Sphere over Lakeport, CA

The report, as filed

I am sorry I did not report this until now. I know it will be hard to believe but I know I saw it and now there have been other sitings I will report individually. I have been an amateur astronomer since 1994. I have an 8” Dobsonion telescope. I took it to a friends house to look at Jupiter, Andromeda, etc. I cannot remember the exact date, so I am guessing. I grew up in the USAF and love planes and aircraft of all types. I watched every Apollo mission as a kid. I have seen hundreds of launches! I have flown hundreds of times all over the world. I am an avid sky watcher. I started seriously learning astronomy in 1994 to assist with my sailing certifications. I have spent hundreds of hours watching the skies at night at different altitudes, locations, and conditions. I have seen hundreds, probably thousands, of meteors, satellites, planes, helicopters, etc. I can quickly identify a planet or constellation. My friends and me were outside on their deck. It was a beautiful and clear-as-a-bell night. No moon. Minimal light pollution. My friend asked, where is Jupiter? I looked up to get oriented. I looked over the peek of my friend's house and saw the usual comparatively large, slightly yellowish, non-twinkling dot of light that is Jupiter. We have all seen it hundreds of times. I knew it was out that night because I had already consulted my constellation software and noted objects, locations and times. However, I was not 100% sure this was Jupiter because I looked up knowing it was out and knew I would see it quickly. I assumed it was Jupiter because it LOOKED LIKE JUPITER ALWAYS DID! I pointed up and started to say “there it is” but before I made a sound, “Jupiter” moved to the right from a stand still, did a U-turn and took off. Hold your thumb up to the sky at arm's length. It moved to the right about half a thumb nail. When it made a u-turn, it dropped down about 1/4inch and moved about two inches to the left and disappeared. There was no dimming of the light as it “flew away”. It did accelerate. It appeared exactly the same as Jupiter in size and light intensity and characteristics. It did not appear to be in earth's atmosphere but rather, to me, it seemed to be in low earth orbit or higher. I said, in a fading volume voice, “did anyone see that”? The only response I received was “what did you say”? I had goose-bumps and felt weak suddenly. To myself “Uhm, Jupiter flew away. Did you really see that? Yes, I did see that. Are you sure you saw that? Yes, I am sure. Was it a bug? I wish it was. Where is Jupiter?” I frantically looked around until I found the REAL Jupiter. I could not talk and did my best to hide it. I never mentioned it again. It scared the hell out of me because nothing I knew of, in my experience, could do what I just saw so clearly. I had never seen a UFO before and was very skeptical because I could always identify what I saw from the many databases of flights and fly overs of all types of aircraft, space debris, meteors, etc. I spun my telescope around and locked in to Jupiter as fast as I could. I was shaking but I found it. I was so relieved when I saw the yellowish planet with its four large moons in my sight. OMG! I took a year of astronomy online at Ohio State. I have had physics, chemistry, biology, lots of math and am very aware of critical thinking and the scientific method. I did some quick and rough calculations when I got home. I guesstimated its possible altitude, speed and distance. The most conservative number I came up with was that it pulled too many G’s for any life form to survive, when it did it’s u-turn, and it sped away at a minimum of 200,000 mph. I started laughing (I was alone). I threw my pencil down and tore up the paper I was writing on, into as many pieces as possible and threw it away. No one will ever believe this! There must be an explanation. I cannot find one. Now what? Sometimes, I cannot get this out of my head. I think about it often. I don’t know what to do with it.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #147485). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.