6/17/1999: Council Bluffs, IA, USA

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National UFO Reporting Center Sighting Report
Occurred : 6/17/1999 21:03 (Entered as : 6/17/99 21:03) Reported: 6/17/1999 19:32 Posted: 7/5/1999 Location: Council Bluffs, IA Shape: Circle Duration: 60 seconds
Looking at Venus with scope and spotted a black sphere moving through the field of view very quickly. I had just set up my Meade Polaris 4.5 reflecting telescope to look at Venus and after I aquired the planet and found focus I noticed a small spherical craft moving through the bottom of my field of view so I tracked the object which was pitch black for almost a full minute and it was moving so quickly I had to use my hands to move the scope as the tracking controls were to slow to follow.I had a 36times eyepiece in the scope and it required no change in focus in the eyepiece its size was double the size of a BB.I was totally circular and I do wish I would have been able to use a higher power eyepiece to see if there was any surface detail but at the speed it was moving Iit would have been impossible to keep it in such a narrow field of view.I was moving from the Northeast to the Southwest.I am also a Ham radio operator and a storm spotter callsign N0VMY and I have seen many strange things dealing with weather and aircraft but this was a textbook UFO.

National UFO Reporting Center Sighting Report

Occurred : 6/17/1999 21:03 (Entered as : 6/17/99 21:03)
Reported: 6/17/1999 19:32
Posted: 7/5/1999
Location: Council Bluffs, IA
Shape: Circle
Duration: 60 seconds

Looking at Venus with scope and spotted a black sphere moving through the field of view very quickly.

I had just set up my Meade Polaris 4.5 reflecting telescope to look at Venus and after I aquired the planet and found focus I noticed a small spherical craft moving through the bottom of my field of view so I tracked the object which was pitch black for almost a full minute and it was moving so quickly I had to use my hands to move the scope as the tracking controls were to slow to follow.I had a 36times eyepiece in the scope and it required no change in focus in the eyepiece its size was double the size of a BB.I was totally circular and I do wish I would have been able to use a higher power eyepiece to see if there was any surface detail but at the speed it was moving Iit would have been impossible to keep it in such a narrow field of view.I was moving from the Northeast to the Southwest.I am also a Ham radio operator and a storm spotter callsign N0VMY and I have seen many strange things dealing with weather and aircraft but this was a textbook UFO.