2012-06-17 - Chicago, IL - Light

Mysterious pink/purple orbs in the Chicago night sky traveling at great speed and high altitude.

I was standing outside my house on Chicago's Far Northwest Side approximately twenty minutes before midnight on Father's Day, 2012. I routinely see two stars on a diagonal line in the southwest sky each evening and, when I glanced up into the sky, I thought I saw these stars in a new position. But I was in error; the 'stars' were visibly two pink or purple lights, approximately two to three inches apart (using my fingers as a measuring instrument), one directly behind the other. The lights didn't blink, but they weren't constant, either. They appeared to pulsate, and the lights were rather dim. From the moment I first noticed them, their transit took approximately twenty to thirty seconds. I couldn't detect any shape of aircraft, there was no sound, and visibility was very good - no clouds or other distractions were in view. Given the precision with which the lights were following one another, I originally thought they might be emanating from one craft. But the second light suddenly picked up speed and either 'joined' the first light or flew frightening close to the first light as its 'wingman'. I have no way of determining the altitude these craft were flying but, given the clear night, lack of sound and inability to detect any shape behind the lights, I would assume they were flying at a very high altitude. And if this is the case, they were indeed traveling at an enormous rate of speed.

I live a few miles from O'Hare International Airport, and my family and I are accustomed to seeing aircraft in their final approach and take-off from the airport every five minutes or so almost constantly. The sky was quite busy tonight with inbound/outbound aircraft, but these hazy pink orbs were not coming from O'Hare, nor were they headed toward the airport. Their flight plan was very obviously in contrast to any local aircraft traffic in this area, and could very well have posed a hazard to navigation for the surrounding pilots.

These were not helicopters, flares, ultralights or any other aircraft known to me. I am unaware of pink or purple lights used on any commercial or private aircraft, nor am I aware of any FAA regulations permitting such colors to be used within extremely close proximity to the nation's second-busiest airport.

I would very much like to uncover exactly what these lights were. I am a veteran Navy intelligence officer and have two combat deployments to my credit. I have over sixteen years worth of experience with a wide array of aircraft, and yet I have never seen anything like this before.