NUFORC UFO Sighting 195178
Occurred: 2026-01-06 20:30 LocalReported: 2026-01-07 06:49 Pacific
Duration: 1 hr
No of observers: 3
Location: Ottumwa, IA, USA
Location details: Rural highway and rural residence
Shape: Orb
Color: Varying orange/white
Estimated Size: Too far away to tell
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: West
Angle of Elevation: 11
Heading: All directions
Closest Distance: Not sure but definitely over 15 miles away
Estimated Speed: Did not appear to move or accelerate quickly
Explanation: Satellite - Probable
Characteristics: Changed Colo
Multiple lights fading in and out flying in various directions in the same part of the sky
On January 5th 2026 at around 8pm I noticed out my livivng room window what I thought to be a helicopter traveling just above the tree line to the west then seemed to disappear. I assumed it had went behind a cloud. However then I saw the same thing moments later (although going in a slightly different path/direction).
I decided to step outside to see if there were helicopters or planes searching the area or something. I noticed there were no clouds in the sky and as I was looking in the direction of where I had seen the light, 2 more lights faded in to sight (the lights never flashed or appeared or disappeared instantly, always fading in and out). I watched their path as they both appeared to travel from west to east (towards me but never closer, appeared to only travel short distances in the same part of the sky). As they would fade out 1 or 2 more would fade in sometimes shortly after the others disappeared and sometime more than a few minutes later.
I grabbed my phone and binoculars to take video and get a closer look. Through the binoculars all I could see were balls of light (the objects were too far away to see any detail). The video I took only shows moving lights in the distance because when I tried to zoom in things just got too blurry.
Then on January 6th I stepped outside to do some chores (shortly after sunset) and noticed the phenomena was back in the exact same part of the sky. I tried to take more video with my night vision security cameras but was not able to get great video. Finally I decided to take a drive in the direction of the phenomena to see how far away they were. I drove probably 15 miles to the west towards the lights but they never seemed to appear any closer. Which leads me to believe that they are very far away, maybe even in upper atmosphere.
I came to the nuforc.org website to see if there were any other reports and did not see any within the last week or so. However, I began clicking on some of the othe reports in Iowa and found a few others with videos that appear very similar to what I saw in previous months or years.
NUFORC Note:
Likely satellite flares
Posted 2026-01-11