NUFORC Sighting 161391

Occurred: 2021-01-01 00:10 Local
Reported: 2021-01-01 10:14 Pacific
Duration: 10 min
No of observers: 5

Location: Tucson, AZ, USA

Shape: Formation


Five of us watched a formation of about 40+ sparkling objects fade in and out below the moon for about 10 minutes.

Just after New Year's Eve midnight, our group of five was outside. One member of our group looked up at the moon and exclaimed: Look! She pointed toward the moon, which was full and bright in the southeast. We all looked up. At first, we were silent. Then we started saying many things like: I see it! Do you see this? I can't believe it! This is not natural or man-made! The formation had 40 or more lights. The lights were spread out in a vertical band, ranging from below the moon down toward the horizon. Each light was a separate sparkle made of short, thin, sharp, crisscrossing, radiating lines. Each sparkle was small relative to the overall formation.

Four out of five in our group saw different colors among the sparkles. The fifth in our group (me) had coated eyeglasses and did not see the colors. The sparkles did not look like stars. Each sparkle would be in the same spot for about 15 to 30 seconds, then fade. But the approximate number of sparkles in the formation stayed the same for most of the time that we observed it. Then the sparkles started to fade and disappeared entirely over one or two minutes.

The overall formation stayed in the same general area but constantly shifted slightly as some sparkles faded in and others faded out. The overall shape of the formation was resembled a geometric kite, with more sparkles at the top closest to the moon, and with fewer sparkles ranging down along a kite tail decorated with knots. The overall shape of the formation, though, was not distinct or familiar, and it did not maintain a consistent shape.

The formation was visible for about 10 minutes and then the number of visible sparkles started to fade. Within a minute all of the sparkles were gone.

I photographed and filmed some of the event with my iPhone, but the formation does not seem visible on my phone or on my desktop.

While we were watching, someone in our group said it was like plankton glowing at night in the sea. Four of us had seen pictures of glowing plankton and agreed there was a similarity. The major difference was the sparkling characteristic of each object in the formation versus the glow of plankton at night.

Posted 2021-01-19

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