-

204880 sightings reported...
and growing

Wallula, OR

Sighted on Tuesday 31. July 2012
Reported on
Shape: | Duration: 1 minute
Source:

Three lights -- red/red/white -- easily identified as three separate aircraft, as one had flashing navigation strobe lights.Observed three lights in formation -- red/red/white -- while at a new observatory site in Washington. The site is located at about 1600 feet in elevation in the Wallula Gap hills south of the Columbia River, just north of the Oregon border. We were setting a North-South line in the now empty observatory in preparation of setting the large telescope mounting into the observatory. We were done with our work at about 10:15 PM and came out of the observatory building to notice the ‘lights’ floating along to the north of us: two bright red lights and one while light with flashing running lights. They were equally spaced and moving slowly. I laughed and noted to my friends “look a UFO”. I commented that any non-astronomer would likely comment that the object(s) were a UFO. We watched for about a minute as the object moved to the west. They did not keep perfect spacing, so the object was not something solid and made us think they were three separate aircra! ft. Then, the lights turned and headed north, and it was easy to see they were likely three aircraft moving in formation, one after the other, as you could see them form a nice ‘arc’ of lights as they moved in their turn. The interesting aspect was the front two craft had steady red lights, while the trailing craft had a white light and running strobe lights as normal aircraft do. So, whatever craft the red lights were, they did not have normal strobe lights, which is maybe why they had a trailing craft to make sure they were not mis-identified by other aircraft.((ADDENDUM FROM ORIGINAL WITNESS))The aircraft were at two-three miles away. They were moving slowly, much like small fixed wing aircraft or helicopters. Because we were on a hilltop they were at eye level elevation. We were looking north and they were due north of us. They were traveling west at first and we saw the port running light in the last aircraft blinking as well as the white light, and then as they turned north, we could see both the port and starboard running lights in the last aircraft. Both of the advance aircraft just had red lights and no blinking running lights.Yes, all three of us, all astronomers with extensive experience observing celestial objects thought they were aircraft and also mused how others without experience in observing moving objects in the sky could be convinced they were UFO's and or 'baffled' by the formation. I have seen much more startling formations of lights in the night sky in the form of aerial tankers refueling jet aircraft as well as formations of satellites in orbit around the earth. I have seen much more 'baffling' formations. These were clearly aircraft moving in formation. The thing we questioned was why the front two aircraft did not have normal running lights and only bright red lights. Perhaps you could find that out and let me know. I like to report these types of events to my students so they can be better observers of celestial objects, moving or not.((END ADDENDUM))

comments powered by Disqus

Top 100 nearest sightings ordered by sighting date (100 miles radius):

