I went out to my back yard at midnight to put out my rubbish bins for the morning collection. I noticed an reddish amber ball of light above trees in the distance that seemed to be stationary.I went in to my house to obtain binoculars to have a better look at it.When i looked at it through binoculars i could see a small white light to the left and right of the object that seemed to pulse slowly.I was watching it for about ten seconds when i saw a shaft of white light beam down to the ground from it on two occasions a few seconds apart. The light beams were a faint soft white light even in width from top to bottom. This struck me as very odd because i have seen helicopters flying often at Edinburgh military air base near my home on many occasions and there searchlights are very bright and the light beam projected fans out from the source. The object seemed either stationary or moving very very very slowly for about half a minute. The object increased in size slowly coming in my direction.As it drew closer i could see a black triangular object with a small slowly pusing white light at each point and the reddish amber light was in the middle of the objects underbelly.As it became more visible i also noticed a very soft glow behind its rear edge that appeared to illuminate the sky behind it but the illumination was unusual to the only thing i can compare it with is when i have seen a laser projected and the illumination is paper thin in the air.When it drew closer i did not need the binoculars as the object when it was close to passing my house was huge.I am familiar with Orion submarine tracking aircraft taking off from the military base regularly day and night and this object was far bigger than those.As it passed overhead it blocked my view of the big dipper star group and other bright stars completely.I raised my binoculars again as it was passing overhead and noted the large reddish amber light seemed to shimmer like like the heat haze you see in a desert mirage.I suddenly realised then it was making no noise whatsoever and i could not get over how it seemed to glide so very slowly.It was travelling at a much slower speed than i normally see light planes fly at.Although huge it seemed very flat there were no exhaust trails and i felt more and more dumbfounded by what i was seeing particulary because of its sheer size.As it passed travelling to the south east dogs started barking all over the neighbourhood until it was diminishing in size in the distance.When it was diminishing in size i noticed through the binoculars there appeared to be a lot of small sparkles of light appear its rear edge for a few seconds and then i lost sight of it behind a large tree.I talked with my wife about it after not being able to sleep all night.I felt sure many people would have seen it and checked the tv news in the morning as well as buying the newspaper.Nothing was mentioned but i feel many people must have seen it as i did. I am a fifty five year old retired guy and i have never seen anything unusual in my life until that night.People who see such things are automatically the subject of ridicule etc but the reality of what i saw was mesmerising and left me feeling totally astonished.My father was in the Air Force most of his life and i have lived beside Air Force Bases in many countries where he was stationed over the years. I am very familiar with all types of commercial and military aircraft and i know what i saw was not of this earch unless the military have a craft that is gigantic in size fitted with engines that make no sound and can fly at about 50 mph without stalling.