Object Identification Question

Every night, after the kids are asleep, I make a cup of my favorite tea and then go outside for a smoke.
I live in the area of NJ that has Newark, JFK and Laguardia airports' flight paths flying all around me. Basically at any given time you can see 5-8 jetliners in any given direction. Being the person I am, I always find myself looking at the night sky. Well I noticed something that I can't figure out yet, maybe you will know the answer.
A month ago I first noticed it as a star moving across the sky. It was making a zig-zag pattern, if I held my arms out at length with a ruler in my hands it would trace out about 10"-12" then turn. The turn was not abrupt and had a typical arc that one would assume an aircraft could make. It just went back and forth until it was in the tree line. There was one white light but it was very high up and looked identical to a star other then the fact it was moving. The speed was consistent with all the other aircraft in the area.
I haven't seen it since but then last night it was there again, at approximately 10PM EST. My neighbor happened to come home at that time and when I pointed it out he noticed it also. My cell could not catch it in video or picture(it was really no different then the size and illumination of the stars around) so it wouldn't of made a difference anyway.

So what is it, satellite, drone? Why the zig-zag pattern? Geo-Mapping?
Every website I try to find information on sends me in some wild UFO chase!

Hope to find out what it is and what it's doing flying like that. . .

a reply to: AnteBellum
Were you standing in the same (or, virtually, the same) place each time?

Which direction were you looking? East, Northeast, East-Northeast, etc... ?
If the horizon = 0 degrees, and directly above = 90 degrees...where would you say the light/star/ufo was positioned through its path across the sky? ...and, where, in the sky, relative to you, did you first notice the object?

Approximately how much time elapsed between first noticing the object, and its disappearance in the tree line?

Any guess as to what altitude the object might have been flying at? (I'm guessing not...but - just in case you do...)

Just asking questions that might help in narrowing down possibilities...or that might help others determine if they might have witnessed the same...

Thanks

a reply to: WanDash

Sorry had to look at google maps.

I was in my front yard facing directly East. Facade/back of house faces East/West almost precisely.
I noticed it after I was outside for a minute or two directly above(straight up) last night. It took about 5 or so minutes to disappear over neighbors trees across the street which would be West. So it was moving East to West. It made about 7 or 8 turns in that time.
Like I stated earlier there were other aircraft in the sky, some pretty close by. Judging by them it was moving about as fast but was way up high. To me it looked like it was over the cloud line but sky's were perfectly clear. I could only see the one white non blinking light.

There are several websites that let you track commercial air traffic in real time on a map,I don`t have a link handy but i`m sure someone will.
I don`t think you can track military or private air traffic with them but at least you will be able to confirm or rule out the object as being a commercial aircraft the next time you see it.

found some:
flightaware.com...

I like this one I use it for my area.
www.flightradar24.com...

.

..used to watch a little guy do a 1am flyover, prolly just a satellite
(such activity not really necessary for 'geo-mapping'?)
from the behavior, it seems like a drone..
..would it be such a stretch to have them in US skies these days?
/shrugs

a reply to: AnteBellum
Thanks - AnteBellum
In 2008, I was writing in an online journal...and logged two 'sightings' that bear some similarity to yours...
The first was near the end of September (the 28th), and the next, was as follows...
(please excuse the 'style' - it's simply the way I wrote it out, that night)

Nov 18, 2008 ~ 7:30 pm
………tonight…a few moments ago…standing on the front drive
…looking in the sky above
…no moon…and
…I pan my view from the north…slowly to the southwest
…taking in their brilliance…and beauty…when
…one of the lights…was more golden…and seemed to be growing
…larger
…then seemed to be…moving
…slowly
…as if heading in a direct line with
…me
…at a very high altitude
…then
…its direction
…changed
…subtly-enough that I did not notice it
…changing
…then, I watched it make another subtle change
…so subtle I could not have noticed…if not so
…fixed on it
…and I realized that
…it was headed in a line that would be northeast of me
…and…
…as I was trying to determine what it was
…and where it came from
…and where it was going
…and why
…I verified that
…it had no blinking lights…and
…it seemed to have found its ultimate distance from me…when
…it began to ascend
…through the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere…and
…disappeared
…to the north and west of me
…high in the sky…

------------

The sighting in September included only 1 noticable course/directional change...which was - "up and out" of the atmosphere (presumably).

