ID | #1673785619 |
Added | Sun, 15/01/2023 |
Author | July N. |
Sources | |
Phenomena | |
Status | Investigation
|
Initial data
The following statement was provided by /u/Fat__Thor :
So, to fit the cliche, this is a terrible video. I was joking about it when I took it.
Here's the story: tonight I was picking up my wife and two sons from the airport. We were talking as usual when we hadn't seen each other for a few days, and I suddenly noticed additional lights that weren't just street lights hovering overhead and directly east of lane 51 northbound north of the Thunderbird Road exit. At first I'm pretty sure there were six of them. But I definitely saw five in the shape of a pentagon, quite evenly spaced. My son received a photo from the back seat that confirms 5.
I pulled out my phone and did the same thing as the iPhone when you zoom in to 3x, but due to the glare of the streetlight, the dirty windshield and the fact that it's a Jeep with almost vertical glass, I couldn't tell if I was getting anything. . I was driving too, so I tried to watch where I was going. My wife saw at least one light bulb fly off. I'm not. You can see that there are four of them at the beginning of the video, then I fumble in my phone, then there are three.
All three lined up in a perfect triangle.
There was a low cloud cover tonight, and these were under it. They felt close. I thought maybe they were USAF flares, but I've seen them before and they looked different.
I feel like an idiot because I was so overwhelmed that I didn't even think to stop until I drove through the area. My wife was so tired, and our baby was with us, I just didn't stop and didn't come back, as I would have done if I had been alone.
To the naked eye, they looked orange and ball-like. I posted it on social media, and one of the residents of the city said that he had seen them too; a lady in Cottonwood (2 hours north) said that she too, but could not upload her video.
I feel like this could be a real observation, but I've been looking for so long in the hope of seeing it that I don't know what to believe.
Original news
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Fat__Thor:
So to fit the cliche, it’s a terrible video. I was joking about it while taking it.
Here’s the story: I was picking up my wife and two of my sons from the airport tonight. We were talking like you do when you haven’t seen each other in a few days, and I suddenly noticed extra lights that weren’t just streetlights hovering above and just to the East of the 51 Northbound lanes North of the Thunderbird road exit. At first I’m pretty sure there were six. But I definitely saw five in a pentagon formation, pretty evenly spaced. My son got a photo from the back seat that corroborates the 5.
I pulled my phone out and did the iPhone thing where you zoom to 3X, but between the streetlight glare, the dirty windshield, and the fact that it’s a Jeep with almost vertical glass made it so I couldn’t tell if I was getting anything. I was also driving, so I was trying to watch where I was going. My wife saw at least one light fly off. I did not. You can see though that there are four at the beginning of the video, then I fumble the phone, then there are three.
The three look to be lined up in a perfect triangle.
There was low cloud cover tonight and these were beneath that. They felt close. I thought maybe these were USAF flares but I’ve seen those before and these looked different.
I feel like an idiot because I was so dumbfounded I didn’t even think to pull over until I was past the area. My wife was so tired, and we had our toddler with us, I just didn’t stop and go back like I would have if I were alone.
To the naked eye they looked orange and orb-like. I posted this on social and someone else who lives in the city said they also saw them; a lady up in Cottonwood (2 hours North) said she did too, but couldn’t get her video to upload.
I feel like this might be a legit sighting, but I’ve been looking up for so long hoping to see one I’m not sure what to believe.
Hypotheses
Sky Lantern

Sky Lantern (Chinese flashlight, Thai flashlight) - paper flying luminous structure made of rice paper stretched on a light wooden frame, bamboo ring, burner.
Events
Rocket launches (from space.skyrocket.de)
- Site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC), Wuzhai, Shanxi (China) Vehicle: CZ-2D (2) Payload: Luojia 3-01 (LJ 3-01, Yantai 1) Qilu 2 Qilu 3 Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D-34 (Jilin-1 High Resolution-03D-34) Jilin-1 Mofang-02A-03 (Jilin-1 MagicCube-02A-03) Jilin-1 Mofang-02A-04 (Jilin-1 MagicCube-02A-04) Jilin-1 Mofang-02A-07 (Jilin-1 MagicCube-02A-07, Huashui 1) Jilin-1 Hongwai-A07 (Jilin-1 Infrared-A07, WoFuMan) Jilin-1 Hongwai-A08 (Jilin-1 Infrared-A08, TJHaiHe 1) Jinzijing 3 (Golden Bauhinia 3) Jinzijing 4 (Golden Bauhinia 4) Jinzijing 6 (Golden Bauhinia 6) Beiyou 1 (BUPT 1) Tianzhi 2D (Rizhao 3)
- Site: () Vehicle: Falcon-Heavy (Block 5)(px) Payload: CBAS 2 (USA 342, USSF 67) LDPE 3A
Investigation
Based on how the 4 object went out, these are sky lanterns.
Hardly in These objects were observed in Cottonwood. If a video with them exists, then it can confirm or reject this statement.
Resume
Similar facts
Log in or register to post comments