NUFORC Sighting 148276

Occurred: 2019-08-01 11:30 Local
Reported: 2019-08-14 19:29 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: St. Peter, MN, USA

Shape: Orb

White spheres orbiting above St. Peter MN

I was working on a jobsite in Minnesota Square park in St Peter, MN, on the morning of August 1st and happened to look up and see an odd object in the sky. It appeared to be two spheres methodically rotating around a center axis or one sphere orbiting one in the center. The objects stayed the same distance from each other the entire time I witnessed them and if I had to guess I would say there was about the spacing of half of one sphere between the two. They were fairly close together. I am certain there were 2 objects. The rotation was fairly rapid, maybe 20 cycles a minutes and the speed seemed very consistent. The objects were to my north, and seemed very high up in the sky. I am unsure the size, as I had nothing to reference them against. The sky was clear and cloudless.

I stopped and watched these objects for approximately 15 minutes. I pointed them out to several of the other guys on site who saw them but didn't take as much interest in them as me. One said there had been a person flying a drone at the park the previous day, but that it had been black. These objects were white.

I looked away for approximately 3 or 4 minutes to do something and when I looked for it again it was gone. I did not see the manner that it left in.

I don't believe it was a drone. If it was it was not a design I have ever seen.

After the fact I did some googling and see the local collage in St. Peter has a summer program where they launch high altitude balloons.

https://gustavus.edu/camps/ballooning/

The balloon in the first picture on that website looks like the color of the spheres. The dates listed are not when I observed this object.

I cannot find any pictures online of two balloons being tied to one payload.

I have reached out to 3 people at Gustavus for comment and have not yet got any replies.

I also have seen news reports of testing of high altitude reconnaissance balloons being tested over the midwest, including Minnesota. I have not seen any pictures of these and don't know how to account for the methodical spinning or how it departed in 3 minutes after not appearing to move for 15 minutes.

I would appreciate any thoughts, comments or questions.

Posted 2019-08-23