Orbs in a cluster formation, orange, split apart, vanished

Late at night at a friends house. In the backyard, alone, facing southeast. Looked up and saw some very strange-looking orange orbs, or lights, high in the sky above the trees and far away (not sure how far). There were at least six, and some of them split apart to form more. The objects were very bright, and were clustered together in a kind of formation. No blinking. No sounds. They moved in slow, random looping motions and the lights gave a trailing effect. The display struck me as very unearthly. It did not last long, perhaps between 5 and 10 seconds. Then, all at once, the objects disappeared like someone flicked a switch, and the formation was gone.