| Description | As I recall this was mid-morning on or about December 29, 2023. I had stepped out of our field office into the parking area and was about to get into my truck. Looking north, I saw what appeared to be a large commercial jet at altitude flying roughly NE to SW in clear sky. I thought I saw four contrails, so I went to my vehicle to get binoculars (Minox 10×50). The aircraft had, in fact four engines, but I could not determine if it was a B747 or Airbus, or other. It is my habit to look when I see potentially interesting aircraft. The aircraft was predominantly white or silver with a portion of the aft belly fuselage dark blue. As I was following the aircraft with my binoculars, I noticed a somewhat spherical shape around 25-40 degrees to the right of the aircraft. It was not particularly clear but appeared to be moving at least roughly at the same heading. My first thought was that I might be looking at floating debris or something out of focus much closer to me. I brought my glasses down and observed nothing visible to my naked eye. I brought glasses back up, refocused on aircraft, then panned right where I picked up the object again. I still appeared to be moving in roughly the same direction at possibly slightly higher altitude. I repeated the sequence a second time with the same result. Panning back to the aircraft I watched it enter a whisp of cloud and it disappeared out of sight. When I panned back right, I could no longer find the orb. The sighting lasted approximately three to four minutes. The object never seemed to have a clear or solid shape other than appearing spherical. My best description is that it looked somewhat gold in color yet not perfectly homogenous. Given the speed, or perceived speed, and altitude I could not give an estimate to the size. I could not, with confidence, estimate its proximity to the aircraft. In all likelihood some natural phenomena. |
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