On 12 December, '08, at approx. 0615, I was im my greenhouse looking for meteors. The moon was near full and at about 12 degrees above the western horizon, but was hidden by a large oak tree.The object of concern appeared from behind this tree at about 45 degrees from my point of view. It was moving rather slowly from due north to due south. It consisted of three yellowish lights in an equalateral configuration. These lights seeemed unusually bright to me and I followed them as they crossed my field of vision. When they had crossed a point perpendicular to my point of view they remained very bright. This caused me to feel that these lights were pointing downwards, not forward as a landing lights would. There were no navigational lights associated with this 'craft', there was no sound involved, nor was there any vapor trail visible. There had been a couple air-liners that I had already seen that morning and their trails were very evident. Beyond the pattern of lights there is no other description I can provide. It was quite dark and there was no back light present.