NUFORC Sighting 94390

Occurred: 2012-11-06 18:00 Local
Reported: 2012-11-12 19:14 Pacific
Duration: 1-2 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Boulder, CO, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

4 orange lights hovering above/near Rocky Flats former nuclear weapons plant

On November 6, 2012, at approximately 6pm MDT, after voting at Centennial Middle School, my wife and I were walking back to our home in north Boulder. At the intersection of 19th and Norwood, which is located at the top of a steep hill that faces south, we observed 4 bright lights near the southern horizon. The lights were located on a bearing just east of south, probably about 170 degrees. They were all the same brightness, evenly spaced, and resembled sodium vapor street lights; they were orange in color. They were no more than 5 degrees above the horizon from our vantage point. The lights were stationary during the minute or so that we viewed them.

My wife is an adamant skeptic regarding UFOs. Nonetheless, she readily admitted these lights looked "weird". My wife and I both have bachelor's degrees in physics and we have both studied astronomy at the university level, including considerable observational experience. Neither of us thought these lights looked "normal".

I have a private pilot's license and I am familiar with the location and traffic patterns of all airports in the vicinity of Boulder. Our line-of-sight to the unknown lights passed near the traffic pattern for the Rocky Mountain Regional Airport (RMRA) (formerly the Jefferson County Airport or "Jeffco").

However I do not think these were conventional aircraft landing lights because 1) they were distinctly orange and not white; 2) because normally we do not see landing lights from aircraft in the pattern at RMRA since the downwind leg for runway 29 R&L points *away* from Boulder; 3) because there were *4* of them, all identical, evenly spaced, and they did not change their appearance at all during the minute or so we were observing them.

Normally, conventional aircraft landing lights only take on an unusually bright appearance (such as we observed) when they happen to be pointed directly at the observer, a condition that normally happens for only a few seconds when an aircraft is maneuvering in the pattern. I was unable to imagine any plausible arrangement of conventional aircraft in the landing pattern that would produce the display of lights we observed.

In addition I should mention that the line-of-sight from us to the unknown lights passed more or less directly over the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility. The lights (if taken to be similar in brightness to aircraft landing lights) looked as though they were located right over the former nuclear facility. Although Rocky Flats has not been used for nuclear weapon production in many years, the author is aware that UFOs are often sighted near sensitive military installations, and thus thought that this detail should be included in this report.

I was conflicted about whether to file this report or not, since we do have a large amount of conventional air traffic in our area at nearly all times, and therefore it is conceivable that what we saw was an unusual configuration of conventional aircraft. However I decided to submit this report because I have thought about this sighting a number of times since it happened and I really am at a loss to explain those lights in a conventional manner. Also, I reasoned that perhaps others saw these lights and may have already reported them, or, if not, perhaps my report will catalyze others into coming forward with corroborating information. As far as I know there has been no mention in the local media about such lights, but I did not do a thorough search to confirm this.

Posted 2012-11-19

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