2003-09-02 - Hillsboro, OR - Sphere

Metalic sphere about twice the size of a commerial airliner.

I saw a metallic sphere in the westerner part of the sky. It appeared to be very high in the sky; my guess would be about 30,000 feet. It was about 45 degrees from the horizon. I was playing tennis at the time and pointed it out to my companion, who also saw it. I would say it was about twice the size of an airplane. An airplane flew went right by it, so that's how I gauged the size. From my point of view, the plane flew right below it. (The plane, by the way, was leaving a chem trail.) The object didn't move for the time I was out there, which was about 30 more minutes. After I finished playing tennis, I went inside (I live right by the tennis court), got a little telescope and looked at it. Only now it was dark and it was glowing. It could have been glowing the whole time, but in the daylight it looked metallic. In the telescope, you could see the round shape, which rules out a bright star. All I saw was a white sphere; no details. OK, at this point, I was thinking, is this a real UFO? Before I though it might be a weather balloon, except I would think a balloon would move with the wind. It was in the equatorial plain, so I wanted to rule out Venus or some other bright planet, so I went back inside to check. There were no bright planets in that part of the sky at that time. So, after I ruled that out, which took a few minutes, I went back outside, but now the object was gone.