2012-11-09 - Ketchikan, AK - Light

Square formation of 4 lighthouse like beacons rotating in sequence clockwise.

Hello, I made an observation yesterday that I wonder if anyone can help me to identify. I am in Alaska; I drove up a logging road to find a place where I could do some Astrophotography. I chose a spot where there was very little light pollution and a low tree line and favorable foreground scene.

After setting up my tripod and camera I chose my composition of the Milky Way galaxy flowing across the sky and into the planet Venus which was bright in the Western Sky. With my camera positioned in this direction I began taking my series of shots, five sets of 25 second exposure. While waiting for my intervolometer to cycle through the series of shots I began to look around for a different perspective to shoot next. This is when I made the sighting.

The sighting was four lights spread apart like the corners of a box, each light exactly the same distance from each other as you travel clockwise around the box. I used my fist extended at arm’s reach to measure them and my fist fit perfectly between each of the pairs of stars horizontally and vertically.

What initially caught my eye was that each light was like the beacon of a light house revolving around in a beam. I could see the beam revolve growing longer as it approached the point of direct opposition from its center to my right then shrinking as it came to the position when it was nearly pointing directly towards me then again growing as it continued to rotate to its right angle on my left and again shrinking until it was a pin point as the light was pointing directly away from me. Also it was brightest (like a flash) when directly point at me.

Now this alone would be odd but add in the fact that as each light beginning in the top right corner made a complete cycle it would go dark and the next in a clockwise direction would begin a cycle commencing at the same point the previous light has stopped.

So you have four lights acting like lighthouse beacons rotating in turn, clockwise in a square formation. Additionally I observed them for two hours while I continued to take series of photos for my astrophotography practice; while the stars changed position relative to me, due to the revolving of the Earth these four beacons remained geostationary and in the exact formation the entire time.

And yes I did take multiple photos of these lights I do not have a video and all the shots just show points of light not the beacons my human eyes observed.

Any Idea what I saw, possibly satellites, space station or what? The time was between 10 and 12pm Alaska Standard Time on November 9th, 2012.