Light over Dallas Center, IA

The report, as filed

Around 22:00, I stepped out onto my deck to look at the moon in the southern sky and saw two planets next to it. I went to get my phone to check my Star Tracker app to see which planets they were. After looking at the moon for a few minutes more, I turned my gaze towards the west. There was a bright star flashing. I looked at my app and saw that it was Arcturus. To the left of that star, I noticed another star flashing. I could see red, white, and blue lights coming from it. Then it started to move and I assumed it was an airplane. I realized, almost immediately, it wasn’t an airplane because it was moving irregularly. It went up, then dropped down. Then it hooked upwards and then dropped again. It was moving towards the southern part of the sky at very fast clip, much too fast for an airplane. It continued to zig zag across the sky, almost leaping it seemed. It would be up then drop in an instant. Then it would curve up, then drop. The lights were flashin! g all the while and it was nearing where the moon was in the south, only lower in the sky. Then it stopped and the lights separated. The red dropped down, the white went to the right and the blue went up, forming an obtuse triangle shape. Then the lights were gone. I stayed outside for about five minutes more looking for any of the lights, but they did not reappear.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #159544). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.