4 to 5 lights in the sky to the east of New Hampton IA aprox 10 miles roughly above Lawler IA

I stepped outside with a colleague to have a cigarette and noticed a couple of lights off to the distance that seemed out of place. I watched them fade in and out and move up and down at a high rate of speed. After seeing this I cut my co worker off mid conversation and asked if he was seeing what I was seeing. He looked and saw the same thing. A moment later the two lights turned into four and seemed to be flying in some sort of formation but were fading in and out then got really bright before fading out once again. This went on for roughly 45 minutes. There were eight people who witnessed this event. Was really fascinating. The lights seemed to pulse then slowly fade out of existence. They would loop around one another and then seemed to be stationary before fading out of sight. Then moments later be miles away and do the same pattern again.