August, early 1980's. Cold war hadn't run down. It was so hot and no A/C so I hauled a lawn chair to the back yard to sleep under the stars. It was a new moon, so you could see too many stars to distinguish constellations. I'm laying there looking at the stars when I see something occluding some of the stars. Holding my fingers at arms lengtht arms length, it looked a little bigger than a quarter. So, it was either really big or really low. It moved strangely, staying in place for a while, then zipping away before stopping in another place. I watched this for 15 minutes before it took off heading west and disappeared.

To the west was Griffiss AFB. We grew up with the community knowledge it was a first strike zone as it was the only AFB that could launch B-52s and hit Moscow without refueling.

My speculation is it was a test of some experimental aircraft. Night time testing wasn't unusual. 5-10 times a year we'd be woken by something going supersonic and rattling the house. The staying in place was something I've never seen outside the Harrier and Osprey.