SIGHTING: BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC

Witness Testimony

" Bright flashing, shimmering, unmoving and color changing light seen for 15 minutes.I am a retired community college instructor with an engineering background. I have an interest in astronomy and have built several telescopes.From 9 pm till 9; 15, I watched a very bright light (brighter than any star or planet) shimmer and vibrating low in the western sky. I live 30 miles east of Asheville. It never changed position and finally set with the surrounding stars beyond the horizon. I am an amateur astronomer and have never seen any star or planet this bright. The light flickered and shimmered but the surrounding stars did not. It was a very clear calm night, no moon, with the Milky Way quite bright. Associated with this light were smaller red, green, and blue lights that detached themselves slightly at times, The little lights seemed to blink very fast (faster than aircraft lights).The phenomenon seemed to be very far away and beyond the distant mountains a mile distant. It was unlike any light I have ever seen in the sky. It was unlikely to have been aircraft landing lights because it was stationary for over 15 minutes. As it set with the surrounding stars, I watched it through binoculars and it did not move in relation to the horizon. Even with the glasses, I could see no physical object but I clearly saw sparking, shimmering, and smaller flashes of color (almost as if it was emitting sparks).It set with the stars without changing its position with them.Note; Venus and mars had also set in the west, just after sunset (hours earlier). There were no other bright stars in the low western sky at the time of the sighting. It was a clear calm night. I live far out of town in a rural area (I cannot see any other lights or houses from my home). I enjoy a great unhindered view of the night sky.I have never seen a UFO before. "