The fact that your sightings continued in a general direction (east to west) suggests that the objects we saw were probably not (*) the same type.

Thanks for posting this, and answering my questions!
This is one of the most similar accounts to my own sightings, that I've read.

a reply to: WanDash

Any idea of what it was?
Most aviation I see here uses blinking lights (red, white & blue) but this one had none. It was high enough that i can't rule out a satellite but such directional changes in space are very costly I presume. So all that was left in my table of understanding would be a drone as unit76 stated, which are located all around here given the strategic importance of my area(alongside lower Manhattan).
I just don't understand why the zig-zag pattern? I thought most mapping was done in a linear fashion, could this be a surveillance maneuver of some type?

Interesting to read the same type of description you posted, other then the assent upward. I never saw it do that it kept going west into the trees but who is to say that it didn't some time later. Speculation though. . .

Thank you for the help!

I have seen similar upon researching it was a satellite. they are traveling in arching patterns over th earth at some points they are traveling in a basic straight as the approach the north or south they will curve or what looks like turn.

the zig zag look comes from refraction of the reflective light coming to your eye through the atmospheric stratosphere. the light is bending as it pases through them.

a reply to: AnteBellum
At the time, I was thinking 'alien spacecraft'...
More recently, I've begun to entertain the notion that these may have been some Black Project assets.
I had considered meteors...but don't really think these acted/performed in a manner consistent with my understanding of how meteors travel once penetrating the Earth's atmosphere.
As you - my thoughts were that these were very high in the atmosphere - high enough that they might have been satellites--Except--for the maneuverability and course changes.

I do not see your description (zig-zagging) being neatly answered with drones, or mapping, either.

I'm no expert but I believe satellites in a geosynchronous orbit move in a figure 8 pattern. Might explain the turns

a reply to: tinner07

Retrograde motion might explain why it didn't look that way from Earth also. . .

Thank you

a reply to: WanDash

Just went outside again, 10pm est and Holy F'n @#$% - it was back again!

It was moving in a straight line tonight, same flight path, definitely East to West bearing, slightly lower and it did look more golden then white light.
I took my cell out to grab a video and as I tried to get the horizon in for a frame of reference the light went out and it was gone! WTF Right over my head and *poof*!

This really has me baffled now. . . tomorrow I will be ready and waiting for this.
I have a HTC One M8 and a cheap 2 year old Panasonic Video cam at my disposal. Any suggestions as to what is best to use to catch this little @#$%er?

Is there any way to see what flew over my house at exactly 10:00-10:01pm on a website. I'm not too fluent with the flight radar websites, though I will look into it now.

originally posted by: AnteBellum
a reply to: WanDash

...Just went outside again, 10pm est and Holy F'n @#$% - it was back again!

...It was moving in a straight line tonight, same flight path, definitely East to West bearing, slightly lower and it did look more golden then white light.
I took my cell out to grab a video and as I tried to get the horizon in for a frame of reference the light went out and it was gone! WTF Right over my head and *poof*!

...This really has me baffled now. . . tomorrow I will be ready and waiting for this.
I have a HTC One M8 and a cheap 2 year old Panasonic Video cam at my disposal. Any suggestions as to what is best to use to catch this little @#$%er?

...Is there any way to see what flew over my house at exactly 10:00-10:01pm on a website. I'm not too fluent with the flight radar websites, though I will look into it now.

Wish I could help on what kind of equipment to use...
A tripod might help...but... Gosh, I wish some of the experts would chime in with a little help, here...
You'd think some others in New Jersey equipped with telescopic-enhanced cameras would go bonkers to try to verify or debunk...

Maybe Tardacus' suggestion will tell you something (I'm thinking it will only rule out any commercial flights)...
Looking forward to any update/s!
Thanks for the heads up.