NUFORC Sighting 42842

Occurred: 2005-03-09 19:23 Local
Reported: 2005-03-09 18:50 Pacific
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Coal Hill, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Return of orange lights in SW sky, different than previous sighting.

My Meade LXD55 AR-5 telescope had been set-up and aligned for viewing Saturn and Jupiter tonight. While scope was tracking Saturn and waiting for the optics to cool down for better views, the SW sky was being observed just in case any more orange lights like the ones sighted on 02/24/05 might reappear, which, surprisingly, they did. The first instance happened at precisely 19:23 {the hand controller for the scope can display the time among other useful information} involving 3 orange lights flashing once sequentially one after the other, spread out at roughly a heading of 238 degrees and 12 degrees above the horizon plus and minus around 3 degrees for each coordinate to encompass the total area in which the phenomena was first noticed. A quick GOTO of the scope to the star, Aldebaran, and then switching the "targets" submenu to "terrestrial mode" {disables the RA motor so it no longer tracks celestial objects} before slewing to middle of the region of sky containing the orange lights via the use of the scope's red-dot pointer/finder is how these objects can be precisely located and documented by me. The second incident occurred at 19:27 and was quite similar at about around 3 degrees lower above the horizon than the initial group. The third and final incident was at 19:32 hrs. I was able to slew the scope's red-dot precisely onto the location of the center light as they illuminated a few seconds longer than before, they were also tightly bunched together this time at a precise heading of 242 degrees/ 13 arcminutes and an altitude of exactly 5 degrees/17arcminutes plus or minus 5 arcminutes - the average accuracy of GOTO slews to celestial objects after a precise polar alignment.

The orange lights did not stay on long enough to get a peek throught the scope, unfortunately. Whatever these things are {satellites? Iridium flares?} must of moved below the treeline and eventually the horizon after the last series of flashes. Absolutely no nav lights flashing while briefly observed if these are some kind of aircraft. Numerous aircraft were spotted travelling towards the general area of Ft. Smith at the time, which were definitely adhering to FAA regulations. Location of observations is at 35.26N by 093.40W.

The sky was clear with the Milky Way next to Orion easily visible.

Posted 2005-04-16