NUFORC Sighting 175572

Occurred: 2023-04-29 01:00 Local
Reported: 2023-05-01 02:09 Pacific
Duration: at least one hour
No of observers: 1

Location: PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ, USA
Location details: in the northern sky quite far away, unable to judge distance or elevation

Shape: Light
Explanation: Starlink - Certain

lights that move in arcs horizontally, 1 to 5 lights moving independently but stay near each other, group drifts W to E over hours

I have been watching these lights every night for over a week now from my backyard in Prescott Valley, AZ. The lights are in the northern sky and start out slightly west of north and drift as a group east of north over the course of one to two hours. Anywhere from midnight to 2 AM. I can't hear them, probably because they are too far away. I can't tell how far away they are but I'm thinking they are very very far away. They move slowly, gradually in arcs as if they are circling like debris in a slow motion tornado. They are at different elevations and sometimes seem to follow each other one after another in that arc pattern. It's like each one has a powerful light that points in one direction and I can only see it as they are turning when the light points in my direction. This is a guess based on observations. They can disappear for minutes at a time, then start their swirling arc pattern of flight again. Mostly I see one or two at a time, but have seen 3 lights quite often and 4 or 5 lights once, all doing the same arcing pattern. They stay together like a flock of birds. They remind me of pelicans flocking and swirling. Sometimes the lights are very bright and other times they are dim. The seem to flicker a bit as the lights are becoming visible at the start of the arc, then become very bright, then die out flickering at the end of the arc. One after another they do this as a group and sometimes the group as a whole changes elevation, or drifts to the right or to the left, but the overall drift is west to east. They are anywhere from 10 degrees above the horizon to perhaps 30 degrees.

I never see them illuminated when they move up or down. I only see the lights move horizontally. Nearly always left to right.
Sometime they seem to disappear and then as a group appear in a slightly different area of the sky. They re-appear one by one again in the arc pattern.
I have checked two different flight tracker/radar websites multiple times and these lights (aircraft?) don't show up at all on them.

I have numerous videos of them on my trail camera that I have set up in my backyard to record the wildlife. I first saw the lights in one of the trail cam videos at around 1:20 AM 4/22/23. I have been seeing them every night since then. Today is 5/1. Last night I stood out in my backyard and watched them for an hour, 12:30 AM to 1:30 AM.

I also noticed that there are occasional flashes of light, like a pin-prick star-like flash of light in the vicinity of the group of lights.

At first I thought I was seeing fighter jets practicing/training, but I no longer believe that to be the case. This is just too strange. I am a scientist. I have a degree in biology. I am a logical and analytical thinker. I do not know what these lights are, and it is a little scary.
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I would like to add an update to my post that is listed at 4/29/23 in PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ.

I have 100% debunked the lights as being flaring Starlink satellites. They are not UFOs. They are satellites flaring in a specific area of the sky at the same time each night for a couple of hours until the rotation of the Earth takes me out of the viewing window because the sunlight is no longer hitting the satellites in the area where I can see them. I first noticed them in the spring and it is now summer and I am still seeing them every night but the viewing area has shifted higher in the sky and the satellites are dimmer and harder to see. I expect next spring I will be able to see them brightly again. I always see them in the north between the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia constellations.

This video explains it better than I can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea8BCl2yVU0

From what I have read the satellites that I am seeing from my backyard in central AZ are over northern Canada, 2000 miles away. Amazing.

Posted 2023-05-19