A Stephenville sighting identified by Andrew Sweeney

I've identified what Angelia Joiner reported Mike Zimmerman saw in Stephenville. It was the constellation Corvus.

According to Angelia's report, Mike said he saw three lights: two white lights grouped closer together and higher, and the third one, a reddish orange color, closer to the horizon. Mike also said his compass indicated 115 degrees.

If you generate a sky map (e.g. via Your Sky) for Stephenville, Texas for the date and time in Mike's story, you'll see just what Mike's described. At azimuth 115 degrees, two blue-white stars (Gienah and Algorab, or Gamma and Delta Corvi) lie near each other, and below them, nearer the horizon, lies a bright yellow star (Kraz a.k.a. Beta Corvi).

These three stars constitute the "sail" of the constellation Corvus. The pulsating beams of light which Mike reported were the scintillations of the stars, which always appear much more pronounced when looking at stars nearer the horizon than when looking straight up.

I'm corresponding with Angelia Joiner about what I've found. Andrew Sweeney

Addendum:

I've attached a copy of the horizon view from Your Sky. (Technical data: View toward horizon from 32°13'12"N 98°12'49"W, azimuth 115°, Thu 2008 Jan 31 6:05 UTC.) Your Sky allows images to be used in any manner, without restriction. The url for a backlink to Your Sky is http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/

(I'm not affiliated, just a casual user.)