It's rare to hear of a UFO sighting through a telescope. But, this is exactly what happened for me on the night of April 2nd, 1994, just outside Greensboro, North Carolina. I had been an amateur astronomer and active stargazer since 1980 and could not recall ever seeing anything I would call highly unusual-and certainly not "otherworldly". At 8:24pm EST, almost two hours after sunset on this evening, things were about to change.

I was president of a local astronomy club at the time and was attending a stargazing session-with nine other adults and children representing two other area astronomy clubs. The children had demonstrated great skill at detecting manmade satellites drifting across the dark sky from time to time as our location on earth rotated well into the night. Some of the satellites were so dim that I couldn't understand how the children could see them at all. Others were much brighter. All were reflecting light from the sun off their metallic hulls to make them visible to us in our dark location where we stood. Some satellites-especially the military spy satellites-had a north-south trajectory and generally stayed visible until far off toward the horizon. But, the satellites that were travelling basically west to east were only visible until they reached a certain portion of the eastern sky where the sun-now somewhere below our western horizon-cast the earth's shadow out into space. If a satellite would glide into the earth's shadow, its hull would no longer reflect sunlight and would steadily dim until it was invisible. The satellite would then take roughly 10 seconds to become totally lost to view from our observing location on earth.

I had tracked manmade satellites in my telescope before. Suddenly, two of the children detected an unusually bright light heading eastward in the southwestern sky. At first, it seemed bright enough to be an airplane. However, its smooth glide across the sky made it possible to be a satellite. None of us could decide which it was, so I pointed my telescope to it and located it in the eyepiece.

At first glance, it had the characteristic sun-reflecting glow of a manmade satellite. I immediately said to the others, "It's definitely not an airplane; it's a satellite." But I quickly realized I may have spoken prematurely. Much to my astonishment, there was a small, green, pinpoint light along the starboard edge of the small blob of yellowish light-tiny, granted, but plainly visible. So, then, maybe it was an airplane, after all, I thought. They have tiny, green lights on their starboard (right) wing tips and red ones on their port (left) wing tips-same as all boats. Yet, the object was definitely travelling in satellite fashion across the background of distant stars-and clearly reflecting sunlight from the sun-despite the sun having set almost two hours earlier and being well below our horizon to the west, as a result. I began to search for a compromise explanation. Perhaps it was a high-altitude military spy plane… But, I quickly realized that, by now, so long after the sun had gone down, this craft would have to be at an altitude well above the earth's atmosphere to still catch rays from the sun over the curvature of the earth. I began to conclude that this object was probably in space.

But, if this object was in space, then what was I looking at?

The object was now approximately in the middle of our sky-still heading eastward. I scratched my head. Another experienced astronomer peered into my telescope to try to catch a glimpse of this moving object. He found it difficult to point directly to the object immediately-since it was moving and difficult to track-but did manage to get it to go across the eyepiece view for a split-second-long enough to see that it looked like a satellite-but with running lights. We both concluded that-whatever this was-it was strange and in low-earth orbit.

At this point, I was going to do everything I could to figure this out. I immediately told everybody to follow it to the earth's shadow ahead and watch specifically to see if it would dim out. An airplane would not be high enough to be affected by sunlight two hours after sunset-and dim out. Besides, an airplane wouldn't look like a satellite in the telescope, anyway. If it would dim out at the earth's shadow, then we had ourselves a true "unknown". The Space Shuttle was on the ground, that week. And the only other large object in space at this time was the Russian Mir Space Station. With all my experience, this light did not strike me as being the space station.

I was a bit puzzled that my telescope-relatively modest in size and power for an amateur astronomer-was showing me a small, green, "running light" on an object that may very well be hundreds of miles away. I began wondering just how large this object must be.

At this point, I just didn't know what to think.

We all focused, naked-eye, on this one moving point of light as it headed toward the part of sky where earth's shadow was casting out into space. I noticed I was holding my breath.

