It was about 6 pm on a Sunday. It was an hour past dusk. Went out on the porch to have a smoke. Looked straight ahead to the west and saw a crescent moon shaped smudge of light in the overcast sky. I only glanced at it at first, dismissing it as the moon. It quickly occured to me, that the moon was never visible from my vantage point. I looked more intently,and saw what looked like a blurry image of a spiral galaxy. I went back into the house and picked up my scoped rifle, turning off the lights as I went out. I turned the scope magnification to nine and looked. I could clearly see a series of stationary lights in a crescent shape. I immediately called for my wife to come and see. I pointed out the light in the sky and looked through the scope, hoping to show her, but the lights were quickly fading. They were no longer visible within seconds.