NUFORC Sighting 175554

Occurred: 2022-10-21 23:30 Local
Reported: 2022-10-21 10:30 Pacific
Duration: 1.5 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Norfolk, NE, USA
Location details: I was on the deck of my home around 11:15 p.m.

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Bright light hovering south and west of Norfolk, Nebraska. It then withdrew, but maintained roughly the same position in the sky.

Late in the evening of October 21, 2022, I was soaking in my hot tub on the deck on the east side of my home at 1000 Park Way, Norfolk, NE. As the fifteen minute jet cycle ended, I was preparing to go into the house about 11:30 p.m. I then noticed a bright light to the southwest of my home.

My home is roughly a half mile north of our local hospital. In the 16 years that we have had the hot tub, I often see helicopters coming and going from the hospital. My first thought was that this was an incoming helicopter with its landing lights lit. I was a bit surprised that it was quite a bit higher than other helicopters I have seen coming and going. Further, I did not see any of the flashing red lights found on aircraft. I just guessed that the positioning in the sky blocked my view of the same. I believed it to be a helicopter because it was virtually motionless in the sky. There was no doubt in my mind that it was not a part of the celestial bodies that I regularly see while in my hot tub.

Soon, I became perplexed at why the craft was parked in the sky. From my perspective (and assuming an object the size of a helicopter), it was my belief that it might be 1500-2000 feet in the air and maybe 5+ miles distant from me. As I was wondering why it remained aloft, I thought that possibly there was another helicopter on the ground and that it needed to clear the area so I decided to wait and watch the transfer of helicopters. As I was watching and waiting for it to land, I did observe a small plane pass through the area about midnight going from northwest to southeast at quite a low altitude. The plane went right between me and the lighted craft. After about another 15-20 minutes I concluded that a second copter was not likely as the one aloft would be headed to another hospital for its patient.

At about this same time, it did seem to me that the craft was becoming less bright due to moving away. At that point I went to get my phone to capture some pictures. When I started taking pictures, the craft was about 1/3 the size that had first appeared to me. I was disappointed that I only had a 10x zoom on my phone, but got some pictures.

As I prepared to retire for the evening, I remembered that I had a digital camera with 40x zoom capability. I gathered the camera and returned for more pictures. By now the image was only about 1/5 of its original size, but I got what I got. With no tripod, it was difficult holding the camera on target. I also discovered that video captured better images in this low light environment.

Lastly, I want to clearly state that the image was not moving in space. All of the movement was on my end. All in all, I observed my object for about 1 ½ hours. I had thought about calling local authorities, but by that time the object was nearly blending into the celestial background.

Posted 2023-05-19