Bright horizontal white lights.

I was driving South in the state of Connecticut on the Merritt Parkway (route 15), around 9:30 pm.  I could see the “half moon” in the sky in front of me.  About halfway between Middletown and Trumbull, I suddenly saw three bright stars (or lights) in a perfect horizontal line, to the right of the moon.  They appeared stationary.  I blinked and they vanished; the entire incident was maybe a second long.  It took me several days to process and realize what had happened.  I was driving and it happened too quickly to take a photo.  I don't know if this was an object or "just" bright, white lights like stars.  I have never seen anything like this before.  I have a PhD in research psychology and was not imagining this event.