Ambiguous Lights in the Sky

These events occurred at the tail end of last week and this is my first real opportunity to get them into a post.

We recently had several cold, cloud free and severely frosty nights which made the night skies quite spectacular, as my home is on the very edge of small town surrounded by countryside and is quite free from light pollution. A little after 7:00pm I was outside, taking some rubbish to the recycle bin when I stopped to look up at a wonderful sky. Pinpoints of bright lighs sprawled across the inky blackness. Two lights moved...one directly from west to east, very high up, really bright and at a constant speed which took several minutes to cross the arc of sky. The second moved south west to north east, again quite high up, not as bright as the other and had a steady flashing light. The former I identified as a satellite, the latter as a commercial flight. Nothing else stirred so I went inside...plus the fact that my arms were turning blue!

The morning after, I was out at 5:45am on my way to work when I looked up to see the sky just as magnificent as the night before. Again, I spotted two lights. This time a high, intensely bright light was moving directly north to south and, from a south westerly direction I saw a smaller, fainter light moving north eastwards. At first I assumed the faint light was a star and only appreared to be moving because the brighter light was heading towards it and the illusion was of forward movement.

The bright light got quite close, visually, to the fainter light and passed by it before disappearing from view. That's when I realised that the smaller light was actually moving in my direction. I followed its track, thinking it could be plane but I just couldn't see the usual flashing light, until it got overhead and slightly to the left when the darned thing did a 45 degree right turn and shot away at speed, vanishing in seconds.

There was obviously no noise from either light which I didn't find unusual because of their apparent altitude but the manoeuvre has left me at a total loss of explanation and can anybody tell me if satellites can orbit north to south [I think the brighter light was another satellite but I'm not sure].

One more thing. Yesterday morning I opened the door at the rear of the house to put a bag out ready to drop into the bin on my way to work. It was another clear morning. I noticed three stars in a straight line off to the west, seemingly equally spaced in distance apart and completely still...hence assuming they were stars...but stars I had not noticed before. I genuinely had to look at them several times before going back in to get some breakfast. I shut the door but something didn't feel right. I ate my cereal and still bothered, went to the door again maybe some five minutes later and the stars were not there. It wasn't cloud cover as all the other stars were still visibe. They just were not there. I went further out into the garden to check if the formation had moved but nothing to be seen.

As I said in the title, ambiguous lights in the sky.
Any suggestions...anybody?

a reply to: fromtheskydown

I noticed three stars in a straight line off to the west, seemingly equally spaced in distance apart and completely still...

Orion maybe, the light from these stars may have faded as dawn approached.

Three stars in a line...

Orion's 'belt'

I got a pic of one, everytime I post something I get kicked off so Im on my 8th account and will post it soon. It was in the sky above the snow last week.

a reply to: intrptr

Thanks for the suggestion, Intrptr. Orion's belt did cross my mind some time later but the lights seemed strange, somehow. They appeared to be in a perfectly straight line and equally spaced, so much so that they caught my eye in the first place. As I said, I have never seen them before and although I am nowhere near an expert on star formations, I do recognize them when I see them often enough. The Plough, for instance.

I'm not sure what time sunrise was but around 5:30am is way too early for that.

a reply to: fromtheskydown

I'm not sure what time sunrise was but around 5:30am is way too early for that.

But agree they could look like Orion's belt?

You stated you saw them at 5:30 but 'later' they were gone. Later, at day break? Or because they dipped below the horizon?

a reply to: fromtheskydown

I've had similar experiences. I have no idea who's piloting them(or even if there is just one group of "them"). Had any other experiences that could be related in your childhood?

a reply to: intrptr

Yes, I think they were similar to Orion's belt and they were gone by around 5:40am when I went outside again. I start work at 6:00am and the sky begins to lighten at roughly around 07:30am. Can I just say that, thinking back, they appeared to be quite close for some reason. I struggle to find any reason why I would not have noticed this formation before. We have lived in this house for nine years and I have never seen those three points of ligt in that position before.

I am flummoxed because the more I try to reason the lights, the more I think I must have misconceived them but I cannot get away from the feeling that something was just sat there and then went away.

It's stupid, really.

originally posted by: WorShip
a reply to: fromtheskydown

I've had similar experiences. I have no idea who's piloting them(or even if there is just one group of "them"). Had any other experiences that could be related in your childhood?

Not UFO related...the odd light in the sky and once, with a group of friends in the early 1970s, we watched five bright lights move in formation from one horizon to the other, at quite a speed. I had a telepathy experience with my mother at the age of about six and a stranger tried to coerce me into his car when I was around eight years old...both he and his car vanished rather oddly but that could be down to a muddled, old memory.

a reply to: fromtheskydown

I am flummoxed because the more I try to reason the lights, the more I think I must have misconceived them but I cannot get away from the feeling that something was just sat there and then went away.

It's stupid, really.

Not at all. There an atmospheric illusion that makes objects on the horizon appear larger than they are. Most commonly observed wth the full moon, low on the horizon it appears huge, up in the sky, smaller. This would apply to bright stars as well. Adding the atmosphere is most steady in the predawn the heat of the previous day s dissipated and during winter the atmosphere is colder still, providing for steadier viewing of objects over all. Its not usual for you to think it was an impressive sight to see the sky like that. Thats hone astronomers get the best viewing conditions.

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Your other sighting of an abrupt, angular turn by an object was neat. I saw something like that once, too.