Sure enough, right on cue. The light began dimming at the predicted point in the sky. The object was indeed a spacecraft. I got back to my scope before the object would dim out completely, but I was not prepared for what next I was about to see.

I immediately found the object without any trouble despite the tiny view of sky in my eyepiece. But there was no yellowish solar glow anymore enveloping the object. And the small, pinpoint green light was gone. (Understandable, since it was on the far side of the craft and the craft was drifting farther away from us toward the horizon.) I was suddenly stunned to see, however, a formation of running lights. Two evenly spaced white lights up front (bigger and brighter than the green light) followed by a single, white light of almost equal brightness-with a smaller and less bright, steady-burning, red light in the exact center of the lighting arrangement. At no point during the observation could I see the shape of the object, but the one original glow strongly suggested a single object-not multiple objects.

Three white lights forming a triangle with a red light in the center… Not the Russian space station. What the heck am I looking at? I thought. I watched it for a good minute more, I believe, trying carefully to record in my mind every detail I could. I realized that this object, approximately 25 degrees above the horizon and at least a hundred miles high-probably higher-was at least a few hundred miles away. "Whatever this is, it is big!" I said out loud.

The object eventually travelled too distant and too far into the haze that hugged the horizon. We had been fortunate to have had such a dark and starry night for which to view this mysterious object.

Well, it wasn't an airplane; that was for sure.
It wasn't a manmade satellite or space shuttle; that was for sure.
It certainly wasn't the Russian Mir Space Station with its extended solar panels; that was for sure.

It was, therefore, an unidentified spacecraft of unknown origin. One of my fellow astronomers suggested that it was probably some secret government project and that we probably shouldn't worry about it. But, that made me think; Which government? What if it didn't belong to our government? I began to get very concerned.

Who in the world could have developed the technology to lift something up into space too large to launch by conventional means? And what were their intentions in the grand scheme of things? I suddenly didn't like what I had seen. I didn't like the fact that someone-anyone-had technology so advanced that they could theoretically give any one or even any nation on earth a really rough time, if they chose to do so. Who was operating this craft? And, what the heck was this thing, exactly?

I carefully made all the notes I could on a scratch pad while it was all fresh in my mind. And, I was extremely careful to draw the arrangement of lights as exactly accurate as possible.

Later, I carefully studied my notes and tried to compile all possible data to see what I could make of all this. I was especially interested in the size of this thing. What kind of craft could be large enough for my small amateur telescope to see so clearly several hundred miles away? I knew almost exactly how large or small the object appeared in my eyepiece. And, I knew the magnification and other characteristics of the telescope. I began to check and see if I could figure out the size of this mystery object from the information I had compiled.

I dusted off my college mathematics text book and began searching. I also called on a highly skilled amateur astronomer in the area who was a math enthusiast, as well. Finally, I was able to figure out a range of sizes for this object based on observational data.

I knew the distance above the horizon in degrees (approximately 25 degrees). I knew that the object was definitely in low-earth orbit-which would have to place it somewhere between 100 and 350 miles altitude above the earth. From this information, I could conclude a maximum and minimum distance range for this object. Even ballpark figures would tell me a lot about the object I had seen. I had already assumed that this object was probably the size of an aircraft carrier or two. I really needed to know the object's size.

I estimated the actual size of the object's image in the telescope's eyepiece in "seconds of arc" then converted that measurement into something called "radian measure" to ultimately get a magical number that I could multiply by various possible distances to the craft-based on the craft's most probable altitudes and the known angle above the horizon at the time of observation.

In my calculations, I determined the object's telescope image to be between 30 and 50 seconds of arc-close to the size of the planet, Jupiter, at the same magnification. The object's altitude above earth was believed to be between 100 and 350 miles. The object's distance would then have to be between 170 and 640 miles. My results would have to fit within these parameters. (And, I have always believed these ranges to be quite correct when thinking back to the actual sighting event.)

