2005-08-19 - Centennial, CO - Cigar

Bright Cigar-shaped Object in Centennial Sky Moves Slowly then Disappears

7:44 PM MDT I had just come out from the East side of a low office building (in a complex of low office buildings) at Dry Creek Rd. and I-25, when I saw a bright object directly to the South at approximately 30 degrees above the horizon. The object appeared to be white or silver and was roughly the size of a commercial airliner, or perhaps larger. It was somewhere between 1 and 3 miles distant, at an altitude of perhaps 3,000 to 8,000 feet. It appeared to be moving to the South-West, travelling much slower than would be expected for an object of that size. At first glance, I assumed the object was a large airplaine, such as a commercial airliner, reflecting light from the setting sun. However, as I watched the object, it became clear to me that there were no wings and no tail, as would be seen on a large jet, and it was moving too slowly to be a jet. Then, I thought it might be a large helicoptor, so I continued to watch. After a few seconds, the object changed it's heading slightly and it became obvious that it was not a helicopter either. It was simply a giant cylinder shaped object. As I said before, it was moving very slowly, and as my car was right there, I thought I might be able to drive closer to get a better look. (This is not something I would even think of doing with any aircraft I know of. Even small aircraft move much too fast to follow in a car.) I kept my eye on the object as I walked quickly to my car, noticing that it was now directly reflecting the sunlight in a bright glare. It was still in the same general area of the the sky as where I first saw it, about one minute earlier. In other words, although it was clearly moving to the SW, it had not moved very far in this time. After getting in the car and starting the engine, I looked to the sky again, and could not see the object. I backed the car out and headed around another building to get a better view. The object was still nowhere to be seen. There were a few clouds to the West, but nothing but clear sky in the area where I had seen the object. It had simply disappeared or moved away very very quickly (during the few seconds while I started the car). The sky was still bright, and other objects in the sky could be clearly seen as silhouettes--birds, bugs, planes in the distance--but the large bright object I had seen just seconds before was simply gone. Is it possible for a UFO to be visible only as a function of reflected light? Maybe I could only see it for a brief time while it was reflecting sunlight in my direction.