NUFORC Sighting 97135

Occurred: 2013-04-12 21:28 Local
Reported: 2013-04-12 23:38 Pacific
Duration: 20 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Provo, UT, USA

Shape: Chevron

5 lights, each chevron shaped and in a tight formation, crossed our line of sight (mine and my wife's) over a period of 20 seconds.

SIGHTING OF UNIDENTIFIED LIGHTS IN THE SKY

Friday 4.12.2013 21:28 MT (local time)

No clouds were visible in the sky • I was an astrophysics major at one time in college and have been an avid amateur astronomer since the age of 8—I am now 60

The Moon was a few days old in the western sky; Jupiter was higher up on the ecliptic (i.e., to the south of) from the Moon in the constellation Taurus (the Bull).

My wife and I were on the BYU Campus in between the Tanner and Hinckley buildings walking back to our car at the conclusion of the BYU Ballroom Concert in the Marriott Center. While we were walking, my wife and I had been discussing the apparent line of the ecliptic on the celestial sphere as defined by the moon and Jupiter. While thus engaged, I spotted a phenomenon 10 degrees north of and about the same altitude (on the celestial sphere) as the moon and pointing to it, asked my wife if she saw it too. She answered in the affirmative. We observed five rather subdued lights that appeared to be approaching us in a tight formation (angular separation of the formation was estimated at approximately 3-5 degrees) which in approximately 5 seconds moved across our line of sight to the north of us, then quickly disappeared off to the northeast, the whole sighting lasting no longer than 20 seconds. The five lights maintained their tight formation throughout our observation though they changed their position relative to one another a couple of times while we observed them. The lights were not at any time occulted by any terrestrial objects. The individual lights appeared to be chevron shaped—definitely not point sources nor spheres. The actual (not observational) altitude of the lights was impossible to estimate but our instincts suggested they were fairly close to the ground.

We heard nothing.

This is my first sighting of what some might describe as a UFO • Do I believe in UFOs? I am skeptical but open-minded.

Posted 2013-05-15