NUFORC Sighting 135836

Occurred: 2017-08-21 11:47 Local
Reported: 2017-08-22 10:54 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute or less
No of observers: 2

Location: Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Shape: Disk

Dark anomalous object appears in a photo taken during the maximum of the partial solar eclipse

During the onset of the partial solar eclipse in Colorado Springs, my partner and I took photographs of what appeared to be small stratus clouds forming over the mountains -- as outdoor air temperatures dropped with the temporary reduction in solar heating. We took 9 photos over a 5 minutes period, between 11:46 am and 11:51 am Mountain Time. Our home has an excellent view of Pikes Peak, the mountain range west of the city and we frequently take weather photos.

We reviewed the photos a few hours later and first noticed the anomalous dark image in the second picture taken at 11:47 am. It was taken with a Motorola Droid Turbo 2 smartphone. What’s ironic is that, when taking the photo, we saw a long cloud formation over the southern flank of mountains and I said aloud in jest “that looks like a mother ship”. The anomalous dark object is above and to the left of the long cloud formation in the photo. The dark object is a bit blurry but obvious to the eye. No other photos taken have shown anything unusual, apart from the small cloud formations which quickly formed in an otherwise clear sky and then dissipated after the solar eclipse.

We’re used to seeing large birds, planes, helicopters, even drones, fly the skies in our area. But the dark object in the photo doesn’t resemble any of these, which I believe we would have readily noticed at the time.

Posted 2017-08-24