NUFORC Sighting 82019

Occurred: 2011-07-01 00:20 Local
Reported: 2011-06-30 23:12 Pacific
Duration: 3 to 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object

2 circular objects appearing as clusters of orange lights moving parallel to the coast off Myrtle Beach, SC.

At approximately fifteen to twenty minutes past midnight early in the morning on Friday, July 1, 2011, while staying on the 3rd floor of an oceanfront resort hotel on the South end of Myrtle Beach, SC, (just North of Surfside Beach), my wife awakend me to come out on the balcony and look at a strange circular orange light glowing in the sky above the ocean several miles off the coast.

I grabbed my 10x binoculars and noted an object that with binoculars presented itself as a tightly grouped circular cluster of orange lights moving in a line from South to North at an altitude slightly lower than one might expect a jet airliner to travel in a flightpath. The object slowed to a stop and hovered for about 20 seconds, then from a stationary position, the cluster of lights arced slightly upward, slowly dimmed and went out as if it were moving away from the coast.

While the the first object hovered and dimmed, a second object of approximately the same size (or very slightly larger) appeared and traveled in a similar path to the first object, at approximately the same altitute. The second object was roughtly identical to the first, except it moved more slowly, then stopped and lingered for about 20 seconds as it slowly dimmed and arced slightly upward, dimming out as it moved higher and away from the coast.

The objects were not fireworks, since they both moved South to North/Northeast well off the coast in a path parallel to the coastline and at a uniform altitude parallel to the horizon until they arced upward. The sky had no visible clouds, but there was a uniform atmospheric haze, which might account for the fact that each of these two objects had a flickering effect.

My wife is a retired corporate executive. I am an attorney.

Posted 2011-07-04