Changing over Colorado Springs, CO
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Summary: This incident happened about a year ago - the day could be off by 1 or 2 days. I live in Northeast Colorado Springs at just under 6,800 feet elevation. From my house I have pretty expansive views of the mountains to the west and the skies over Colorado Springs. I had just retired the week prior from my job as a test engineer for GPS satellite control software and was at home. At about 3:30pm I decided to walk around my backyard. It was still about an hour before it even started to get dark (sunset about 5pm), so I was surprised to see what looked like the evening star (Venus or Jupiter), but it was so early, the sun was still visible in the late afternoon. I thought to myself - this is the brightest I've ever seen the evening star appear in the daytime. (Later, about sunset, I saw the actual evening star and it was a different object - it was not visible at 3:30pm). The sky was mostly cloudy (I'd say 75% obscured by clouds), not the high wispy ones, but cumulus clouds that obscure the sky. There were openings in the sky between the clouds. I looked to the south and I saw this 'star'- from my location, this placed it about halfway between Peterson Space Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Air Station. Its position didn't move - as the clouds would come and go moving from right (west) to left (east) the 'star' was still in the same place. After 5-10 minutes the shape changed; it started to get bigger, fade and disperse - it grew in size up to the size of the moon before dispersing. After another cloud break it was gone, but in its place was this cigar-shaped white object with a black bottom. I could see no wings or tail. It's possible that it could have been saucer-shaped if it was being seen from a side angle - I couldn't tell. It was not the much rounder tic-tac shape seen in other reported accounts. It appeared to me to be probably above 14,000 or 15,000 feet high because the clouds were also obscuring the upper portion of Pikes Peak, which is 14,115 feet. The clouds kept moving at a pretty good clip from west to east and would repeatedly hide/show the object. At one point, I could see a regular jet flying almost directly behind it from west to east because I could see its contrail - it appeared to be the normal very small size of a jet cruising at 35,000 feet. But this object was much bigger and so had to be much closer. I would say it was about the size of a commercial airplane fuselage as it would appear at 15,000 feet; however, it didn't move. For it to be a plane, it would have to have been flying directly into the wind at the exact same speed as the wind in order for it not to move - not likely in my opinion. I thought - what a perfect location in which to spy down on one side to see Cheyenne Mountain and the other side to spy down on Peterson. It was there for at least 5 minutes and Peterson didn't launch any fighter jets to chase it. (Most of the time I can hear those louder jets take off from Peterson, but I didn't hear any). Again, I thought this thing must be visible on Peterson's or NORAD's radars, so if they didn't chase this thing, it must either be 1) some kind of known military object or 2) other object not thought to be a threat; otherwise, they would have chased it or something. They didn't. Then after another cloud break, it was gone completely. I never saw it move - it just disappeared from its location.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #173310). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2021-11-12 → 2021-11-29
From the same sky
Related entries
November 3, 2023 · 11:12 AM · SPHERE
Colorado Springs, CO
We stepped outside to look for a plane that just flew overhead to get a closer look, when my partner pointed at something else. In the distance, higher up in the sky away from this plane was what looked like a red flashing light over the military base but way up. I considered for a moment that it could be a hot air balloon spinning and catching the sun and flashing when the fire flashed, but it was moving way too fast to be a hot air balloon. It did look about the shape of a hot air balloon and even between flashes it appeared red but it had way too much altitude and was traveling too quickly. Then it changed directions, more than once over the course of several minutes, continuing to intermittently flash a bright red light. My partner says he could see almost a red trail when the red flashes ocurred. The air around the object as well appeared slightly distorted, like when you see heat waves coming off a vehicle during the summer and it distorts the look of the air near it. My partner says he saw what he thinks a sonic boom would do to the air. It grew further away until finally clouds were in the way and we could no longer see it. Now we are watching a bunch of airplanes leave trails that are becoming long clouds and covering this previously beautiful clear blue sky.
October 30, 2023 · 7:30 PM · SPHERE
Colorado Springs, CO
Myself, my husband, and a friend saw a hazy light moving through the sky at high speed. It started mid sky moving toward the horizon. The light at its core appeared to turn occasionally but the haziness around it never faded. At about 25 degrees in the sky, it released a puff smoke but in front of it, not behind it. The puff of smoke turned into a massive smoke ring which it then proceeded to move through. Near the horizon, maybe 10 degrees it completely disappeared. It didn't fade out, was just gone. It was one light, white, with a bright light at the center. The stars were perfectly clear which is why the hazy light stood out. Planes and satellites were also viewable and perfectly clear. I've attached a video and you can even see the stars and the difference. My husband unfortunately stopped recording right before it released the smoke. [NUFORC annotation: Rocket - Probable]
September 5, 2023 · 4:38 AM · CIRCLE
Colorado Springs, CO
moved very fast made zero sound was going north to south
September 1, 2023 · 8:30 AM · LIGHT
Colorado Springs, CO
There was an object south west of the sun shining just as bright, that almost looked like a star. It was reflecting the sun and I saw it transport across the sky to other locations as if it teleported rather than flew. It was at airplane height, and as two planes appeared to come down for landing (there’s an airport near by), the object seemed to disappear without ever flying away. I watched it in the sky for about 10 minutes.
August 28, 2023 · 8:31 PM · SPHERE
Colorado Springs, CO
This happened several times during my dog walk. It was cloudy and lightning out but each time I would take my phone out- would disappear [NUFORC annotation: Searchlight - Certain]
August 27, 2023 · 3:30 AM · OTHER
Colorado Springs, CO
On the weekends I tend to bike at night between, I start my ride around midnight. Between 0230 and 0400, I was startled by a very bright green fireball, at first, I assumed it was a flair from a military aircraft. But upon wider observation of the sky, no aircraft within the vicinity. Also, the intensity and duration of the light was not consistent with an aircraft flare or firework. I could not hear it. I was wearing headphones. My assumption at the time was that it was some kind of meteor burning up in the atmosphere with some kind of core when heated, produce a bright green light. Shooting star activity that night was on the higher side as well. The only reason I’m reporting this is because I read on the news that several people have said that they spot similar event. So hopefully my information helps to give some clarification. The event was spectacular.