NUFORC Sighting 43361

Occurred: 2005-04-06 21:30 Local
Reported: 2005-04-07 14:31 Pacific
Duration: 3.5 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Reno, NV, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Lights north over Reno

It was around 9:30pm last night... I stepped out on my porch to put a mop into the storage area on my balcony,

facing roughly west (I live on the second floor in my apt complex on the south side of Reno)and I happened to look towards the right (which would have been roughly northwest (towards Northern NV/Northern CA). To my amazement, I saw what appeared to be dozens of very small dots of light flying extremely rapidly around each other, left to right, horizontally and vertically and moving at a high rate of speed.

In front, and at about the same height as me, was the rental office roof, so I approximated the objects to be flying anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees above the horizon. They were so low, in fact, that if you weren't at least on a second story with a clear view in that direction, you would have missed them altogether. Because they were only pinpoints of light it was very difficult for me to judge their distance... I even jumped in my jeep, camera in hand, and drove to the north end of town to see if I could get a better vantage point to view them, but with no success.

With the conditions, they could have been larger but farther away or smaller and closer, it was difficult for me to tell.

When I arrived back home, I stepped out on my porch and sure enough, they were still there! By this time, it was around 10:45pm.

These objects were seemingly just west of incoming air traffic to Reno/Tahoe airport (the commercial air traffic pattern brings them on the runway most of the time in a north to south direction). It seems that Reno/Tahoe Intl. should have picked these objects up on radar or possibly sighting(s) by commercial airline pilots.

I sat there and exhausted myself for a rational explanation... they dove horizontally and vertically and almost seemed to be "playing", heading toward each other and then dodging at the last minute, like playing chicken or something, if that makes any sense. I thought they were perhaps birds, but these objects were self luminous and moving extremely fast (depending on the distance it would have been in the hundreds of miles an hour+ range and besides that it was night time!).

I thought of bugs or moths flying around a light source, but there was absolutely no light source that close to me, I even took a short walk to check. Maybe an atmospheric phenomenon, although there isn't any type of atmospheric anomaly I could think of... it was partly cloudy out, no rain and a slight breeze but no electrical/lightning activity in the area. I literally stayed up until these objects finally disappeared, which happened not all at once but over the course over an hour.

By 12:45am, there were only a couple left that I could see and then they also disappeared from view. There were literally dozens of these objects and reminded me of fireflies buzzing around each other when I lived back east. I checked the local online paper this morning for any unusual reports but nothing at all... which I was slightly disppointed in finding out.

Is there ANYONE else out there that saw this?? I'd really be interested in knowing. I'm borrowing some binoculars today in case they reappear this evening. PS... a couple of days ago I submitted another report about a sighting that I had along with my ex-wife about 10 yrs ago back by Angels Camp, CA. I also submitted a report from August 23rd of 2003 about objects that myself and a girlfriend had spotted over Reno. Last night included, this is cumulatively the fourth sighting in my life of something that I could not explain away. I don't mind questions via the phone, I'm intrueged but wary about all of this, so if interested, I'd appreciate it if you could contact me through my email first. Thank you.

Posted 2005-04-16

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