Triangle object with blinking red, green, and white lights seen in telescope.
At 12:25AM I was using my small spotting scope to look at objects such as Saturn and Jupiter in the night sky. I first saw the object east of Saturn at the time. Object could just be seen as three blinking/strobing lights that were red, green, and white.
At first glance I thought it was a airplane with strobing lights. I soon became aware this was not the case. As an amateur astronomer I had clear reference points to track the object and knowledge of satellite activity and meteors. The speed in which the object was traveling was comparable to the speed of the International Space Station. Faster than any plane I have ever seen. It also did not travel in a straight line as most aircraft would, instead it traveled closely to the ecliptic line in the sky that night first passing Saturn and then passing Jupiter at relatively proportional distance as it did Saturn. Object was first spotted in the SE and “set” in the west. Its lights were rapid blinking at ten times the rate as most aircraft strobe lights do. One would think it would be a satellite however this was not the case.
When I first spotted the object and made the deduction that it was not an aircraft I trained my spotting scope (one powerful enough to see the lines of Jupiter) on the object. At minimal magnification it was clear the object was triangular (sketch of object will be included in the report). I followed the object for about thirty seconds zooming in magnification to get a clear representation of what the craft’s outline looked like. As I stated it was clearly triangular with lights on the edges of the triangle. If this were to be a satellite with my scopes magnification (one I have tested on the International Space Station before) if the object was at the altitude of the space station would be easily twenty times the size of it. I lost the object from my scope around the time it was passing Jupiter and used the naked eye for the rest of the viewing. I cannot explain what this object was, but am 90% sure it was not a satellite or aircraft.
At 12:25AM I was using my small spotting scope to look at objects such as Saturn and Jupiter in the night sky. I first saw the object east of Saturn at the time. Object could just be seen as three blinking/strobing lights that were red, green, and white.
At first glance I thought it was a airplane with strobing lights. I soon became aware this was not the case. As an amateur astronomer I had clear reference points to track the object and knowledge of satellite activity and meteors. The speed in which the object was traveling was comparable to the speed of the International Space Station. Faster than any plane I have ever seen. It also did not travel in a straight line as most aircraft would, instead it traveled closely to the ecliptic line in the sky that night first passing Saturn and then passing Jupiter at relatively proportional distance as it did Saturn. Object was first spotted in the SE and “set” in the west. Its lights were rapid blinking at ten times the rate as most aircraft strobe lights do. One would think it would be a satellite however this was not the case.
When I first spotted the object and made the deduction that it was not an aircraft I trained my spotting scope (one powerful enough to see the lines of Jupiter) on the object. At minimal magnification it was clear the object was triangular (sketch of object will be included in the report). I followed the object for about thirty seconds zooming in magnification to get a clear representation of what the craft’s outline looked like. As I stated it was clearly triangular with lights on the edges of the triangle. If this were to be a satellite with my scopes magnification (one I have tested on the International Space Station before) if the object was at the altitude of the space station would be easily twenty times the size of it. I lost the object from my scope around the time it was passing Jupiter and used the naked eye for the rest of the viewing. I cannot explain what this object was, but am 90% sure it was not a satellite or aircraft.
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Off
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Lubbock
USA
5 minutes
5 minutes
33.55
-101.90
triangle
TX
Occurred : 6/3/2018 00:25 (Entered as : 06/03/18 00:25) Reported: 6/3/2018 11:45:34 AM 11:45 Posted: 6/7/2018 Location: Lubbock, TX Shape: Triangle Duration: 5 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object changed color
Triangle object with blinking red, green, and white lights seen in telescope.