NUFORC Sighting 83316

Occurred: 2011-08-20 22:00 Local
Reported: 2011-08-20 21:09 Pacific
Duration: 5 min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Falls Church, VA, USA

Shape: Light

Two reddish-orange lights moving south to north, one after the other within 5 min., near Falls Church, VA

At about 22:00 on Aug. 20, 2011, I was in my front yard in Fairfax County, VA, just south of the City of Falls Church. In the sky to the southeast, at an elevation of about 45 degrees, I saw a single reddish-orange point of light moving at a constant speed from south to north, eventually fading out and disappearing. A few minutes later, I saw a second, identical light do exactly the same thing. I was able to look at the second light through binoculars, but couldn’t make out any detail. There was no sound associated with the lights.

I’d say their speed was roughly the same as that of commercial jets. In fact, I often see airplanes (from Reagan National Airport, I assume) with the same point of origin, elevation and speed as these lights, but they’re always readily identifiable by their bright white landing lights, red and green wingtip lights, and their sound. We have a lot of air traffic in the area, and I’m quite familiar with the appearance of various types of aircraft at night. These lights got my attention because they didn’t match anything I’d seen before, and because I didn’t hear any sound.

There was no wind and the sky was overcast, with the temperature around 76F.

Posted 2011-08-21