2015-10-13 - Rock Springs, WY - Formation

2 sightings of close packed V-shaped group of lights similar to satellites flying across the sky.

V-shaped formation of moving lights similar to satellites or faint stars. While standing on my porch, I observed a formation of about 7-10 lights moving across the sky. At the time that I observed these lights (approximately 22:35), they were approximately 30 degrees from directly overhead, and they were in the middle of the sky. They moved in a straight line, maintained the V formation, and faded near the horizon. In my life, I have seen many meteorites and falling stars, and I have observed a handful of satellites. The speed of this V-formation was somewhere in between that of a shooting star and a satellite. The lights did not "burn out" like a shooting star. After seeing these lights, I thought they may have been satellites; however, it seems odd to me that they would orbit so closely together. I had no way to gauge distance or altitude-but the size and brightness of the lights was very similar to satellites. I know that the typical ! orbit time of satellites is about 90 minutes, so I went back outside after about 80 minutes to see if I would see the lights again. At 00:03 on 10/14/15 (approx 88 minutes after first sighting), I saw the lights again. This time, there appeared to be fewer lights, but I did not have time to count. Unlike the first sighting, these lights were not flying in a perfect V formation. They flew in an imperfect line, with some dots momentarily pulling ahead of the others before falling back. The position of these lights during the second sighting was different than the position during the first sighting. They were almost directly overhead. Interestingly, they were moving it what seemed to be a nearly parallel direction to the initial sighting. Due to this parallel direction and also the fact that the sightings were nearly 90 minutes apart, I was inclined to believe that the objects were in orbit. Still, several things don't seem to mesh with this notion: (1) the objects we! re very close together, (2) during the second sighting, the li! ghts did not maintain a perfect formation - some would briefly move faster than others before slowing down and falling back in line, and (3) the speed of the objects was definitely faster than that of satellites. I watched the sky again from 01:20 to 01:40 on 10/14/15, after waiting for another 90 minute interval to go by. During this time, I did not see the lights again. Another important note is that I did not hear any sound during either of these sightings. Below, I have copied the raw notes that I made immediately after each sighting: 10:35 first sighting -V shaped lights similar to the specks of light you see when a satellite passes -slow moving -not as bright as shooting star, and slower moving -one branch of the V appeared slightly longer than the other branch - maybe by 2 dots -seemed to move slower than shooting stars, which I have seen many times -did not burn out like shooting star -no sound like you would hear from planes flying overhead -seemed to move faster than a jet and faster than satellite 11:22 -shooting star spotted -single light -perpendicular to first sighting -flared and burnt out 00:03 second sighting -some dots would pull ahead momentarily then fall back in the space of about a second -fast moving, not a perfect V -almost directly overhead -faster moving than first sighting -different position in sky from first sighting but same direction