Here are more pics
A buddy and I were riding our jet skis to Chesapeake and Delaware canal.
There are a series of these towers in the water. The have lights at the top that made me think the towers are associated with an airport, I don’t know if any airport is near there.
My first thought was, it was just a cell tower, but then the fact there’s like a series of them in the line, maybe go kind-of X-Fileish about them.
I found them. They are called range lights, they come in pairs and mariners use them to line themselves up for the center of the channel:
In this image, the crosshairs are on the “front” light, thus the channel they provide guidance for (the black areas on the chart) is to the northeast of the crosshairs. There are another pair which allows mariners to make the turn and then line up on an outbound course.
Similar principle to the iron sights on firearms, or in land navigation. By lining up two points, one can travel or sight along a single line.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_lights
Thank you !!!
They can also be used to guide you in and out of shallow areas to get to land. The general rule is "red right return", which means to slowly head towards land with the red light staying just to your right. There's often a paired green light with it to the left.
Those are the navigation beacons or lateral bouys. OPs pictures are specifically range lights.
Ah gotcha, thanks for the clarification.