Light over Broomfield, CO
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
At approximately 9:05 PM, I was sitting in my backyard with my girl friend, relaxing after dinner. The 3/4 moon was shining in the Southern sky, observable through the willow tree branches in the yard. I looked up at the moon and was surprised to see what appeared to be the Big Dipper at first, just to the East of the moon. I was surprised to see a constellation that close to the moon, because the brightness usually obscures stars. As I watched, I could see that there were not just 4-6 lights, but many more, and then I noticed the entire array moving from East to West. We moved to a position where we could see more of the sky, and these lights were in a "V" formation, with the point of the v heading West in the direction of travel. After about 7-8 minutes, they moved out of the line of sight, and we went to the front yard where there are no trees to obstruct the sky, and saw an array of moving lights from the Southern horizon almost to the Northern horizon. I would describe the formation as a series of those V's I described, in linear format running North to South almost like the serrated edge of a saw blade. The sky became misty with clouds and after a total viewing time of about 20 minutes, we could no longer see these lights. ((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS)) Addendum to previous report: These lights were first observed at a point nearly due South of my observation point in the back yard. They were very near the Moon, which was at an angle of about 30 degrees in the Southern sky. These lights moved very slowly East to West, and maintained position in relation to one another while moving. I believe that, while the brightest lights were what first caught my eye, there were other smaller lights that seemed to move with them. At this angle, and with trees surrounding and shrouding our view, I would estimate as many as 30 lights. When we went out to the front yard was when we saw the scope of the lights. What we had observed previously was just a small section of the sky. Now we saw a band of these lights stretching from the Southern horizon to nearly the Northern one, almost 180 degrees, covering a fairly narrow band that bisected the night sky. This immense band of lights moved in a Westerly direction until hazy clouds obscured it. ((END ADDENDUM)) ((ADDENDUM #2 FROM WITNESS)) Broomfield Second addendum...Corroboration! This is a neighborhood chat site with a discussion that occurred during the phenomenon. Photo included! https://columbinemeadowsco.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=28894053 ((END ADDENDUM #2)) We spoke at length via telephone with the witness, and found him to be both eloquent, and sober-minded. We suspect that he is a highly reliable witness. PD
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #128522). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2016-07-12 → 2016-07-29
From the same sky
Related entries
April 2, 2023 · 10:00 PM · CIRCLE
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August 8, 2020 · 7:50 PM · OTHER
Broomfield, CO
I'm an amateur astronomer and I was setting up my gear just before sundown. When I glanced up at a plane that was leaving DIA, I noticed something else (naked eye) just north of the plane at a slightly higher altitude (~20k feet). It looked like a shiny disk and was moving slowly due north. I grabbed binoculars to get a closer look and I was able to see the object very clearly. It wasn't a disk but rather toroid in shape and metallic silver. It was tumbling as it moved north. In diameter I would say it was approximately 100-200 feet. The best description I can give would be a 100 foot diameter silver wedding ring being tossed in slow motion. I grabbed my partner and gave her another pair of binos. We just watched it for about 15 minutes until it was too far away to see with much clarity. Because of its silver coloration I thought it might be a mylar research balloon of some kind, but I can't find any reference to such a thing online. It had no visible lights of propulsion. ((BEGIN ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS)) Hello, I submitted a report last week regarding a sighting I experienced in Broomfield, CO on August 9th. I posted the wrong date for the sighting as it actually occurred on Saturday August 8th. I'd just like to make the change in case anyone else witnessed the event on the same day. Thanks, ((END ADDENDUM))
November 12, 2017 · 6:00 PM · UNKNOWN
Broomfield, CO
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September 3, 2017 · 11:30 PM · SPHERE
Broomfield, CO
My son (aged 32), wife (aged 59) and I (aged 60) were sitting on my son’s back porch, smoking cigars and talking when I noticed a bluish white orb moving from north to south. It appeared to be moving at 150 mph and at an altitude of 5,000 feet above ground. This was estimated by judging against planes lining up for landing at DIA. It did not emit a sound and had no flashing lights. The orb moved at a steady speed and heading. We followed it with binoculars until it was lost behind trees and houses. It was tracked for about 15 minutes. After about five minutes of discussing what we might have just seen, another orb on a similar size, shape, heading and speed was spotted. We were able to get some pictures and video of the second orb. We could not discern any structure to the shape but we are reasonably sure it was not a hot air balloon due to the duration of the flight and perceived size of the object. Plus we checked wind directions at various altitudes and! all were in different directions from the orbs flight path. The sky was clear. I am a former Air Force Nuclear Officer and very familiar with aircraft and flight characteristics. This sighting did not fit the normal flight profile.