2001-09-21 - Albuquerque, NM - Oval

A couple of friends, my wife and I were staying in Albuquerque (87104) at the Sheraton Old Town hotel on September 21, 2001. We were sitting by the outdoor pool chatting, between 20:00 - 20:30. We all saw bright chrome like, circular (somewhat elongated in direction or flight) object pass overhead at a high rate of speed. There was no sound or sonic blast, so we assume it was traveling slower than the speed of sound. Since it did not pass through any clouds, we assumed that it was below them, perhaps a few thousand feet above us. It had no lights, although it changed colors from red to lavender to silver as it streaked across the sky. It appeared like the sunset was reflecting off of it, but sun had set around 19:00. There was no visible exhaust, flames, or vapor trail. We first observed it almost directly overhead. It was moving in a WWN (290 degrees) direction. It was only visible for a few seconds, since it was traveling at a high rate of speed; much faster than a commercial airline. Its relative size would be equivalent to looking at an object the size of a dime held at arms length over ones head. Since we had no explanation for what we saw, we assumed it would be explained as a weather balloon. However it did not look anything like a weather balloon and it traveled in a straight line and did not appear to gain altitude. I am a retired automotive executive with a master's degree in engineering. My wife and I have been married for 39 years and have never seen anything like this before. Our friends have been married for 40 years and he is also a retired engineer. In addition, I am an amateur astronomer, so I have some knowledge in identifying objects in the sky, such as meteors. Can you help explain what we saw?