NUFORC Sighting 103241

Occurred: 2013-10-13 18:57 Local
Reported: 2013-10-14 14:00 Pacific
Duration: 8 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Council Bluffs, IA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Three white orange lights in the Western sky that formed a triangle then moved into a line before disappearing.

We were headed southbound on I-29 out of Council Bluffs, Iowa, at 6:57 p.m. on Sunday night, October 13, 2013. When we reached mile marker 36, the passenger in my car exclaimed “what is that?” I had to lean down to see the objects out the passenger window.

When I looked through the window into the Western sky, I saw three bright objects with an orange tint forming a triangle at about a 45-degree angle to the horizon. The objects were not moving, but hovering in that position as you could see planes to the north with obvious jet trails.

We were able to quickly pull over at a rest area (Southbound Pacific Junction Rest Area on I-29) and found a clear area where we could video the objects. Within the first two minutes of seeing these objects they moved from a triangle to a straight line – the point of the triangle staying stationary while the other two rotated and moved to form the line. As they were doing this, they only signs of motion were the changes in position.

We filmed and watched them for a little more than five minutes after we pulled over. They then moved from a straight line to a more arced line, again the top point never moving position as the other two moved into position. The objects did get a bit fainter towards the end of the time we were watching them, but hovered steadily. We then saw a plane approaching from the south. As we watched this plane approach closer we were shocked as the instant the plane entered the video frame, the objects disappeared. No flashing or fading, just completely disappearing like a switch was flipped. We continued to watch the area for approximately five minutes and nothing reappeared.

NOTE: In the video, you will hear us discussing a fourth object that remained after the other three disappeared. We did determine after the fact that this was a star; however we could find no celestial reason for the other three objects.

Posted 2013-10-14