NUFORC Sighting 02083

Occurred: 1997-03-13 20:25 Local
Reported: 1997-03-20 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 MINUTES
No of observers: 1

Location: Buckeye, AZ, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Left a trail

Summary : Observed a number (3 - 5) of white/yellow lights hovering (suspended) approximately 7 - 10 miles away. Observed streaking object leaving one orb and traveling at a high rate of speed in a horizontal manner and leaving a "tail" or "trail" behind (much like a meteor, but in a straight path). The lights extinguished quickly with no fading of "fizzling-out".

I have been observing these "lights" since approximately August/September, 1996. I live approximately 4 miles north of Buckeye and in an area that is in a diaganol line approximately 15 - 20 miles south/southwest from Luke Air Force Base. The first night we observed the lights back in the fall, they appeared due South of my home. There were three large orbs and were yellow/white in color. I called to my roomate to come and see and she observed them at that time. We concluded they were flares of some sort. However, they disappeared very quickly, as if a switch had been turned off. A few moments later, they appeared, all at once, in a location several miles to the west of the original sighting. We were not at all convinced that these lights were unexplainable, and we were mildly curious.The second sighting was perhaps a week later, with the same type of behavior. This time, however, I retrieved my binoculars and both my roomate and myself wathced the lights for several minutes. It appeared that there was heat emanating from the orb...we thought it might be smoke, but it appeared more to be like radiant heat. We assumed that if it was a flare of some time, it would gradually burn out, but once again it exstinguised itself very rapidly and we did not observe it again that night.In visiting with my new neighbors, I asked whether they had seen these lights and they had not. However, a week or so later, once again they appeared (in the same location), and I called them and had them come outside to observe with myself and my roomate. They confirmed the sighting, and also thought that perhaps it was some type of flare. The also observed the heat radiating from the orbs. They disappeared as before.I am not a very good judge of distance or size, but if I were to estimate the size of these object in relation to the night sky, I would say they appeared to be the size of 1/2 dollar piece. They have appeared in numbers of 3, 4 and in a configuration of 3 with 2 to west side.I remember two other occasions in which I observed these lights and began to feel that it was some sort of Air Force exercise or some other explainable phenomena.The night of March 13, 1997, I was driving from Phoenix, west on I-10. I had left town at approximately 7:45 p.m., and am guessing it was around 7:20 to 7:25 that I began to notice the lights. I remember thinking that the lights were in a different position that I had observed them before. They were more closely situated near the Estrella Mtns (west side) and seemed to be moving. Before, I had only observed them being stationery. It did not really dawn on me that they were moving until I turned South off of the interstate and began traveling south. I realized that the lights had moved to the location I was used to seeing them...approximately 20 miles west of the Estrella Mts.By the time I was within one mile of my home, I began to sense that these lights were moving much more erratically than I had previously observed. They had moved even further west (it was approximately 7:25 - 7:30 by this time) and suddenly I saw the streaking object seemingly coming from one of the larger orbs (there were 3 at this time) and move VERY rapidly horizontally across the sky (to the northwest I believe). It seemed there was a tail of sparks or matter coming from this smaller object and I can only compare it to a meteor, although I am certain it was NOT a meteor (it moved in a straight line and then went out very quickly some distance from the orb). I ran into the houseand summoned my roomate, but by the time we went outside, all signs of the objects were gone.I began asking people at work back in Aug/Sept if they had seen any of these lights. I suppose they thought I was a bit touched, but now that this major sighting has occured, they are remembering the days I came in with details of what I had seen the night before. I wish I would have known how to contact someone back then.I am a Data Processing Assistant (15 years) with a large school district in Phoenix. If you would be interested in any other information or background information on myself or the other "witnesses" please contact me via email. Thank you for providing this service.

Posted 1998-03-07