2011-02-02 - Seattle, WA - Fireball

Three orange lights over northeast Seattle

We were leaving a residence in northeast Seattle in the Wedgewood area, not far from Lake Washington at about 9:30 pm on February 2, 2011. My son saw the lights first and pointed them out to my daughter and me. He was facing north and we were looking at about a 45 degree angle up into the sky. It was partly cloudy and we were looking at a break in the clouds. There were three bright orange or amber lights in an obtuse triangular shape. None of the sides of the triangle were even. The objects didn’t seem to be going anywhere but there was some movement as if they were hovering. There was no sound. They disappeared one by one. We weren’t certain if they went behind the clouds or went out altogether.

I would describe these lights as fireballs that appeared larger and brighter than stars and planets and they gave the appearance of being relatively close, as if they were within the atmosphere. I’ve never seen anything like them before.