Location Sighted on Shape Duration
Location Sighted on Shape Duration
Dayton WA, going east on highway 12, milepost 372 2021-09-13 Sisc (saucer) 25 seconds or so
Baker City, Oregon (United States) 2020-05-07 Cylinder 00:00:00
Lewiston, Idaho (United States) 2020-04-19 Cigar 00:00:04
Lewiston, Idaho (United States) 2020-04-17 Star-like 00:30:00
Elgin, Oregon (United States) 2020-04-16 Tic Tac 00:45:05
Milton-Freewater, Oregon (United States) 2020-02-18 Cigar 00:05:00
Pomeroy, Washington (United States) 2020-02-18 Star-like 00:05:00
Dayton, Washington (United States) 2020-01-05 Circle 00:02:00
Clarkston, Washington (United States) 2018-12-14 Disc 00:00:30
Clarkston, Washington (United States) 2018-12-14 Disc 00:00:30
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2018-07-11 Cone 02:30:00
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2018-07-11 Other 00:45:00
Wallowa, Oregon (United States) 2018-06-30 Sphere 03:15:00
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2017-07-19 Sphere 00:00:30
Walla Walla, WA 2017-07-08 Light 1 hour
Milton-Freewater, Oregon (United States) 2017-07-02 Sphere 00:04:00
Blue Mountains (in NE Oregon), OR 2017-06-25 Formation 2 minutes
Dayton, Washington (United States) 2017-06-22 Other 00:02:00
Clarkston, Washington (United States) 2017-06-06 Sphere 00:00:10
Keuterville, Idaho (United States) 2017-05-29 Square, Rectangular 00:00:03
College Place, Washington, United States 2017-02-19 Cylinder oval shape 45 mins
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2016-12-31 Teardrop 00:18:00
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2016-11-24 Disc 00:15:00
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2016-11-17 Sphere 00:01:00
Walla Walla, WA 2016-11-08 Triangle 10 minutes
College Place, Washington (United States) 2016-11-02 Disc 00:15:00
Richland, OR 2016-07-23 Light 10 minutes
Walla Walla, WA 2016-07-22 Cigar 15-20 minutes
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2016-07-20 Cigar/cylindar 1 minute
College Place, Washington (United States) 2016-02-25 Star-like 00:05:00
Joseph, OR 2015-10-29 Light 5 seconds
Walla Walla, WA 2015-09-23 Chevron 6 seconds
La Grande, OR, USA 2015-09-17 Triangle 5 minutes
Milton Freewater, OR 2015-09-05 Light 5 minutes
La Grande, OR 2015-06-23 Light 1-2 minute
Pendleton, OR 2015-05-17 Diamond 10 minutes+
Baker City, OR 2015-05-16 Circle 10 minutes
La Grande, Oregon (United States) 2015-04-30 Circle 00:10:00
Pendleton, OR 2015-03-27 Other 2 minutes
Athena, OR 2015-03-18 Triangle 20 minutes
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2015-03-12 Triangle 00:02:00
Walla Walla, WA 2015-03-12 Triangle 20 seconds
Walla Walla, WA 2015-03-12 Triangle 2 minutes
LaGrande, OR 2015-02-23 Other 1 minutes
Lewiston, Idaho (United States) 2015-01-05 Circle Undisclosed
Baker City, OR 2014-10-07 10 seconds
Walla Walla, WA 2014-09-05 Rectangle 3 minutes
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2014-08-27 Triangle 00:05:00
Milton-Freewater, Oregon (United States) 2014-08-12 Triangle Undisclosed
Milton Freewater, OR 2014-08-12 Triangle 30 seconds
Milton Freewater, OR 2014-08-12 Triangle 30 seconds
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2014-06-30 Triangle Undisclosed
La Grande, OR 2014-06-08 Other 5
La Grande, OR 2014-06-08 Other 5
La Grande, OR 2014-05-27 Light 1-2 minutes
La Grande, OR 2014-05-27 Light 1-2 minutes
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2014-05-17 Circle Undisclosed
Lewiston, Idaho (United States) 2014-04-27 Circle Undisclosed
Walla Walla, WA 2014-04-22 2 days
Union, OR 2014-04-06 Flash 30 seconds
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2014-03-01 Unknown Undisclosed
La Grande, OR 2013-12-31 Light
Athena, OR 2013-12-24 Cross 30 minutes
Pendleton, 2013-11-28 Light Present as of 18:20
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2013-11-17 Round Minutes
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2013-11-13 Disc Undisclosed
Walla Walla, WA 2013-10-30 Light 20 seconds
Milton Freewater, OR 2013-10-29 Light Unknown
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2013-10-17 Cone Undisclosed
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2013-09-09 WEIRD SECONDS
Dayton, WA 2013-09-07 Circle 30 minutes
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2013-09-05 Sphere 00:15:00
Walla Walla, WA 2013-08-12 Circle 30 seconds
College Place, Washington (United States) 2013-08-11 Unknown Undisclosed
Union, Oregon (United States) 2013-08-11 Star-like Undisclosed
Union, Oregon (United States) 2013-08-11 Oval 5 min
Asotin, Washington (United States) 2013-07-29 Triangle Undisclosed
La Grande, OR 2013-07-22 Other every night almost
Walla Walla, WA 2013-07-03 Sphere 25 seconds
Milton-Freewater, Oregon (United States) 2013-06-03 Chevron Undisclosed
Pendleton, Oregon (United States) 2013-05-01 Circle Undisclosed
Baker City, Oregon (United States) 2013-03-30 Unknown Undisclosed
Pendleton, OR 2013-02-01 Unknown 1 hour
Lewiston, Idaho (United States) 2012-12-28 Circle Undisclosed
College Place, WA 2012-11-18 Triangle 19:00
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2012-10-20 Cigar 00:01:00
Walla Walla, WA 2012-09-07 Light 5 seconds
Pendleton, OR 2012-08-15 Unknown 7 minutes
Waitsburg, WA 2012-07-31 Light 20 minutes
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2012-07-31 Boomerang Undisclosed
Elgin, Oregon (United States) 2012-05-31 Unknown Undisclosed
Walla Walla, WA 2012-01-11 Formation 2 MINS
Walla Walla, WA 2012-01-01 Sphere 15 min
Baker City, OR 2011-08-19 Fireball 10 seconds
Baker City, Oregon (United States) 2011-07-09 Sphere, Triangle Undisclosed
Walla Walla, WA 2011-05-20 Unknown
College Place, Washington (United States) 2011-05-19 Triangle Undisclosed
College Place, WA 2011-04-09 Unknown 3 minutes
Walla Walla, Washington (United States) 2011-03-25 Sphere Undisclosed