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spheroid (note: many night-time UFO reports are of so-called "orange balls of light" a/k/a OBOLs. They have been variably described as "luminous globe" or "glowing orb" or "sphere of light" or "ball of fire" and are typically orange/yellow or white in color, although sometimes red, green or blue. In recent decades and practically without exception in Europe, Ufologists and the Media immediately dismiss "OBOL" reports as either Chinese-lanterns or as the elusive and poorly understood "ball lightning" phenomenon. I've seen veteran Ufologists rush to explain away OBOLs as military-flares, fireball-meteors, Venus and even as ... the Moon, much to the dismay of reporting eye-witnesses I guess. However in section #9 about UFO illumination, I offer the idea that at least some "balls of light", particularly those executing controlled maneuvers like travelling one way and then making right-angle turns or U-turns, may be true UFOs. I hypothesize that the "ball of light" appearance may be a spherical shell of luminous ionized air around the UFO itself. The OBOL effect depends on a UFO's operating condition and the UFO's actual shape may not be spherical in each and every OBOL case. Warning: OBOLs should not be confused with the so-called "orbs" which is a term used these days to describe the typically circular artifacts that may occur unexpectedly in flash photography due to backscatter and are pretty common with modern digital cameras - see orb @ wiki) perfectly spherical (silver ball e.g. "very bright sphere, much like a large reflective mirrored ball, like an oversized ball bearing" San Jacinto CA USA 1988 ufologie narcap, "shiny silver spheres" Quirindi NSW Australia 10-Aug-1998 ozfiles, "bright and sparkling silver balls, like silver coins of all denominations" letter to upstate NY newspaper of a 24-Oct-1887 sighting). Small white or amber light-balls, from baseball to beachball in size, are reported all over the world, sometimes seen at very close range and by multiple witnesses. During WWII many night-time sightings of "foo-fighters" were described as luminous spheres ~1m (3ft) in size, which would pace aircraft over war zones.