2012-11-22 - East Goshen, PA - Formation

7-8 orange red lights in formation

While leaving house on Nov 22, 2012, about 7:15 PM I casually was noticing the moon and a planet I believe was Jupiter in a SSE direction (I'm an astronomy buff so this is a normal thing for me to do). The atmosphere was clear, with no haze, and it was cloudless. When I got in my car I decided to have a quick smoke before leaving. I happened to glance back in the previously stated direction and was surprised to see 4 orange red lights, near the position of the Moon-Jupiter position, in what looked like a quadrilateral type formation.

As I watched the objects appeared to be moving from SSE to NNW direction at a modest speed. The spatial orientation of the lights appeared to change as it moved. As I got out of the car for a closer look it seemed to change to a more 'kite' like orientation with several (3 or 4) new lights of the same color trailing behind like a tail behind the 'kite'. I got back in my car with the idea to get to a drive to a closer vantage point.

When I backed up and started forward I tried to locate the formation again through my car window while driving, but could not find it, it appeared to be gone. Total observation time was about 2-2.5 minutes. There was no sound associated with these objects. They were about the same brightness as Jupiter, which was quite bright at this time.

As I stated, I've spent some time observing the night skies as an astonomy buff. I've never seen anything quite like this before. I can tell you what I think it was not;

-It was not stars, any planet, or meteors.

-It was not satellites passing overhead.

-I don't believe it was part of any fireworks display (not like any I've seen).

-I don't believe they were airplanes, or helicopters or ballons (not like any I've seen).

One possibility I was thinking of was that they might be flares, of the type that military planes drop as part of their defensive apparatus. But I think that flares dropped by planes are white, while these were of an orange red color.

I was also thinking of a sub-orbital scientific package launched by rocket from Wallops Island, Va, (base), as I know from experience, depending on the scientific package, these can put on a show in the night sky.

I tried checked the Wallops launch schedule and was not able to find a record of any launches on Nov 22.


((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD))