Sphere over Chandler, AZ

The report, as filed

At approximately 8:30 PM on Dec 10th, 2014, while driving home from the Phoenix farmers market, I witnessed 3 orange spheres in a triangular formation. I was traveling southbound down Gilbert Rd, approaching the stop light at Queen Creek Rd, and the objects were to the southwest of my location. They were solid orange and very bright. I continued southbound on Gilbert Rd to Ocotillo Rd and they remained stationary or moved very slowly. At 8:35 I arrived at my home near the intersection of Gilbert Rd and Ocotillo. The neighbors across the street from my house were putting up their outdoor Christmas decorations. I pointed the lights out, and they saw them too. The objects had moved southwest from the original sighting, but were still clearly visible and unusually bright. We watched them for a few minutes and I began getting things from my car. The neighbors said, “The lights are gone,” and a few minutes later, they said, “There they are again.” I stepped out of the garage to look, and snapped a photo with my phone. This time there were two of them horizontal to the ground instead of three in a triangle pattern and they stayed lit for three or four minutes until they disappeared. I went inside and told my father in law about the sighting. A few minutes later, after getting my son ready for bed, I looked out the 2nd story window. I saw that the three orange balls of light had reappeared in a straight line, parallel to the ground but were further west than before. I ran downstairs to get my father in law so he could see them and we went into our backyard for observation. They lasted for about 10 minutes before finally disappearing. I finished getting my son ready for bed and sat on the couch to continue looking out the window. Around 8:55 the lights reappeared and I went to get binoculars. The binoculars didn’t help due to low magnification capability and a few minutes later all of the lights faded out. I went back upstairs and kept an eye on the area through the window. Then at approximately 9:00 pm two lights appeared further away than they before, so I went to the upstairs balcony for a different perspective. I took a few more pictures with my phone. This time they lasted for ten or fifteen minutes before disappearing. At 9:25 a single light appeared in the same area so I went back out to the balcony. The light had moved closer to my position from the last appearance but I still could not tell what it was. While I was observing this light, two more lights which were evenly spaced appeared to the far right of the original light, a few seconds later two more evenly spaced lights appeared to the left, and finally two more lights which were also evenly spaced appeared to the left the other! four. There was a total of seven lights in a straight line. There were three sets of two lights evenly spaced from each other with the original light further to the left. They were above the height of the street lights from my point of view and above the tree line in the distance. They lasted for a few minutes before they disappeared but I managed to take some more photos with my phone. They all disappeared at 9:31 and I went inside. At 9:35 a helicopter flew slowly through the area. I continued to look out the window for a couple more hours but they never reappeared. The objects appeared to be near the Gila River Indian community and south of the Chandler Municipal Airport. Being a former Air force Security Police K-9 handler and living near the municipal airport I know what planes and helicopters look like. These objects made no sound, they did not have navigation lights, they were not Chinese lanterns, or any kind of drones that I am aware of. After doing a bit of online research I found that lights like these have been seen in this area more than once this year and sometimes they occur multiple nights in a row usually between 8:00 and 10:00. I called the Chandler Municipal airport and the Chandler police dispatcher but they had no reports of unusual activity. I will keep an eye on the sky and maybe I will get a better glimpse of the objects next time.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #115920). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.