NUFORC Sighting 152069

Occurred: 2019-12-24 18:23 Local
Reported: 2019-12-24 18:26 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Black Hawk, SD, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Line of evenly spaced white, star-like lights moving in night sky from west to east and disappearing overhead.

I was out walking our dog tonight on Christmas Eve. I wanted to see Venus before it disappeared over the horizon. It was beautiful, and very bright, as it has been the past few weeks. I could also see Orion's belt in the north. It seemed that there were more stars in the sky than usual, but it was particularly clear. As I turned back towards the house I was amazed to see an entire line of evenly spaced, white, not particularly bright, lights moving roughly west to east in the night sky. They were like little stars. I tried to count them, and estimate there were about 15-20 in all. The moved slowly, but were perfectly spaced. They seemed to disappear as they approached overhead, as I could not see their formation after that point. They made no sound. I tried to video them with my phone, but they did not show up. I ran to get my husband, who saw them, and my son, who didn't stay out long enough to see them (it was cold and he didn't have shoes to walk in th! e snow). My daughter, who just arrived home, saw them as she drove through the neighborhood on her way home. I noticed off to the northeast what appeared to be a red light flying around, and suspected it was a drone. We live near Ellsworth AFB, and drones are frequently seen at night. These lights may have been drones, also, but their formation, perfect alignment, color, brightness, and the fact that they seemed to disappear, would make them much different drones that what we are used to seeing around here.

Posted 2020-01-31