Having my curiosity piqued recently by some ufo-related emails on wikileaks, i decided to go outside for the first time in a long time, and look at the night sky with a pair of binoculars to see if i could spot anything at least somewhat interesting. my initial intention was to observe the moon with the binoculars looking for anything visually unusual around it, but when i got outside onto the porch on the north side, i realized the moon wasn't actually visible at that time. still, i stayed outside and looked almost straight up into the sky facing north without the binoculars. i noticed a very faint whitish-orange light moving north, it looked almost just like what a typical satellite would. but after about two seconds of looking at it, i noticed its brightness changing in a strange way. it appeared to almost fade in and out of being visible, and so i grabbed the binoculars around my neck and quickly aimed them at the strange light. now, seeing it closer, i could make out that it was instead made up of four individual lights. three white lights in an equilateral triangle shape, and one single orange-ish light in the center. the center light was pulsing bright and then dim, not like a sudden flash but more gradual of a change. along with that, the group of lights appeared to fade to dimmer and then brighten at times, which was strange because it was not flying behind any clouds and i could clearly see all the stars around it. at times, it dimmed so much i almost completely lost sight of it. i could not make out any physical structure or body, but the lights stayed fixed relative to one another, giving me the impression that they were part of a single craft. after about 10 seconds of following it with the binoculars, i wasn't able to hold them on the craft any more and continued watching it for a few more seconds with just my naked eyes. by the time it was about to disappear behind trees to the north, it was quite a bit brighter than an average satellite and then slid behind the treeline. the whole sighting lasted around 20 or so seconds and the craft made no noise as it flew over. i also never saw any other craft in the sky around this time, identifiable or otherwise. the craft looked much higher than a typical aircraft, i'd honestly say 80,000 feet or higher. this whole experience perplexed me after it happened, and for hours after it happened i sat and went over in my head exactly what i saw and i could come up with nothing to explain it myself. i have no idea what it was, but i have an idea of what it wasn't. it wasn't a commercial aircraft or typical satellite. it even appeared twice as bright as the iss appears from where i am. there is an old air force base in the area formerly known as perrin air force base. this base is not used as a commercial airport, just a small municipal one.