2020-01-01 - Gilbert, AZ - Light

Four orange-yellow pulsating lights in nightime sky

I reside in Gilbert, AZ. I have been a local metro police officer for 20 years in the valley. Prior to working in law enforcement, I served four years in US Naval Special Warfare.

On 01/01/2020, at approximately 19:20 hours, I walked outside into the backyard with my puppy. The night sky was partly cloudy, but I could make out some constellations and other random stars to the south. I could also observe a few visible aircraft heading in different directions as evident by their distinct red, green, and white navigation lights. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is approximately 3 miles southeast of my residence.

However, I was looking directly south in the sky when I observed two circular lights appear just above the horizon. It was as if the lights appeared out of nowhere. The lights were of an orange-yellow glow that pulsed very slowly, but in unison. They did not resemble any known aircraft to my knowledge. The waxing crescent moon was visible in the partly clouded sky directly west. With the intensity of a bright star, the lights traveled northbound as they ascended into the sky. The distance between the two lights was comparable to placing my right hand out in front of my sight line while holding up only my index and pinky fingers. The lights moved very slowly as they continued to ascend in my direction. Moments later, the lights stopped at a fixed point in the sky. The lights remained in that position for approximately 15-30 seconds. At that point, the lights started to slowly ascend in a southeast direction. Not only did the lights move upward, but also away into the southern! sky. Both lights dimmed at the same time and then disappeared into the clouds.

As I started to walk back inside with the dog, I noticed another singular light emerge from the southern horizon. It was the exact same light that I had just observed. The light traveled in the same pattern with the same speed. It stopped in about the same location for a similar pause before heading away as the previous lights had done. Again, the singular light just faded into the clouds of the night sky.

Before I could turn away, I observed a fourth light emerge from the same spot above the horizon. It was the same type of light moving at the same speed as the others. This time, I opened the back door and called for my wife to hurry outside to get a look at what I was seeing. The light was still ascending towards me when my wife stepped outside. She looked on as the singular light stopped in the sky for approximately 15-30 seconds. Again, she looked on as the light slowly made its way upward and away out of sight. The whole incident lasted approximately 6 minutes.

I have never seen anything like that before. Neither my wife nor I could explain the absence of navigational lights. In addition, we could not provide an explanation for either the pulsing orange-yellow glow, or the speed and travel direction that the lights were exhibiting.

In the moments following the incident, the partly cloudy night sky cleared up entirely. Several planes were again observed in the area, but none of them shared any resemblance to what we had just observed.