I was quite surprised when I finally realized the results. The object proved to be much smaller than what I expected. At its smallest possible size, it would have to measure no less than 129 feet across (39 meters)-at its maximum size, 811 feet (247 meters). Now, 811 feet would be impressive, but I really had believed the object to be considerably larger. (An aircraft carrier is approximately 1,100 feet long.) Regardless, I had to trust the mathematics and accept the results. Though, I'll have to admit that I developed a new respect for my telescope's ability to see so well an object so very far away.

I pondered for days on this sighting and eventually filed a UFO report with the Mutual UFO Network, the largest investigative organization for mysterious aerial sightings. I talked to George Fawcett, a pioneer investigator in North Carolina. I later sent a detailed report of my own to The National UFO Reporting Center-with a response stating that, based on my report, the sighting appeared to be a legitimately "unknown" craft. Unfortunately, there was little I could do at this point.

But, little did I know that my greatest shock from this incident was yet to come.

Almost five years later in March of 1999, I watched a TV documentary on UFOs. A few minutes into the program, my jaw dropped to the floor. I sat there watching home video of the very same arrangement of lights I had seen in April of 1994 through my telescope. The video showed a close-up view of the lights at nighttime-at low altitude-over the city of Brussels, Belgium. A shopkeeper named, Marcel Alfarano, was among many people who had witnessed sightings of similar objects over a long period of time ranging between late 1989 and late 1993. I had not known of these sightings prior to my own sighting.

Well over 2,000 observations of objects similar to my sighting were reported in Belgium between 1989 and 1993. Many of the witnesses were quite credible. Members of the military, national police, and even some investigators filed reports. At times, F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept some of the unknown object, documenting extreme flight capabilities of these objects. Additionally, on several occasions, fighter pilots got missile locks on these objects only to watch the craft slip off the locks and perform extreme evasive maneuvers. This was an obvious demonstration of "electronic counter-measures". At one point, four different radar stations were tracking the same objects as they performed maneuvers not possible for any piloted or pilotless manmade craft.

While the sizes of these craft-often seen near ground level and flying very slow- were sometimes reported with some variations, they were generally reported to be approximately 300 feet across. The shapes of the craft were almost always identical, as well. Most reported the objects to be flat, gigantic, triangle-shaped objects roughly two or three stories in height-each with a strong, white light on the underside at each corner-and a strong, but less bright red light in the center. Often, smaller lights were reported on the sides of these vehicles (such as green ones). Many reports cited strong, white beams of light extending down from the craft but not always to the ground. The light beams actually appeared cut off on bottom (truncated) in many cases. The operators of these craft seemed to be looking for something on the ground at times.

Five years after my sighting and measurement of the object I saw in space, I searched for my old notes to compare sizes with my observations and those made by the majority of Belgian witnesses who saw the objects often at very close range. I still had trouble believing my object had turned out to measure much smaller than I had originally expected.

When I compared my size range calculations to the witness estimations in Belgium, I found that their estimates fit right into the middle of my measurements! This revelation offered to me by the TV documentary added incredible weight to the credibility and legitimacy of my UFO report filed in 1994. And, I could now say that UFOs were definitely real and consisted of a technology not openly known to humankind. At this point, I could sit around no longer. I had to become an investigator. I had to try to find out just who are operating these vehicles.

04-02-1994 Case Report Greensboro, North Carolina - Event Confirmed by Alan Caviness

A local group of amateur astronomers held a stargazing session in a state park just outside Greensboro, North Carolina on the evening of April 2, 1994. Ten people were in attendance including four adults and six children. The children had shown impressive skills at detecting manmade satellites-some quite small and dim-travelling high across the local skies.

At approximately 8:24pm EST, two of the children spotted a light in the distance and argued whether it was a satellite or an airplane. The light was relatively bright for a satellite. To settle the dispute, one of the adult astronomers swung around his 6-inch reflector telescope (6 inch diameter) and quickly found the object. Having previously seen satellites in the eyepiece, the astronomer immediately relayed to the children that it was indeed a satellite and not an airplane. The object displayed the characteristic yellowish glow of sunlight reflecting from its hull-the object being high enough above the earth to still catch rays from the sun which had set at 6:42pm local time. The image in the telescope eyepiece appeared as a moving star-like point of light against a dark, starry background.

