SIGHTING: COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I just got home with my wife from an outing and as I stepped out of the car, I looked up as I always do into afternoon sky to see what air traffic was passing by (I live below the landing paths for Orange County airport and Long Beach airport). I watched a passenger jet heading to Long Beach fly directly over head when I spotted a single bright spec of light directly over head. It seemed to be high above the cloud layer which was around 40,000 feet (I will explain). It looked like a single star in the sky (no physical definition when viewed with the naked eye) except that it was around 5:30 in the afternoon. Stars are not visible with the naked eye at that time of day, but there it was. I checked to see if anything else was in the vicinity. Nothing else was near it. It was easy to see as I had on polarized sunglasses so the object stood out well against the sky and the clouds. I watched it for about a minute and it just seemed to be drifting very slowly toward the south west. On occasion, it drifted behind the high clouds (which were thin today) but re-appeared.. . I quickly went into the house and collected my 10 x 50 binoculars and went into the back yard to check on the object. I was only in the house for about a minute. I spotted it directly. I lifted the binoculars over my head to look at the object only to realize that my glasses were still on. I looked beyond the binoculars to locate the object in the sky only to notice that the single spot had now turned into four objects, all looking like bright stars in the afternoon sky. The four objects were close together (as observed from the ground) and they seemed to drift as a group toward the south west. I remove my glasses and lifted my binoculars skyward and focused on the objects and the star like objects finely gained some physical definition. They were small but had the shape of stubby egg timers with a round sphere in the center and they were white in color, like a rockets color when it is hitting the upper atmosphere. The craft seemed to role about the sphere with the triangular shapes changing length as it rotated. I have been watching aircraft, observing the moon, planets, stars, rocket launches from Vandenburg airforce base up the coast, parachutests jumping from planes, and space debris coming back into our atmosphere for many years, but these object did not remind me of any of these past observations. They had no running lights, no real wind structure, and were not shaped like any aircraft I have ever seen. And I am somewhat of an aircraft historian. After watching the object for 5 to 10 minutes, I lowered the binoculars and replace my glasses to check the sky again, just to make sure I was seeing everything. Much to my surprise, the four objects had been joined by three additional objects approaching from the northeast. A total of 7 objects. These three were moving across the sky at a slightly faster rate (still more of a drifting speed) in a south west direction and moving toward the other four objects. All the object were similar in shape and size and seemed to be at the same altitude. I lifted the binoculars again and observed the group for the next 10 minutes The first four stayed close, at moments almost making contact while the other three kept their distance. Then out of the blue, the four moved together and formed a rectangle in the sky with the two shortest legs of the rectangle tilting slightly outward at what seemed to be the top of the rectangle. With in a minute, the other three move into my window of observation thru the 10 x 50 binoculars and formed a crooked line extending out and away from the other four. It was a strange formation until my brain kicked in and I realized that they had formed the shape of the big dipper. I kid you not. They held the shape for about a minute and then started drifting apart. If this wasn't strange enough, I was about to get a real surprise. A large passenger jet flying at cruising altitude (around 30,000 to 40,000 ft.) and below the clouds, flew directly thru my field of view and its path crossed one of the objects. I expected the object to be blocked out by the jet but just the opposite happened. The jet blocked only a portion of the object from view which means the jet was lower than the object yet the object was blocked by the clouds multiple time during my observation. To point, the objects I was observing were much higher than the clouds and the jet only managed to blocked the object slightly. As very few aircraft fly much higher that 40,000 ft, these objects were clearly not man made. Secondly, the jet never change course or maneuvered as it there was something in its path. Clearly the objects were much higher, anywhere between 15,000 ft. higher to on the edge of our atmosphere. That said, the last item I want to point out is that if my guess on the objects altitude is correct, the size of these object must have been in the area of several hundred feet long to have still been seen when the jet cross its path. To conclude, the objects continued to move south west and slowly drift apart. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, the were gone. I share this observation because it was unlike anything I have seen before. I can only tell you what I saw. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. My powers of observation are good and I have tried to help you see thru my explanation what I observed. Without my binoculars, all I would have seen were a group of star like objects in the sky. With my binoculars, I was only able to discern some shape and make some observations that would have otherwise been missed. Yes, the objects were shaky but I was able to steady the binoculars long enough to get a pretty good idea of the objects shape. No, a picture was impossible. A phone camera would not have been able to see anything more than my eye could see. So, I will let you draw your own conclusions. Was this a mass UFO sighting? Yes, understanding that UFO means Unidentified Flying (or floating) Object. And yes, there were seven objects moving very independently of each other. As I could not identify them as anything I have ever read about or studied about, I guess that is what they are. Beyond that, we may never know more. "