2005-02-15 - Riverside, CA - Other

Orange V shaped object observed overhead

On 02/15/2005 I had just returned home after taking my son to school, about 0930. I looked up at the sky as I walked from my car to the house to look at the clouds. Almost directly overhead, in a clear patch between the clouds, I saw a brilliant, glowing orange V-shaped object. It appeared stationary when I first saw it.

I went into the house to get a small spotting scope that I use for bird watching and returned. Using the scope, I saw that the V object was not solid orange, but had alternating sections of orange and white. It had some type of structure to it that I could not quite make out due to distance. The best I and describe it is a length of a crane or bridge, with it’s intricate crosspieces, bent at a 45 degree angle, painted orange and white. I was not a wing shape at all, as the arms of the V did not have much width to them.

The object would drift in and out of the clouds as they passed by to the NE, the clouds sometimes partially obscuring the object. I would estimate the size as similar to the wingspan of a commercial jet aircraft. The object seemed to maneuver periodically to remain near the edge of the clouds. I watched until the cloud cover thickened and the object was not visible any longer, about 5 minutes.

I realize this is almost 5 years ago and I am just reporting it now. At the time, I assumed that, due to the color, it was some sort of experimental device. I also considered the date (day after Valentine’s day) of the sighting, that it may have been a balloon arch that got loose, but I have since had the chance to observe balloons released into the sky and they did not behave or look they way this object did.

I am reporting it now since I see so many reports of V and triangle shaped objects, maybe this is some piece of the puzzle.