Sphere over 200 miles East of ORD at 39000 feet traveling east, OH

The report, as filed

LAST MONTH NUMEROUS UNIDENTIFIED LIGHT OBJECTS WERE OBSERVED BY MANY AIRLINE PILOTS. IT HAS BEEN NUMEROUS CONVERSATION BETWEEN AIRLINE PILOTS AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS LAST FEW WEEKS. MY FIRST OFFICER AND I WITNESSED CLEAR AND BRIGHT LIGHTS (EXCEPT STARS AND SATELLITES) ON DECEMBER 2ND, APPROXIMATELY 0945 ZULU, AT 39000 FEET (FL390), FLYING TOWARDS JFK JUST EAST OF ORD. THE LIGHTS MOVED IN AN ORGANIZED AND IRREGULAR PATTERN AT A VERY HIGH SPEED I HAD NEVER SEEN IN MY 30 YEARS OF FLYING NIGHT FOR ONE OF OUR TWO LARGE CARGO CARRIERS. THE LIGHTS HEIGHTS ARE DIFFICULT TO ESTIMATE. FROM 39000 FEET AND AN ANGLE OF 30-40 DEGREES FROM THE FRONT WINDOW OF OUR AIRCRAFT UP TOWARD LOW ORBIT. OUR GUESS WAS 100K +FEET. 3 LIGHTS MOVED IN A FORMATION AT HIGH SPEED AND FORMED A SMALL TRIANGLE FORMATION THAT BROKE UP INTO A LARGE TRIANGLE AT A HIGH SPEED AND THEN VANISHED FOR A FEW MINUTES UNTIL THEY REAPPEARED AGAIN IN AN IRREGULAR FORMATION. WE WITNESSED THE LIGHTS FOR ABOUT 20-30 MIN BEFORE THEY DISAPPEARED. MY EXPERIENCE; I'M A 63-YEAR-OLD MALE HAVING OVER 20,000 HOURS OF FLYING TURBOJETS WITH EXTENSIVE INTERNATIONAL AND OVER-WATER EXPERIENCE. MY EDUCATION IS A 4 YEAR ELECTRIC ENGINEERING DEGREE. I KNOW VERY WELL HOW SATELLITES TRACK AND THE SPEED THEY ARE MOVING WITH AND HOW THEY ARE SPOTTED FLYING AN AIRCRAFT TOWARD THE WEST LATE AT NIGHT. I HAVE SEEN SPACEX SATELLITES AFTER LUNCH A FEW TIMES. THIS WAS VERY DIFFERENT, FLYING TOWARDS MORNING LIGHT, LOOKING TO THE EAST IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. THESE OBJECTS DID NOT REFLECT LIGHT; THEY GENERATED A VERY BRIGHT LIGHT. THEY MOVED IN A VERY DIFFERENT PATTERN THAN SATELLITES OR AIRCRAFT. I WILL UPLOAD A PICTURE FROM MY IPHONE 12 PRO. THE VIEW IS A ZOOMED VIEW. PLEASE SCRUTIZE THE PICTURE IM NOT SURE WHAT I'M SEEING. THANKS

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #173292). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.