NUFORC Sighting 158625

Occurred: 2020-08-12 00:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2020-08-16 20:44 Pacific
Duration: 2-3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Conway, SC, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object

Four flashing lights in a long train across South Carolina night sky

Only entering this because I mentioned it to my wife a couple of days after it happened, and she thought it was odd as well...I initially just chalked it up to military aircraft.

Time is approximate, give or take 30 minutes...Sorry.

I'm a night owl, so I went out to stand in my garage/driveway to observe the street. I'm a retired state law enforcement lieutenant - so I try to be cognizant of my neighborhood and surroundings, especially since there have been thefts in the neighborhood in the past.

I also like to watch the sky (we're on one of the approaching routes to Myrtle Beach Int'l Airport - and, occasionally military planes fly overhead or do touch-and-goes at the airport between the commercial flights). At this hour, I don't expect anything from MB Int Airport, but the stars were out, and I enjoy the panoramic view of the sky this flat land affords me compared to the mountainous/hilly northeast I'm from.

I've stared at the stars before, and while star-gazing, I've noticed some slow-moving trajectories across the sky. I realize these are satellites in orbit. I've also twice witnessed the ISS cross the sky above my house (it was reported that it would be flying overhead beforehand by a local weatherman, so my wife and I would go outside to watch it). The slow-deliberate pace of these satellites as they look like stars, but move across the night sky faster, as the the real stars seem to stay in place always enthralled me.

Incident: On the above (approximate) date and time, I was again looking into the sky at the stars when I noticed a flashing white light pulsing about every second or so. It was already just south of my home when I first noticed it. It was moving in a north/northeast to a south/southwest direction. I thought it was peculiar because it seemed so high up, like a satellite would appear/similar to a star in the sky. This one was different since the light flashed every second or so, actually flashing like a sparkle in the sky.

At first, I thought it was just an airliner (even though I've seen airliners and their lights, and can still make out the red and green lights airliners have even at their cruising high-altitudes). This light seemed higher, the white flashing light seemed very strong, and it was only the one brightly flashing white light, with nothing else.

I was thinking that was odd (because the light was flashing so brightly with no other lights) and then I noticed another flashing light coming behind the first.

The second flashing light was travelling in the exact same path as the first, only quite a distance behind. I watched the two of them travel in a perfect straight-line/flight path directly behind one another, keeping the somewhat-large distance between them as they continued south-southwest.

As I scanned the sky to look for more, I noticed two more bright, flashing lights coming from the north/northeast. They, too, were acting in the same manner as the first two, and following exactly the same straight line across the sky, all while keeping the same distance between themselves and the first two lights/ships. At one point, all four were still in my view, perfectly spaced apart, as they headed downrange to the south/southwest. I did take notice of how how straight their flight-path was, and how perfectly distanced each one was behind the other.

Unfortunately, I did not have my phone/camera with me when I stepped outside and witnessed this.

Posted 2020-08-27

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