a thousand feet up, and at that height, appeared to about the size of a basketball in the sky. They came in groups of two, then four, but all precisely spaced apart. We saw 16 in all, but I suspect that we had missed the first groupings.
Our seven year old was entranced by them, and yelled her opinion of the event with great awe: "Santa Claus!!"
December 24, 2010
Approximately 7:30 PM
Gainesville, VA.
My husband and I were watching TV in our living room, that is in the east part of the house, when he saw some very strange orange lights coming into view through the window. He ran outside, yelled at me to come out on the deck, and I ran to join him, along with our seven year old daughter.
Up in the eastern sky were small, orange spheres of light, silently and slowly flying to the west. Each one (we counted 16 in all) was perfectly and evenly spaced from the others, glowing a bright orange, and each one banked to the north at the exact same point in the sky. The night was completely still, cold, no wind, and as far as we know, there were no other witnesses, even though we live in a highly populated suburb.
My husband, an aerospace engineer/physicist, ran inside to grab a pair of binoculars to get a better look at them. At first he thought they were Chinese lanterns, but upon closer examination with the field glasses, he could ascertain no form, no type of material whatsoever, in their makeup. They appeared to be made of light. Also, they did not vary in altitude or waiver in any direction, as might be the case if there had been a current of wind that could affect them.
They were completely silent, and really beautiful to watch. I am not a good judge of altitude, unfortunately, but I would estimate that they were about a thousand feet up, and at that height, appeared to about the size of a basketball in the sky. They came in groups of two, then four, but all precisely spaced apart. We saw 16 in all, but I suspect that we had missed the first groupings.
Our seven year old was entranced by them, and yelled her opinion of the event with great awe: "Santa Claus!!"
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Gainesville
USA
15 minutes
15 minutes
38.82
-77.62
circle
VA
Occurred : 12/24/2010 19:30 (Entered as : 12/24/10 19:30) Reported: 7/13/2012 12:53:21 PM 12:53 Posted: 8/5/2012 Location: Gainesville, VA Shape: Circle Duration: 15 minutes
16 orange "fireballs" of light seen on Christmas Eve, 2010.