NUFORC Sighting 87940

Occurred: 2012-03-18 22:00 Local
Reported: 2012-03-22 08:44 Pacific
Duration: 45-50 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Estero, FL, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Two bright objects which were motionless for 45 to 50 minutes, each object containing 3 bright lights

BRIEF OVERVIEW Two rather bright objects in the northern sky at 10PM, one farther away and somewhat dimmer. The objects were about 10,000 feet above the ground. Each object had 3 bright lights horizontally without a beam. There was a reflection and refracted light like a rainbow around the 3 lights on both objects. We watched with binoculars and eventually the objects moved slowly northward and disappeared.

DETAILED SUMMARY OF SIGHTING On Sunday evening, March 18, 2012 at about 10PM I was on my patio and noticed an unusually bright light in the northern sky and a light of lesser brightness further north in the northern sky. I looked at both for a while, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, and noticed that they were not moving at all. I observed this from Estero, FL and determined that the two lights were approximately over the city of Ft Myers, FL or perhaps a bit further north than that. The sky was clear with no cloud cover. I called my wife to come and see the two lights and she also noticed that they did not move in any direction. During this time, several airplanes heading to the SW Florida International Airport passed under thee two lights so you could tell that these lights were not aircraft of any kind known to either of us. After about 20 minutes of watching the two lights/objects I got my powerful binoculars and took a closer look. Upon closer observation I noticed that there were actually three bright lights! side by side in a horizontal configuration without any light beam. Surrounding the three bright lights was an aura or reflection with refracted light, like a rainbow, but I could not see what shape the object that supported the three lights might have been. The other object of lesser brightness turned out to be the same, having three lights side by side in a horizontal configuration with the rainbow-like aura, only dimmer because it appeared further north and was more distant visually. So there were two similar objects in the northern night sky separated from each other by many miles, not moving in any direction and making no sound at all. By all appearances the two lights were about 10,000 feet above the ground or perhaps a bit more. I also determined that the size of each object was about 75 - 100 feet in length or diameter and was about half the size of my small fingernail if I extended my arm fully. We continued to watch with the binoculars for another 15 or 20 minutes! with no changes that were obvious to us. Then gradually the t! wo objec ts moved slowly north and eventually disappeared from view. That was it. There was no more to the sighting. The time was then about 10:45 or 10:50PM.

APPEARANCE OF THE OBJECTS I could not see the shape of the objects because of the darkness in the sky but they were probably oblong, like a cigar, or saucer-shaped with us having seen the side view of the saucer. The configuration of the three lights brought me to this conclusion about the shape of the object.

SIZE OF THE OBJECTS They appeared to be about 75 - 100 feet in length or diameter for actual size and about the size of half of my small fingernail with my arm fully extended for relative size.

ESTIMATED DISTANCE OR ALTITUDE The closer object was about 10,000 feet above the ground or more and seemed to be about 15 miles from my point of observation. The dimmer object seemed to be about 20 miles or so away at about the same estimated altitude of 10,000 feet or more.

Posted 2012-05-13