Object I saw this evening - Help Identify?!

Hey everyone!

So, I was on my way back home from town today, and my girlfriend pointed something out in the sky. From afar, it looked almost like a glowing white bell-shaped object. I told my girlfriend to take pictures of it so I could inspect it further once we got home, and so she did.

Upon looking at the pictures, the object really doesn't look much like the object we saw. All of the 'detail' of the objects shape is gone, and now it looks more like a roundish-shaped orb, but in person, the object had much more definition.

These pictures were taken about an hour ago, between 7:32 and 7:49 PM MST 5-18-2009.

I was heading north on the 95 from Lake Havasu City towards the I-40 at around 60-70 mph.

The object appeared stationary in the air, sitting maybe 2000-5000 feet above Earth. I would estimate it to be about 2-3 miles northeast of the road, and in an ~8 minute period of viewing the object, it did not appear to move whatsoever.

The area it was hovering over is un-inhabited for the most part, although there is a small sections of rural homes about a mile south of where the object appeared.

Here is a link to a Google Map of the approximate location: maps.google.com...,-95.677068&sspn=36.778911,92.8125&ie=UTF8&ll=34.658628,-114.28133&spn=0. 074695,0.181274&z=13&iwloc=A

And here is a link to 3 of the images I took: img507.imageshack.us...

The images are un-edited and in original size. I have a few more if anyone would like them, just let me know and I will upload them.

So, my question is, what do you think this thing is?

When I was a child (about 17 years ago) I saw a UFO while camping in the desert. Me, my mother, and my aunt were sitting on a dock on the Colorado river fishing at about 3am, and we saw an "object" off in the distance that would hover a few miles above the Earth, then shoot across the sky at a speed I have never seen, then stop immediately, hover, and shoot in another direction. It shifted directions maybe 3-5 times before it finally shot "upwards and away" in a literal blink of an eye.

Judging from that experience, I'm not quite sure this is a "UFO" per-se, but it sure was weird. I also had 2 others in the car with me who also witnessed the object, one of them my girlfriend whom said "You see that right? I'm not crazy, right?"

Thanks guys

i just saw a story about this on the Phoenix news. They said no one knows what it is yet. Luke Air Force denies that it's theirs and 3 weather services deny it's their weather balloons. An expert they consulted says it could be a NASA balloon, but the nearest places they could be from are Texas and New Mexico.

Supposedly this thing has been standing still since this afternoon, though, and is glowing quite brightly. The local news has quite a few video shots of it that they aired.
EDIT: Found the article!

PHOENIX - A strange glowing object in the sky was a bizarre sight for Valley residents Monday night. The light was clearly visible and stationary for most of the afternoon before vanishing around sundown. So far, not one business or company has taken credit for the object. The FAA, Luke Air Force Base, SRP utility company, and the Sky Harbor Airport all have no information on the mysterious object.

Source w/ video:
www.myfoxphoenix.com...



[edit on 18-5-2009 by writtenimage]

Here you go.

Strange sightings from across Arizona have kept people looking up to the sky Monday. However, Monday night it was revealed that the object is actually a high-altitude, helium research balloon owned and operated by Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF), out of Palestine, Texas.

There is a close up picture on the link.

[edit on 5/18/2009 by Blaine91555]

Well thanks so much for the article! I had no idea about that story.

But here is the clincher...

I am (and this sighting was) nearly 200 miles away from Phoenix! So now I have to wonder even more!

I'm going to look into this some more, I'll let you all know what I find.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't see the last post! That does look like it could be it, although to me, it seemed to be slimmer at the top and thicker towards the bottom in person, but eyes can be tricky.

It's weird that it appears to be standing still, yet it can make its way from Phoenix to the I-40 California/Arizona/Nevada border in one afternoon. That is a long drive!

And shouldn't it be seen here first, THEN in Phoenix, since it was from NM?



[edit on 19-5-2009 by Phre0nBurn]