NUFORC Sighting 126792

Occurred: 2016-04-09 21:15 Local
Reported: 2016-04-09 23:25 Pacific
Duration: 50 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Priest River, ID, USA

Shape: Other

At approximately 21:15 hours tonight (Saturday, April 9, 2016) I took my dog outside for a break. We live in an area free of light contamination, visibility unlimited. The weather is clear and mild. I noticed a bright light moving in the sky to my left, or north, in and easterly direction, visible in a wide gap between large conifers near our house. It was moving at a rate that would be consistent with a low-flying small airplane. There were no running lights, just a bright steady light. I instantly realized it was an unusual light and quickly called my wife outside. As I turned back to continue watching, as my wife came out to see, I realized there were two lights. I pointed out the second one to her. If this had been a small aircraft at 5,000 to 7,000 feet, we would have easily heard engine noise. I can't make a good guess of altitude, as there was no way to compare it to anything at the time.

The first object I saw was the brighter and larger of the two. It was slightly brighter than Jupiter is tonight. My wife and I ran to the east about forty feet to get beyond the trees which were blocking our view momentarily. She comment that the brighter light seemed to have a shape. I said it had an angular look and she said, "Like a boomerang," to which I replied, "Or a crescent shape." The color of the brighter object had a very slight a warm hue, the dimmer object appeared white. We both watched as the two lights continued eastward at a steady rate, then disappeared behind the peaks of Prater Mountain. Total elapsed time was about fifty seconds. Total degree of travel, approximately WNW to ENE from the time I first saw them is about eighty degrees of sky, from my left to my right.

The brightest object was about twenty to twenty-five degrees off the horizon. The dimmer smaller object was closer to thirty degrees off the horizon. The two were separated by approximately three degrees horizontal and five degrees in a downward angle of fifty degrees, the brighter being below and to the right of the dimmer light. They maintained the same relationship as they moved. There was absolutely no sound.

I grew up living near three air bases and a major civilian airport, and am familiar with many types of aircraft. My father was a night sky watcher, a veteran navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII. I spent many hours outside with him and our amateur astronomer neighbor watching the skies over Northern California from 1955 to the late 1960s.

I have seen many, many aerial phenomena in the skies over Montana and Idaho, and these two objects were certainly among the most interesting. My wife and I are in our early sixties, college educated in science (wife) and engineering and art (myself).

Posted 2016-04-15