NUFORC Sighting 72025

Occurred: 2009-09-02 12:05 Local
Reported: 2009-09-02 09:49 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Charlotte, NC, USA

Shape: Orb

Bright, spherical object flying over Charlotte, NC

I was outside in a small park called The Green, located at 400 South Tryon Street in the middle of downtown Charlotte, NC, when I witnessed a single sphere flying in the sky approximately three miles south of my location, and approximately 2000 feet high. The object was round and either white or silver in color. It was quite far away, and very small, but definitely visible as the sun was positioned in the northeast sky and so was reflecting very well off the object. The sky was filled with lots of clouds, but with much blue sky in between. The day was bright and quite windy.

I first noticed the orb moving in a straight horizontal line across the sky from northwest to southeast. Given the proximity to Charlotte Douglas International Airport we see airplanes in the sky all the time, and initially I assumed that was the case here. But the object did not look like a plane, even from a distance. It was definitely round.

Within one minute of my first noticing the object, it slowed, then came to a complete stop. It hovered for a moment, then slowly descended. I can only guess at the distance of the descent, but it must have been at least a couple hundred feet. It was a smooth, seemingly controlled, descent that took less than one minute.

The object hovered again for a couple of minutes. It was not entirely stationary, rather it moved around a little bit, perhaps just moving with the wind. It was very windy on the ground, so it was probably even more so up in the sky where the object was. Even so, all of the movement I saw seemed very controlled and stable, not as though it were just a balloon being blown around.

After this, the object started rising. It rose back to its original height, in a mostly straight line, but now it was also moving south - away from me. The object continued to rise while moving south for about 2 more minutes until I lost sight of it.

The obvious conclusion is that this was just a balloon being driven by strong winds. And it may have been. But the object was very visible even though it was very small and far away. Perhaps a mylar balloon would have this effect, especially with the sun being opposite in the sky. But given the distance it was from me, I really think the object was much larger than a balloon otherwise I would never have been able to see it.

Also, the movements seemed very controlled; it was not being whipped about. It's path may have been affected by the wind, but given that it initially was going in a straight line, slowed, stopped, descended, stopped then ascended in a uniform manner it just did not at all appear to be a balloon.

Posted 2009-12-12