2020-07-18 - Greenfield, NH - Other

Very bright red-orange drone-like object with flashing or rotating lights, stationary for 2 minutes then moved slowly away.

Odd ‘Drone’ Sighting, Greenfield, New Hampshire Location: Slope of Crotched Mountain, Greenfield, NH Date: July 18, 2020 Conditions: Partially cloudy with haze / warm and humid, approximately 75 F Duration of sighting: 5-7 minutes My wife and I hiked up to a viewing platform on the slope of Crotched Mountain in Greenfield, NH, hoping to get a glimpse of Comet Neowise in the northwest sky after twilight. Local sunset was at 8:20 pm. We stayed on the viewing platform until 10:00 pm, and though we didn’t see the comet due to thick haze near the northwest horizon, we did see something strange.

At about 9:40 pm, after looking at stars around the Summer Triangle, I turned to look south facing the direction of North Pack Monadnock which is about 10 miles away as the crow flies. I immediately noticed a very bright stationary light that appeared to flicker. It was orange-red in overall color, and in binoculars was very bright, so bright it ruined my night vision.

It was at least several times brighter than Venus at its brightest, and my first thought was it must be a Drone, though it was much brighter than any other night flying drone I’ve ever seen. It was also completely quiet, and I could hear no whir of propeller blades. It was hard to tell how high in the sky it was, but our elevation was close to 1,000 feet, and I’d guess this object was at least that high at it was straight out from our viewing position.

Through 10 X 40 binoculars I could discern no clear shape, with the object flashing bright red and yellow-orange lights, though in no regular pattern. At one point it appeared that either the object or lights were rotating, though it was hard to tell if they were stationary and flashing or moving. At one point I thought I saw a silvery background color under the other lights, but they were changing so fast it was hard to tell. It stayed motionless for at least two minutes.

After this time the object suddenly dimmed by at least 50%, and then proceeded to move slowly but steadily off towards the east, from time to time being obscured by trees in front of us. Once it entered a clearing between trees I could tell that there was a brighter red leading light and a fainter, almost pink trailing light. I would assume they were fixed to the body of the object but that too was difficult to discern.

It then moved beyond our viewing range as it continued heading to the east / northeast. It made no sudden directional or velocity changes, but moved steadily. We estimated that it must have traveled several miles during the time we had a good look at it. Drones in New Hampshire are supposed to be operated in line of sight, and there was no way this object was in the line of site of one individual operator for the duration of the event. I’d like to know if other such odd ‘drones’ have been sighted in New England recently.