This is an archived case, so I'm writing about what people reported rather than from a first-hand account. On March 13, 1997, many people across the Phoenix area saw a line of bright orange-amber lights low in the southwest that seemed to hang in place for about five minutes before going out behind the mountains. The best-fitting explanation is military illumination flares. Four A-10 jets from the Maryland Air National Guard were training over the Barry M. Goldwater Range that night, and slow-falling parachute flares burn for minutes and drift so gently they look like they are hovering. Dropped in strings, they often appear as a row. The next candidate, a sky lantern, scores much lower and fits the orange glow and silence, but it does not explain the line of lights as well. Drones and Starlink trains scored low, and the sky data showed no satellites or launches to match.
From the archive · #vcar6mterwpt
The Phoenix Lights at 10 PM: a row of hovering orange lights
Military flares, not visitorsWant answers like this first in Google? Add WTH Was That? as a preferred source.
Sky Snapshot 10:00 PM, give or take 15 minutes
- Sky
- fully dark
- Moon
- first quarter, 21° up
- Planets up
- Mars (39°)
- Bright stars
- Sirius (southwest 31°), Arcturus (east 19°), Capella (northwest 46°), Rigel (southwest 22°)
- Weather
- mostly cloudy, wind 5 km/h
- Space weather
- quiet (Kp 1.7)
- Sunset
- 6:34 PM
Download the snapshot card to share it anywhere.
What people saw
- When
- Mar 13, 1997, 10:00 PM MST
- Where
- Phoenix, Arizona, US
- Looking
- southwest, low in the sky
- Lasted
- 5 minutes
- Looked like
- line, orange, point, falling
- Sound
- none
At about 10 PM on March 13, 1997, thousands of people in and around Phoenix saw a row of bright orange-amber lights hanging low in the southwest. They seemed to hover for several minutes, then went out one by one behind the mountains. It became one of the most famous mass sightings in the US.
The explanation for this part of the night is illumination flares. Four A-10 jets from the Maryland Air National Guard were on a training exercise over the Barry M. Goldwater Range and dropped slow-falling parachute flares, which burn for minutes and drift down so slowly they look like they're hovering. An earlier sighting that evening, a "V" of lights around 8 PM, is usually explained as a formation of A-10s flying with steady lights.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/the-phoenix-lights-are-no-mystery-6661825
From above the area, the way they looked, and what was overhead
The map needs JavaScript. The checks below list everything it shows.
The circle is the area the report came from, rounded to about 10 km. We never show a witness's exact spot.
See it in 3D on the Sky Globe, at the moment it was seen
What it could be
-
Military parachute flares Likely88%
- +5Night, when flares are used and seen.
- +15Parachute flares burn a bright orange-white.
- +25Sinking slowly is the parachute-flare signature.
- +15Flares are dropped in strings, so they often hang in a row.
- +15Each flare burns for several minutes.
- +5Seen low over the horizon, often from far away.
- +5Silent from a distance.
- ·Flares are dropped over military training ranges, so they are most often seen within a hundred miles or so of one.
-
Sky lantern Possible53%
- +10Night sighting.
- +20Orange flickering glow is a sky lantern.
- +5Silent.
- +10Visible for a few minutes before burning out.
-
Drone light show Doesn't fit45%
- +25Many lights moving together and holding shapes is a drone light show.
- +10Shows run 10 to 15 minutes.
-
Starlink train Doesn't fit40%
- +25A string of lights in a line is the Starlink signature.
-
Drone Doesn't fit40%
- +10Drones fly low.
- +10Flight times of a few minutes fit.
-
Bright star (twinkling) Doesn't fit31%
- +25Sirius (magnitude -1.46) was 31° up in that direction.
- +8Twinkling is strongest near the horizon.
- +10Stays for a long time.
- -20A group moving together isn't a star.
What we checked
- Satellites: not checked (orbit data missing)
- Starlink trains: not checked
- Launches: none within 90 minutes and 3,000 km
- Aircraft: not checked (no flight history feed yet)
- Planets and Moon: Mars, and the Moon was up
- Space weather: quiet (Kp 1.7)
- Weather: mostly cloudy
- Meteor showers: none active
How we worked this out
We took a snapshot of the sky from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after Mar 14, 1997, 5:00 AM UTC at 33.45, -112.07, and scored 21 possible explanations. Each one starts from how common it is, then gains or loses points for every detail the witness gave and every record we found. The points are listed next to each reason above. "Likely" means 80% or more and "Possible" means 50 to 79%. Anything lower doesn't fit, and if nothing reaches 50%, the case stays unexplained.
Sources: launch schedule from Launch Library 2; planetary Kp from GFZ Potsdam; weather from Open-Meteo; Sun, Moon and planet positions worked out on our server with astronomy-engine. Engine 0.4.0, snapshot v2, worked out Oct 29, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC.
Not available for this report: satellite passes.
Discussion 0 replies
This reply only uses the sky checks above, so it can't claim more than the data shows. Was it helpful?
