Chestnut Mtn Staged Light Test Nov 4, 2013

This image is a stacked composite of 3 seperate time-exposure images of our Nov 4, 2013 staged light test on Forest Service Rd 198.  Brown Mountain itself lies just beyond the right edge of the image.  The lights are approximately 2.3 miles east of the camera, which was set up at the  Brown Mountain Overlook on NC Hwy 181.  Althought normally gated, FS Rd 198 is temporarily opened during the fall hunting season every year giving hunters and our BML Research Team access to the area of Chestnut Mtn.  As planned, the road was driven on the night of Nov 4, 2013 by one of our team members while I manned the camera.  Such distant lights are occasionally seen and misinterpreted as mysterious BMLs by uninformed and unprepared observers at the Hwy 181 Overlook.  Light tests like this one help demostrate that unexpected manmade lights do occur in the area and that they can be impossible to distinguish from non-manmade lights by most observers.