NUFORC Sighting 179331

Occurred: 2023-11-08 20:23 Local
Reported: 2023-11-09 00:47 Pacific
Duration: More than 2 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Everett, WA, USA
Location details: From the street out from of house.

Shape: Light
Color: White
Estimated Size: Unknown. Bigger than any planet or airplane light
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: Near exact south
Angle of Elevation: 38
Closest Distance: 1-3 Miles (Hard to know for sure)
Estimated Speed: Unknown, but slow.
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Three bright white lights in a non-equilateral triangle formation. Close enough together and large enough to not be satellites/planes.

After dropping off a friend at his house in northern Everett, WA, while still sitting in my car, I saw the objects through my open window towards the south. There were three bright white lights in the sky approximately 35-40 degrees above the horizon. The three lights were in a non-equilateral formation and slowly moving independently of each other. They were much brighter and larger in the sky than any star, planet, or satellite I have seen. Based on the brightness and apparent distance, they seemed too close together to be landing lights on three separate planes and too far apart to be lights from a single plane. They also did not resemble flares in any way.

I watched them for about 1-2 minutes before pulling away and for some odd reason I did not think to take a photo or a video. Once I got home, I saw on Facebook that 2 other people who live in the area saw the exact same objects and one of those people took a good video of the objects while driving in the same area that I had been in when I saw them.

After thinking for awhile at home, I remembered that about 30 more to an hour before the sighting, I had been sitting in a church in downtown Everett, WA and I had heard the sound of a distant military jet. It stood out to me because I am in that area a lot and I have never heard any kind of plane in that area before.

Some additional information about me:
- I have spent many years enjoying recreational astronomy. I am familiar with stars, planets, etc.
- I have previously witnessed many satellites in the sky including StarLink satellites.
- I grew up right next to an airport with flights coming and going directly over my house just above the tree tops.
- I have spent years educating myself about the space and aviation industry. I am pretty capable of identifying aircraft and rocket launches.

Note: Attached photos are extracted from a video taken by another nearby observer within minutes of my sighting of the same objects.

Posted 2023-12-09