NUFORC Sighting 65792

Occurred: 2008-09-20 10:45 Local
Reported: 2008-09-20 09:19 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

Shape: Cone
Characteristics: Changed Colo

Unknown "orange" object seen floating above Kansas City

While working in the yard I glanced up at the moon, which was still high in the sky. Passing directly in front of the moon, was a small object (to the naked eye) moving very slowly to the north-northwest. I grabbed my binoculars out of the car, and examined the object through the binoculars. While the object was still quite tiny even with the binoculars, I noted a bright orange/red "sheen", with a small white globe near the top of the object. Could not determine if the object was metal or cloth. It continued moving very slowly to the NW, then vanished from sight. I immediately contacted the National Weather Service office in Kansas City (Pleasant Hill, MO) and spoke with the on-duty meteorologist. I inquired if they had recently launched a weather balloon. He stated weather balloons for this area are launched from Topeka, Kansas which is 60 miles west of my location. He also stated weather balloons are only launched at 0600 and 1800 hours from Topeka. I attempted to take a photo of this object, but even with 20x optical zoom, the object did not even show up on the screen of the digital camera.

Posted 2008-10-31