Holly, Michigan - 05-25-09

I was housesitting for friends in Holly, Michigan. It is away from city lights, so I knew I could enjoy some sky-watching. On Monday, May 25, 2009, I was doing just that.

I spotted an aircraft moving from east to west, the FAA required beacons were plain to see, and I could hear the engine, though faintly, because of the distance.

As it was getting too far off to see, I noticed a light below it, about half the distance away. It just looked like another aircraft coming at me with the landing lights on.

I watched it for a couple of minutes, and it seemed to be moving quite slowly. When aircraft are moving toward you they usually appear to be moving slowly, so I didn't think much of it at the time.

I then realized this was moving VERY slowly, and that if it was approaching, I should have been seeing the beacons by then. I decided to run in for the camera, and it was not where I thought I had left it.

After a couple minutes of searching, I found it and ran back out. I swear, this thing hadn't moved the whole time I was is in the house searching.

Not having the tripod with me, I leaned my arm and the camera against a large umbrella for a couple of the pictures and against house for a few more.

You can see by the results that leaning against whatever, the pictures did not show what I saw. It was a single, white light that appeared a bit elongated at times, but it really did look like landing lights.

The problem is that these "landing lights" appeared the same as they approached, passed overhead, and proceeded to the east. There was absolutely no sound, and this object was much closer to me than the plane that I could hear.

So, here are the pictures, what do you guys think? Pictures taken with Panasonic DMC-TZ3 using:

Full 10x optical zoom

exposure +1 2/3s

ISO max 1250

Thoth