NUFORC Sighting 40461

Occurred: 2004-11-03 22:30 Local
Reported: 2004-11-05 12:45 Pacific
Duration: 5 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Syracuse, NY, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Two points of light in formation glide across the sky.

Looking east out my 12th story apartment window, which was open, I noticed with surprise that the constellations Orion and Ursa Major were visible, just above the horizon -- surprise because I live in a medium-sized city with a fair amount of light pollution. The sky, then, was unusually clear (meaning that any stars were visible at all; I certainly couldn't see anything in the sky dimmer than major stars, e.g. satellites). I noticed a hovering red light in the distance -- a helicopter, maybe a plane. Then, two points of light entered my field of view almost directly overhead, travelling from west to east. My first thought was military aircraft, because the points, which were yellow, were travelling in tandem with a constant distance between them. Then the points of light veered away from each other somewhat before coming back together, essentially flying two gentle arcs before returning to their previous arrangement. I realized, as the lights vanished (not exactly over the horizon, but out of view), that they were travelling far faster than aircraft. That's it. I'm writing this because the lights seemed unusual; I'm certainly not conviced I saw UFOs. But I've seen plenty of shooting stars, airplanes, and satellites, and these weren't that.

Posted 2004-11-09