Even though the light was identifiable as a satellite, the telescope observer noticed an oddity-a small, green light apparently on the starboard side of the object along the edge of the yellow glow. The object was travelling west to east in typical satellite fashion at an apparent rate of speed comparable to a typical satellite in relatively low earth orbit. The amateur astronomer was baffled that his telescope could even pick up a tiny light on a craft several hundred miles distant. Also, he knew of no reason a manmade satellite would even be burning a power-draining bright light that could be seen that far away in a small telescope. Yet, this object was definitely reflecting rays from the sun and would have to be much higher than airplane altitudes to catch sun rays an hour and forty-two minutes after local sunset.

The sky overhead was completely dark and clear. The telescope observer then watched the object, naked-eye, along with the other nine people. There was one other telescope on the grounds, but it was much larger and too cumbersome to swing around and follow a moving object. After the object travelled more than halfway across the sky, the astronomer told everyone to continue to watch the object and see if it would “dim out” as it entered earth’s shadow-which cast into space in the eastern part of the sky. (Note: The earth always casts a shadow into space due to the constant glow of the sun. When satellites happen to enter into that region of the sky, witnesses will typically see a satellite lose the sunlight it is reflecting and become invisible due to its small size and great distance. Because airplanes emit their own light, they are not affected.)

The telescope observer wanted to confirm the object to be in space to totally dismiss the possibility of it being a high-flying aircraft of some sort. Right on cue, the light began to dim as it entered the earth’s shadow. This event confirmed the object to be high enough to definitely be operating well outside earth’s atmosphere.

Before the group could lose sight of the object, the amateur astronomer returned to his telescope and immediately found the object. However, he was even more stunned by what he was now seeing. The yellow solar glow was gone, and the small, green light was gone (due to the decreasing angle of the craft as it drifted farther away from the observers). But now replacing the earlier view was an arrangement of four lights belonging to the apparently single object. The body of the object could not be seen due to limitations of the telescope and the dark background of the night sky. However, the lights were very distinct and as visible to the astronomer as an airplane in binoculars.
The four lights appeared to be on the underside of the object. The overall image appeared to be approximately the same size as the Planet Jupiter when viewed through the telescope at the same magnification (approximately 42X). This fact would prove invaluable in determining the actual size of this apparently massive object. The amateur astronomer was now observing a triangle of white lights-two forward lights and a somewhat dimmer light at the rear. In the center, a steady-burning red light could be seen that seemed smaller than the three white lights. The object had remained fairly low to the horizon as it crossed the southern sky, and the missing green light had appeared to be on the far side of the craft; this would explain why it was eventually lost from view. Interestingly, the colors of the lights were similar in shade to the colors in typical aircraft lights.

Now, the amateur astronomer was faced with a problem. This mystery object was large. All known manmade satellites are relatively small. The Space Shuttle was not aloft that week. And the astronomer knew that this could not be the only other sizable manmade object aloft in space-the Russian Mir Space Station. It was quickly becoming apparent that this object was a spacecraft of unknown origin. He watched the object until it became lost in the distance. Total observing time was close to three minutes.

The first step in trying to analyze this sighting was to determine the object’s possible size from observational data. In the eyepiece, the formation of lights appeared to take up 30 to 50 arc seconds of sky (degrees being broken down by minutes and seconds of arc). Visually, the object had appeared to be in low earth orbit-judging by its apparent brightness and its rate of travel across the sky. The owner of the larger telescope agreed that the object-whatever it was-was definitely in low earth orbit. An arbitrary set of altitudes for the object was set between 100 miles and 350 miles above the earth. Its angle above the horizon was closely estimated to be approximately 25 degrees. With this data, an assumed altitude of 100 miles above the earth would make the object approximately 170 miles distant from the viewing site. A top altitude of 350 miles would make the object 640 miles distant. It was safe to assume that the object was somewhere within these parameters.

