Five stationary bright red lights in northeast MA/southeast NH fading in then out.
I was outside in the outskirts of downtown Lowell, MA, last evening when I saw two bright, red lights in the northeast. My friend also witnessed what I saw and I pointed out the lights to a couple of other people. The lights were probably 10-15(?) degrees up from the horizon. They did not move. After a minute or so three other red lights appeared near them. They stayed there, seemingly not moving for a few minutes, and then slowly faded away one by one. The lights were red, maybe a bit orangey and roughly the same apparent brightness as Mars or Jupiter as they appear this summer.
I took two photos, which unfortunately, are poor quality. However, I was able to plot a line on a map showing which direction the lights came from using buildings beneath the lights in the photos and where I was standing as references. The lights appeared above a facet of a building I can see on Google maps, so I believe the line of sight I made on the map is pretty accurate. I could not tell the distance, but I believe they were at least some miles away.
I am aware that red lights can be military aircraft. To be fair Lawrence Municipal Airport and Pease Air Force Base are somewhat near the line of sight I plotted on the map. However, there were no other colors and the lights didn’t move or blink. Also, they didn't seem to be as deep a red as lights on military craft. They also didn’t line up with the runways of the two airports. They didn’t go behind clouds or the buildings nearby, they just faded out.
I have been an avid sky watcher all of my life. From watching airplanes, to viewing planets and meteor showers, I am always looking up and telling friends about celestial events. I am fifty years old, and have never seen anything I could not explain before. I recently saw a very bright light traveling overhead and some Googling proved that it was the International Space Station flying over the Northeast. What I saw last night was not usual.
((NUFORC Note: We spoke via telephone with the witness, and he sounded to us to be quite sincere, and serious-minded. We suspect that he is a quite capable, and highly reliable, witness. PD))
I was outside in the outskirts of downtown Lowell, MA, last evening when I saw two bright, red lights in the northeast. My friend also witnessed what I saw and I pointed out the lights to a couple of other people. The lights were probably 10-15(?) degrees up from the horizon. They did not move. After a minute or so three other red lights appeared near them. They stayed there, seemingly not moving for a few minutes, and then slowly faded away one by one. The lights were red, maybe a bit orangey and roughly the same apparent brightness as Mars or Jupiter as they appear this summer.
I took two photos, which unfortunately, are poor quality. However, I was able to plot a line on a map showing which direction the lights came from using buildings beneath the lights in the photos and where I was standing as references. The lights appeared above a facet of a building I can see on Google maps, so I believe the line of sight I made on the map is pretty accurate. I could not tell the distance, but I believe they were at least some miles away.
I am aware that red lights can be military aircraft. To be fair Lawrence Municipal Airport and Pease Air Force Base are somewhat near the line of sight I plotted on the map. However, there were no other colors and the lights didn’t move or blink. Also, they didn't seem to be as deep a red as lights on military craft. They also didn’t line up with the runways of the two airports. They didn’t go behind clouds or the buildings nearby, they just faded out.
I have been an avid sky watcher all of my life. From watching airplanes, to viewing planets and meteor showers, I am always looking up and telling friends about celestial events. I am fifty years old, and have never seen anything I could not explain before. I recently saw a very bright light traveling overhead and some Googling proved that it was the International Space Station flying over the Northeast. What I saw last night was not usual.
((NUFORC Note: We spoke via telephone with the witness, and he sounded to us to be quite sincere, and serious-minded. We suspect that he is a quite capable, and highly reliable, witness. PD))
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Lowell
USA
5 minutes
5 minutes
42.64
-71.32
formation
MA
Occurred : 8/3/2016 23:31 (Entered as : 08/03/16 23:31) Reported: 8/4/2016 10:56:08 AM 10:56 Posted: 8/4/2016 Location: Lowell, MA Shape: Formation Duration: 5 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object
Five stationary bright red lights in northeast MA/southeast NH fading in then out.