May 18: 'Mysterious' object in Arizona sky identified
Strange sightings from across Arizona kept people looking up to the sky Monday.
However, Monday night it was revealed the object was actually a high-altitude, helium research balloon owned and operated by Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas.
That's a NASA facility managed by the Physical Science Lab of New Mexico State University, according to
CSBF's website.
Eric Bellm of UC Berkeley emailed ABC15 News with a description of the balloon.
He said it is a stratospheric balloon that "was carrying a scientific payload built by groups from UC Berkeley and Taiwan. The balloon was launched at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday from the Columbia Scientific Ballooning Facility in Ft. Sumner, NM and has flown through Monday -- We've had a great flight."
Bellm added, "We're using the data obtained on this flight to learn more about astrophysical objects like pulsars and supernova remnants."
He provided a NASA website address that tracks down where the balloon is at any given moment.
It can be found here.
Bellm also provided
this blog, which gives a detailed account of the balloon's purpose and the project's progress.
Earlier during the day, several witnesses from both the Phoenix area and Northern Arizona called and emailed to report the object, which was unidentified at the time.
They described it as clear, spherical and translucent. Some described it as a bubble.
Dakota Snider took pictures of the object just outside of Kingman and sent them to ABC15. The tight shots of the object clearly show that it is indeed a balloon.
"The object has a rope with another object attached to that," Snider stated. "It was low enough at one time for us to see these features clearly without the aid of my telescope."
FAA Spokesperson Ian Gregor said the object appeared to be a balloon. However, he said it was not showing up on radar.
Gregor said his department received calls about it all day, but at the time he was not sure of the object's origins.
National Weather Service officials clarified that it was not one of their weather balloons.
The balloon was visible from the ABC15 studios just after 5 p.m.
Using a high power zoom, we were able to tighten the shot.
You can see the video for yourself here.
Ye Olde UFO Store owner Jennifer Evertt said people started walking into her Sedona store at around 3 p.m. to let her know about the strange object in the sky.
When she went outside, she said the device appeared to be hovering at the cloud level.
It then sat there for 15 to 20 minutes, before disappearing into the clouds.
