2013-09-09 - Gainesville, FL - Triangle

Three lights in the sky that didn't look like plane

On 09/09/2013 I was walking my dog. As usual, I looked up at the sky to look for constellations. I was out particularly longer today because I was so transfixed on Venus which was on the west horizon. As any star watcher knows, the longer you look up at the sky, the more stars you can focus on.

So, I was able to make out many constellations. Eventually, I turned my attention to the eastern side of the sky as it moved north to south. I spotted a satellite a little before 9 pm and tracked it as it moved across the sky. I eventually lost it behind a building. Hoping to see it again, I moved to a clearer area, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find it again. I scanned the sky again and saw, at approximately 9pm, heading in a southern direction, a very bright light. It was just as bright as Venus to the west.

However, I knew that there was no star that bright on the eastern part of the sky, so I gazed at it a little longer. Because of a tree right under it, I was able! to notice that this ‘star’ was moving. I was a little stunned, but then I told myself that it was probably a plane. So I watched it as it moved towards the south. Eventually, the brightness faded and I saw that this bright light was made up of three smaller lights. The more it moved to the south, the less bright it became and the more I could make out all three lights. There were two in the front and then one a little, but not by much, dimmer light. They formed a triangle, with the base being the front and the apex forming the tail. I thought that maybe it was a plane, but I stared and stared and tried to make out any beacons, or blinking, lights, but never saw any. If I know anything from watching the sky is that planes always have blinking lights. So I followed this light, which seemed to be travelling in a linear path, but eventually I lost it behind the same building.