The event took place in morristown, new jersey on november 3rd, 2017 during what is called the november beaver moon. what was special about this particular full moon was that it was nearly a supermoon since its orbit brought it to almost its closest distance from earth.
it was a little after 11 pm and i was getting ready to go up to bed; but before i did i remembered that the beaver moon was occurring. i have been a backyard astronomer for a long time and have always had an interest in the night sky and any celestial events taking place.
i walked out my front door into the chilly night and looked up. i first noticed the large, bright, full moon shining in the cloudless sky and bathing the night in a soft white glow. - but something else was in the night sky. right around the moon, a small pinpoint of light was darting and swooping around in circles. it was very erratic: moving in tight arcs, pausing for a second, then circling again. it reminded me of the movement gnats make as they buzz through the air with no real, discernible pattern. the object appeared as a whitish-blue light, a bit less bright than the shining moon. if the object were stationary it would have appeared just like a bright star. it was impossible to determine its altitude from my vantage point.
i quickly pulled my phone from my pocket and held it up to the sky not wanting to miss out on getting a photo. i got one, and i looked up again just in time to see the object seemingly fly behind the moon and out-of-sight. i stood there for approximately five more minutes, but the dancing object didn't appear again.
if you look at the photo (which was taken at 11:18 pm), you can see the bright moon with a smaller light under it and slightly to the right. i wish that the photo were sharper, but it was the best i could do with a cell phone camera in the dark. a skeptic would easily dismiss the object as just glare from the bright moon, but i can tell you, the point of light in the picture was what i saw sweeping through the air for a number of seconds. even though the photo isn't fantastic, i consider myself lucky that i was able to get it at all. i've been searching the internet all morning to see if anyone else also witnessed what i saw, but haven't found anything as of yet. - keith in nj
