Light over West Des Moines, IA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Walking out of a store, I noticed a very bright light, thought it was a plane as it was coming from the direction of the airport on the south side. At that time it was very low on the horizon and it was orange moving in a northwest direction. It was very bright, it didn't seem to be moving too fast and will guess it was a lower altitude than usual for a plane but possibly similar to a helicopters altitude. Unable to assign a shape to it except it may have had a cross or a + sign in the center of it. It was bright orange possibly a slightly red orange. It made no noise and the event lasted 30 or 45 seconds. It passed directly overhead. Have had telescopes in the past and many years ago saw an object very high in the night sky with binoculars in northern Minnesota that I couldn't identify, realized later it was a geo-stationary satellite .
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #136186). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2017-09-12 → 2017-09-29
From the same sky
Related entries
October 31, 2021 · 6:43 AM · LIGHT
West Des Moines, IA
I took my dog out to use the bathroom and glanced up at the constellation Orion. I saw a blinking red light and immediately thought it was a satellite. It was moving pretty fast which I thought was odd so I watched it speed across the sky. Then it completely stopped near a star for a second or two before going at a 90-ish degree angle in a different direction. I realized it was not a satellite or any sort of aircraft and birds do not blink red lights. It then circled and went off in a new direction.
August 12, 2019 · 8:44 PM · TRIANGLE
West Des Moines, IA
Overall, I had taken 7 pictures while driving on I-235 between Valley West Drive and 50th where I exited. Of the 7, 6 show the triangle set of lights. This was not seen by me personally at the time of the photos. Nothing else odd needed to report.
May 26, 2019 · 2:00 AM · FIREBALL
West Des Moines, IA
Dear NUFORC network On Saturday May 26th i saw a “fireball UFO” outside my house in the mid west at about 2:00 AM the UFO was orange on the outside and was yellowish on the inside the UFO moved to the west for about thirty minutes until the light got dimmer and dimmer until the light disappeared completely. I saw the UFO while sitting on my back porch. It almost felt as if my ears were popping it was very strange. I have seen this before on may 20th 2017. This time it was different though it seemed brighter than last time and it seemed closer and since we live close to the airport I had a military jet or helicopter takeoff and fly low to the ground with the spotlight on this happened on the 2017 occasion as well. Please get back to me as soon as possible thank you!
June 4, 2017 · 10:00 PM · DISK
West Des Moines, IA
Witness provides no information. PD
December 13, 2016 · 5:35 AM · LIGHT
West Des Moines, IA
I was driving north on 63rd, when I saw big bright light falling at an incredible speed. It only lasted for about 2-3 seconds. I was waiting for a explosion because I thought it was going to crash, but there was no explosion. It happened so fast I could not make sense of what was happening. I don't think it was a plane because of the amazing speed at which the object was moving. Very very strange and yet very cool. Possible meteor from the Geminid shower?? PD
July 21, 2014 · 10:54 PM · FIREBALL
West Des Moines, IA
On 07-21-14 around 2254hrs I was patrolling the area of western Polk County. I am a law enforcement officer. I observed a burning ball (orange in color). I observed the object as it was directly above my location. The object then proceeded northbound, and during this trajectory, the object briefly shot east, then continued northbound until it completely faded away. As the object was fading away, it would burn low then burn bright. I did capture the object on my IPhone but the resolution is pretty poor.