NUFORC Sighting 85893

Occurred: 2011-12-16 22:59 Local
Reported: 2011-12-16 21:07 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Cooksville, MD, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

4 glowing orange spherical objects viewed, flying in some type of formation.

I am an aerospace engineer and licensed private pilot, on my way home on Rt. 97 heading south, around the Highs Gas Station I saw four glowing orange spherical objects, definitely not a small plane or any aircraft I have ever seen before. There was one object in the lead, followed by 3 other objects in a triangular formation. All objects moved very slowly across my field of view to the left.

After being in shock of what I was seeing and pulling the car over, I tried for about a minute to snap photos on my cell phone but I was not able to get the objects into focus. I put down my cell phone to watch the objects disappear into a slight faint pinpoint type glow. Objects appeared to be at several thousand feet, I figure possibly someone could have launched some type of flare or firework and maybe this is what I saw burnout, however while I was watching these objects I didnt see parachute or anything that would have suspended them in the air. And the objects didnt appear to be burning, just glowing orange.

The weather appeared as a hazy like overcast, aviation weather reports an Overcast to Broken cloud layer at 10,000 feet and 10 SM visibility, I believe the overcast clouds and haze had an effect on how I viewed the objects.

If someone could help me understand what I just saw that would be appreciated.

Posted 2011-12-17