NUFORC Sighting 166250

Occurred: 2021-07-22 21:15 Local
Reported: 2021-12-24 07:40 Pacific
Duration: 2-3 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Boulder, CO, USA
Location details: 63rd Street and Arapahoe Avenue

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

I saw a very brightly lit, white object, roughly the shape of an airplane, but with no visible wings or rotor, moving southward.

July 22nd of this year, shortly after 9:00 PM MDT, while standing at a bus stop, on the north (westbound) side of Arapahoe Avenue, just west of 63rd Street, in Boulder, Colorado, I noticed a brightly lit, white object entering my peripheral vision to my left, moving southward. There was another man present, who at first paid no attention, then left abruptly, as though he had suddenly become ill.

It was already at closest approach when I first noticed it, far enough above the horizon to rule out the possibility of being a ground vehicle, but I initially had no sense for how large it was, how close or far away, or how fast it was moving.

To my eyes, it appeared uniformly white, and so bright that I was unable to resolve any detail other than the outline. That outline included a rounded nose, something like a tail, and several ‘pods’ on ‘struts’, projecting outward, closer to the tail than the nose. I do not recall it having a dark band behind those struts, although one shows clearly in the photo linked below.

I’m afraid that I wasted precious moments, attempting to make sense of what I was seeing, before thinking to pull out my phone to use its camera. Explanations I considered included that it might have been an airplane (too slow), a helicopter (no rotor), and a blimp (possible, although a very odd one).

When I did get out my phone (iPhone 8+), I still did not think to engage HDR or use video or the burst mode. Instead, I took a series of still shots, only one of which seemed worth saving. In retrospect, I realize I should have kept them all, but unfortunately I did not. That one decent photo I have exported from Apple Photos and uploaded to my website. It is available from the URL below. The object was moving from left to right as it appears in this photo. The timestamp in Apple Photos is July 22, 2021 at 21:15:43.

https://people.well.com/user/satyr/acc/images/UAP-22Jul2021.jpeg

At the time of this snapshot, the object was already beginning to recede into the distance, headed approximately south-southeast, in the general direction of Louisville, Colorado. The shadowy object appearing at the bottom, to the left, is a street lamp that has not worked in quite a long time.

I still consider it possible that it was a blimp, perhaps covered with LEDs. This being Boulder, it might also have been a prototype for some new technology that someone decided to take out for a joy-ride.

All-in-all, I am less convinced of there being anything extraordinary about this object than I was by another sighting, from January, 1987, described here…

https://people.well.com/user/satyr/755/globes.txt

However, perhaps owing to that earlier event, I was slow to say anything to anyone about it.

Posted 2022-03-04