NUFORC Sighting 155024

Occurred: 2020-04-12 23:50 Local
Reported: 2020-04-12 23:14 Pacific
Duration: approx 1 hour
No of observers: 1

Location: Elk River, MN, USA

Shape: Orb


Was driving home towards Elk River from St. Paul area around a quarter to 11pm. We are currently under Shelter in Place order

Was driving home towards Elk River from St. Paul area around a quarter to 11pm. We are currently under "Shelter in Place" order from gov due to pandemic. Weather conditions were cold 32 degrees, cloudy skies, with consistent winds from NW direction at 12mph with gusts higher.

I decided to take a back route home that takes me off primary highway 10, most direct. My detour has me now heading due North through farm country. No traffic etc. As I come around a corner I see a very dull bluish white light high up in the sky, low enough in the clouds that whatever was illuminated was also lighting up the clouds around it. Was similar to clouds passing in front of the moon only much smaller and dimmer.

I took note but really paid no attention until a few minutes later it was now below the clouds. It looked like a big bright whitish orange orb. Honestly if it wasn't cloudy out I wouldn't of thought it was anything other than a planet or bright star. Seeing this really got me curious. I drove a few miles to an area I could safely pull over at and turned off the car. I watched this thing for about 5 minutes and it didn't ever seem to move. Brightness would change slightly but if you weren't paying attention you'd miss it. It seemed so "normal" I had to try understanding what was looking at. Took out StarWalk 2 app on phone, nope no star or planet in that direction. Plus, there were no other stars visible as skies still cloudy. I checked a fight traffic map, no current flights anywhere close to my location. This pandemic has basically eliminated all air traffic in my area. There was no sound at all.

It really didn't appear initially to be moving. I decided to drive towards it to get better visual evidence. That's when I really couldn't make sense of it. I took first left available that would bring me headed West, the general direction I initially saw it. Heading west I could still see the object clearly but it was starting to look like it was getting farther away from. I pulled over again, got back out, still no crazy movements. It looked still but I was now 10 miles farther west and still didn't seem any closer. Took first video there.

I went full on Chase mode, just trying to figure out what this was. Drove another 5 miles NW to a gas station where in took second video trying to decide if this thing was slowly moving west or was I just in need of solid rest. It still looked like a bright star but was getting closer and closer to the horizon and tree line.

I followed this object as far as I could west, out of the city lines and into an empty vastness of farm land between tree lined hills. I got about 25 miles and it just seemed to slowly get farther and farther away. Harder in tried "catching up" to it the more it seemed to elude me. When I pulled over to record and observe it would just sit there. I sat out of car for almost 10 minutes thinking it would fade off into distance but didnt. That kept making me feel like getting back in pursuit would bring me closer for better visual. It never did.

After one hour and 20 minutes of following this light, it fell behind a distant tree line. Throughout entire experience the only observable changes I can describe would be that it started out bluish white, relatively dim, and scattered (meaning it appeared like ambient lighting in clouds). After that it was below cloud line and "solid" singular orb shape. Bright, still bluish/ white. From that it went to a whitish orange color that would dim at times. Last 20 minutes it was orange and would almost appear to "shimmer" like giant stars do in the sky.

Posted 2020-06-25

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