2012-08-11 - Coeburn, VA - Light

Two white lights traveling in lateral directions at high rate of speed seen by two observers in extreme SW VA during meteor shower.

Last night (8/11/2012) from around 2300 until 0030 this morning military time, my husband and I were sitting in our back yard in a rural area of extreme Southwestern Virginia, watching the Perseid meteor shower. I wanted to count the meteors and report the count back to NASA on an Android phone app, so we were intently watching the sky, particularly in the northern direction. We noted several obvious airplanes which passed throughout the approximately one and a half hours we were meteor-watching and we saw approximately 25 meteors, which were quite obvious.

At approximately 2350, I noted a light in the northwestern area over the mountains, which seemed to appear from nowhere, traveling at a very high rate of speed, in comparison to the planes we had been seeing periodically. I called it out to my husband, who saw it as well. It was initially headed towards the west (to the left), but then it changed directions very quickly towards the east. It changed direc! tions a couple of times, and then was joined by another identical light to its right. They appeared to follow one another, both changing directions and getting closer, then further apart, from each other several times (about six or seven times). There were no flashing lights, no red strobe lights like on a commercial airliner. In comparison with the planes we saw, these lights were traveling several times faster than the planes- they traveled in straight lines, or at least appeared to do so. They were not meteors, they did not originate high in the night sky, and they did not fall downward. They did not have tails, they were definitely exhibiting lateral movement, and appeared to be under intelligent control since they seemed to “meet up” with one another and then separate. I would have to describe their movement as akin to “playing tag”, although I obviously cannot say exactly what their intentions were. After what I would guess to be about two minutes later, both lights ! took off towards the west over the mountaintops and disappeare! d at the same time. They left the same way they appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. They did not go behind the mountain range or treeline, they simply disappeared together. There was no noise associated with them. Since we live in a rural community, everything was very quiet and we heard some of the planes (although not all). Lights were bright white, non-flashing, steady. Size and distance were difficult to determine. I could not describe the shape other than to identify them as seemingly round lights. Both my husband and I agreed that they did not exhibit the same pattern of movement, speed, or visual light pattern of any airplanes we have ever seen. And they were obviously not planets, stars, or meteors.

My husband has a background in the construction trade. My background is technical, in a science-related field in a clinical hospital patient-care setting.