NUFORC Sighting 42182

Occurred: 2005-02-24 19:20 Local
Reported: 2005-02-24 19:32 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Coal Hill, AR, USA

Shape: Light


Sporatic, flare-like, orange lights lasting for 2-3 seconds at an azimuth of roughly 240 to 250 degrees at an altitude of 10 to 20 degrees above the horizon from a location exactly 35:26N by 93:40W. Sometimes numerous flashes from at least four other lights, one of which moved slightly from left to right, and a primary that more or less stayed in the same relative position and shone for 2 to 3 seconds, then stayed off for half a minute before repeating until all activity stopped at approximately 19:50 hrs. CST. A bright full moon was rising in the east at the time. Think of orange fireflies winking on and off while hovering in the distance. The distance of these lights from the sighting location is indeterminate. This is the first sighting of unusual lights after 4 years of amateur atronomy on almost every clear night. My personal theory is some kind of bizarre refraction in the atmosphere of either the full moon or car headlights. A clever prank involving model rocketry, modified/homemade fireworks, or radio controlled craft not to be ruled out.



((ADDENDUM TO REPORT, SUBMITTED FOUR DAYS AFTER ORIGINAL REPORT))

Update to previous report of orange lights sighted in western Arkansas.

This is a correction for coordinates mentioned in a previous report filed on 02/24/05 from Coal Hill, Arkansas. My telescope is a computerized GOTO model which was aligned to the north celestial pole tonight {02/28/05}, synchronized with Aldebaran, and then put into "terrestrial" mode before slewing to the exact spot in which the "fireflies" {orange lights} were observed as mentioned in the previous report.

It turns out the more precise coordinates are 246 degrees azimuth plus and minus an estimated degree to encompass the region of sky the lights were seen.

The previously-reported altitude of 10 to 20 degrees above the horizon, however, was grossly inaccurate and exaggerated. My apologies. The more accurate altitude of where the phenomena was observed, according to my scope's Autostar handcontroller after slewing its Red-dot finderscope to a spot that coincided with nearby landmarks {a tree in the backyard and some streetlights a few blocks away}, is about no more than 4 degrees above the horizon at the most and 2 at the least.

A protractor, map of Arkansas, and a pen showed a line- of-sight that goes directly over the town of Charleston, Ar., Ft. Chaffee military reservation, Greenwood, Ar., and also Poteau, Ok. This would of been revised sooner if not for inclement weather in the interim.

And this is why I love my telescope.

Thank you.

((END ADDENDUM))

((SECOND ADDENDUM))

Follow-up to report of orange lights sighted from Coal Hill, 02/24/05.

Date of report: 03/06/05.

The acquisition of a detailed county map of nearby Franklin County enabled me to better pinpoint the line-of-sight all the way to the Arkansas River. Right underneath my line drawn on the map is an area south of Altus, Arkansas that is a wildlife refuge that borders the river.

A quick drive to that site and some slow cruising along the dirt road just a few dozen yards north of the river resulted in seeing some patches of burnt ground running along next to the road and out into the large open fields north of the road and river. It was while investigating on foot when a local driving up and down the road, and hopping out of his truck to pick up beverage cans and other trash, that I was informed while chatting with him the Army Corp of Engineers had been in the area "a few days ago"{exact time and date uncertain} either doing a controlled burn in the region or fighting the fire. The conversation was hard to follow as his truck was idling noisily and he would not stay in one place to talk with me as he moved back and forth doing his thing, picking up trash from the scorched earth, after I informed him of what was observed from my backyard on Feb. 24th, 2005 between 7 and 8 PM. And then he moved on down the road as I thanked him and left the area to move on to other spots underneath the line drawn on my map. Nothing apparently unusual was noticed in any of the other open fields near county roads between the Arkansas River and my house that intersected the line on my map.

If the Corps had been dealing with a large fire on the night of my sighting, then it would all make sense if they had been sweeping high-powered spotlights onto the columns of dense, rising smoke from ground vehicles and maybe one of their boats anchored nearby on the river. They do indeed have powerful searchlights for patrolling the river and its banks which fall under their federal jurisdiction including all tributaries and even mud puddles.

I hope this was of some help and thanks for your time.

((END SECOND ADDENDUM))

NUFORC Note:

We express our special gratitude to the source of the report, given the objective, factual, and apparently accurate nature of what the witness has written above. He appears to us to recognize the limitations of the human visual system, and the inability of a witness to determine the actual size and location of an object, when viewed from just one observation point. PD


Posted 2005-04-16

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