Fortunately for the amateur astronomer, mathematics could save the day. Seconds of arc could be converted into radian measure then multiplied by distance to yield a possible size for the craft. If the object was only 30 seconds of arc in the telescope eyepiece, with a minimum altitude of 100 miles and distance of 170 miles, then the size of the object would be approximately 129 feet to 487 feet across. If the object was as much as 50 seconds of arc in the telescope, and at an altitude of 350 miles and distance of 640 miles, then the size of the object would have to be approximately 215 feet to 811 feet.

The stargazing group had witnessed a spacecraft of unknown origin in space measuring somewhere between 129 feet and 811 feet across. Whatever it was, it was large.

The amateur astronomer decided to make a best guess at the actual size of the craft by arbitrarily choosing 40 seconds of arc as the image size in the telescope and 150 miles altitude. He came up with an approximate size of 294 feet across. This would give the craft a size that would happen to agree with other sightings of this type object.

The amateur stargazer filed a report with the Mutual UFO Network in North Carolina and continued to wonder for a long time what he had seen that night.

Five years later, in 1999, the amateur astronomer noticed a video of the exact same type object in a TV documentary. The March 1990 video, shot in Brussels, Belgium, showed the same arrangement of lights travelling just above the city where a local shopkeeper, Marcel Alfarano, had time to grab his video camera and shoot. The TV documentary went on to show that between 1989 and 1993 a major wave of sightings was documented by authorities mainly in Belgium which included one good photo that showed the actual shape of one of these objects with the same lighting configuration.

The following is a summary of what the amateur astronomer in North Carolina learned relating to his 1994 telescopic sighting of one of these objects actually travelling in space.

During the night of August 31, 1989 near Munich, Germany, two men-a biologist and a lawyer-saw a large, black, triangular craft-approximately 30 meters across-with a white light on the underside at each corner and a red light in the center. The craft was slowly floating at an estimated 50 meters above the ground and at a distance of only 100 meters from the observers. The craft was reported to make no sound. This would be the only daylight sighting reported for the wave of sightings about to begin in upcoming months.

At approximately 10:30am local time, on November 29, 1989, an aluminum-colored triangle craft was reported by a Belgian army major who watched it from approximately 2 kilometers away. This was the first of over 145 independent UFO sightings reported to police on this day in rural areas of Belgium.

At 5:20pm, two police officers were checking out reports from several local residents, and both saw a dark triangle-shaped craft estimated to be approximately 30 meters across. It was seen moving slowly and deliberately-as though it was looking for something-and maintained an altitude of approximately 120 meters above the ground. The craft was reportedly 6 meters thick from top to bottom and had three white corner lights on the underside. A central red light was noted and witnessed detaching from the craft and flying independently. A slight dome was seen on the top side and what appeared to be square windows along the sides. Following the object in their car, the two police officers later witnessed a second triangle rising from a wooded area to meet with the first craft at approximately 6:45pm. It maintained an estimated altitude of 100 meters. The police reportedly observed the objects for approximately two hours.

In December of 1989, Colonel Andre Amond, a civil engineering officer in the Belgian army got out of his car with his wife to witness a similar craft flying low and slow aiming a beam of light down to the ground as though searching for something. The craft suddenly flew away at a very high rate of speed.

Triangles and other types of UFOs appeared over Belgium again on the night of March 30-31, 1990. National police again spotted a 3-light configuration flying in the sky and contacted the radar station at nearby Glons, Belgium. Glons acknowledged the radar target on their screens and contacted the NATO radar station at Semerzake who confirmed the same unknown target. Another radar station at Zaventem eventually tracked the UFO, as well. Two Belgian Air Force jet fighters were then scrambled at Beaurechain to chase down the craft and try to identify it since it was executing an unauthorized invasion of Belgian air space. Both pilots had the same radar return on their radar scopes at times but were unable to get a visual on the object or objects in the area at the time. The jet interceptors were able to get missile locks on the craft at various times, but the craft would somehow jump off missile lock and take dramatic, evasive maneuvers changing speeds from approximately 170 mph to 1100 mph almost instantaneously and changing altitudes as dramatically. The jets eventually returned to base without incident and the radar tapes were analyzed by the Belgian Air Force’s Electronic War Center.

