SIGHTING: PRIEST RIVER, ID
Witness Testimony
" At approximately 21:15 hours tonight (Saturday, April 9, 2016) I took my dog outside for a break. We live in an area free of light contamination, visibility unlimited. The weather is clear and mild. I noticed a bright light moving in the sky to my left, or north, in and easterly direction, visible in a wide gap between large conifers near our house. It was moving at a rate that would be consistent with a low-flying small airplane. There were no running lights, just a bright steady light. I instantly realized it was an unusual light and quickly called my wife outside. As I turned back to continue watching, as my wife came out to see, I realized there were two lights. I pointed out the second one to her. If this had been a small aircraft at 5,000 to 7,000 feet, we would have easily heard engine noise. I can't make a good guess of altitude, as there was no way to compare it to anything at the time.The first object I saw was the brighter and larger of the two. It was slightly brighter than Jupiter is tonight. My wife and I ran to the east about forty feet to get beyond the trees which were blocking our view momentarily. She comment that the brighter light seemed to have a shape. I said it had an angular look and she said, "Like a boomerang," to which I replied, "Or a crescent shape." The color of the brighter object had a very slight a warm hue, the dimmer object appeared white. We both watched as the two lights continued eastward at a steady rate, then disappeared behind the peaks of Prater Mountain. Total elapsed time was about fifty seconds. Total degree of travel, approximately WNW to ENE from the time I first saw them is about eighty degrees of sky, from my left to my right.The brightest object was about twenty to twenty-five degrees off the horizon. The dimmer smaller object was closer to thirty degrees off the horizon. The two were separated by approximately three degrees horizontal and five degrees in a downward angle of fifty degrees, the brighter being below and to the right of the dimmer light. They maintained the same relationship as they moved. There was absolutely no sound.I grew up living near three air bases and a major civilian airport, and am familiar with many types of aircraft. My father was a night sky watcher, a veteran navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII. I spent many hours outside with him and our amateur astronomer neighbor watching the skies over Northern California from 1955 to the late 1960s.I have seen many, many aerial phenomena in the skies over Montana and Idaho, and these two objects were certainly among the most interesting. My wife and I are in our early sixties, college educated in science (wife) and engineering and art (myself). "
