Omaha, NE - Formation

Multiple lights 9:00 PM Omaha

I was stargazing, using a new app that identifies celestial objects at approximately 9:00 p.m.. Looking toward the south but nearly straight up I glanced behind my phone screen to see the actual sky. At that moment I noticed multiple movements but went to the phone screen to see if it was something natural, meteor shower etc. Nothing was identified through the app so I trained my eyes to the activity above, spanning front to rear of the moving lights it would seem to be a direction from Norfolk to Kansas City. The total distance, hard to estimate, could have been that same span from city to city. I looked back forward and began counting, as I hit around 36 I looked back to the origin amazed at how many I was counting. The origin seemed to give the illusion of balls (lights) coming from the end of a tube that was not visible. It could also be an effect caused by the proximity to the moon. From where I viewed, near 156th and Harrison in omaha, the orig! in at that time in reference to the moons position seemed about 8:00 o'clock. I failed to get an accurate count but estimate between 36-40. All flying single file, at times it seemed varying speeds to one another but never overtaking. That grouping passed comparatively to what I'd expect a commercial plane takes overhead. About 10 minutes or so after the first grouping there were two more, following same path and estimated same speed.