At least 800 cases were carefully investigated, ultimately, in a joint effort between the government and the civilian community. The officer in charge of operations during the jet scramble in March 1990, Colonel Wilfried De Brouwer (later, General), made the following public statement after a thorough investigation: One could refer to an extraterrestrial observation… And I think that’s an option which…or an assumption which…should not be excluded. I’m not saying it was extraterrestrial…but, it’s an assumption that should not be excluded.

Professor Emile Scweicher analyzed the radar tapes and was asked if the radar returns could have been technical anomalies in the radar equipment. He stated publicly, I don’t think that you can explain it by saying that all radars made the same mistake; that’s highly unlikely. There are different types of radar. There are different types of antennae… And, also, the orientation of the target was different for the four radars. I’m going to be fired by my colleagues. But, I think that extraterrestrial intelligence is very highly likely.

It is important to note that many interviewed witnesses during the Belgian wave of sightings estimated the craft they saw to be approximately one football field in length (300 feet)-which corresponds to the estimated size of the object in the Greensboro, NC sighting.

Triangles were reported as late as September 7, 1994. On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a professional flight instructor watched from the beach as a triangle-shaped craft approached from the ocean at approximately 25,000 feet travelling at an estimated 450 knots. On the underside of the craft were three corner lights yellow-white in color with a pulsing red light in the center. On the rear of the craft, the witness reported two smaller white lights. The craft was observed to make a very impressive 90 degree turn instantly without slowing down.

Mass sightings of triangles were reported in France and Germany on November 5, 1990. One triangle was observed to be floating for about 5 minutes with small jets of vapor emitting from its base.

No actual triangle landings were ever reported during the Belgian wave between 1989 and 1993, but SOBEPS, a highly recognized private research group headquartered in Brussels received over 900 reports where witnesses reported triangles in close proximity (within 300 meters). Many variations of triangle shapes were reported. And, many were observed close to the ground moving slowly-sometimes employing what appeared to be searchlights. However, in some cases, the light beams were seen to end without reaching all the way to the ground (truncated). Normally, the craft were reported to make a low, humming sound or no sound at all. In some cases, they shook entire buildings as they went by. No crews were seen by witnesses, but the entire wave of up-close-and-personal sightings seemed to indicate that the operators of these craft wanted human beings to be aware of their existence.

Similar triangle craft have been reported throughout modern history and are not new to the scene:

1945 - Berlin, Germany - A German soldier witnessed a gray, metallic triangle craft moving low and slow making no noise. He thought at the time it was a last-minute secret weapon for Hitler.

1949 - Nampa, Idaho - Daylight sighting of a pinkish-bluish triangle object that suddenly disappeared in place.

1956 - Hungary - four triangles observed for six minutes.

1977 - Petrosavodsk, USSR - Bright, luminous orange-white triangle, 30-40 meters across, flying fast.

1978 - Atlantic Ocean - Cosmonaut General Pavel Popovich reported a triangle flying parallel to his airplane at 30,000 feet while flying from the United States to Russia.

1990 - Hamburg, Germany - Amateur astronomers reported seeing a triangle 70 meters across and 300 meters in altitude surrounded by luminous dust or mist. Moved away at high speed.

1990 - Koblenz, Germany - Triangle seen hovering for approximately 10 minutes at an altitude of 75 feet. Yellow-white corner lights on underside with a blue central light. Triangles were also reported in 10 other cities that day.

1990 - Kehlheim, Germany - November 5th - Triangle seen with luminous jet streams issuing out the sides.

Large, triangular craft of unknown origin continue to be reported to this day in the United States and around the world.

Note:
It would seem illogical for any secret military project of such high technology to expose itself to the public for any reason.