Dark oval object noticed in pics taken NW of Ft Collins
While out driving around sightseeing and whatnot with my wife on 7/21/09 northwest of Ft Collins, just west of the tiny town of Bellvue, I stopped and took several pictures of the somewhat rare greenery of the foothills due to the abundant rain this year. I noticed a commercial airliner contrail headed WSW while taking the picture but paid it no attention. When we got home I popped the camera card into the computer to tweak the light and contrast levels when I noticed a black dot on one of the pics that was facing west towards the foothills. I zoomed in and noticed a black oval. I dismissed the possibility of it being a bird or plane because as you can see in the attached pics, the camera picked up cloud details nearby that are actually smaller than the object. To me this indicates that at that level of magnification, wings would be seen if it was a plane or bird. Additionally, if it was a blur of a bird in flight, there still would be areas of lighter or darker shades where light would reflect off wing, head, leg or abdomen surfaces no matter how blurred it may be. There appears to be none of these as the object shows a consistent dark shade. There does however appear to be an area of lighter shade along the top of the object, possibly implying sunlight reflecting off the top surface. No other objects were noticed in any of the remaining pics and no other strange effects or events were noticed at the time. I did not zoom in further in the supplied pics because any detail would just be lost in enlarged pixels.
While out driving around sightseeing and whatnot with my wife on 7/21/09 northwest of Ft Collins, just west of the tiny town of Bellvue, I stopped and took several pictures of the somewhat rare greenery of the foothills due to the abundant rain this year. I noticed a commercial airliner contrail headed WSW while taking the picture but paid it no attention. When we got home I popped the camera card into the computer to tweak the light and contrast levels when I noticed a black dot on one of the pics that was facing west towards the foothills. I zoomed in and noticed a black oval. I dismissed the possibility of it being a bird or plane because as you can see in the attached pics, the camera picked up cloud details nearby that are actually smaller than the object. To me this indicates that at that level of magnification, wings would be seen if it was a plane or bird. Additionally, if it was a blur of a bird in flight, there still would be areas of lighter or darker shades where light would reflect off wing, head, leg or abdomen surfaces no matter how blurred it may be. There appears to be none of these as the object shows a consistent dark shade. There does however appear to be an area of lighter shade along the top of the object, possibly implying sunlight reflecting off the top surface. No other objects were noticed in any of the remaining pics and no other strange effects or events were noticed at the time. I did not zoom in further in the supplied pics because any detail would just be lost in enlarged pixels.
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Bellvue
USA
40.63
-105.26
oval
CO
Occurred : 7/21/2009 15:30 (Entered as : 7/21/09 15:30) Reported: 7/22/2009 8:31:11 PM 20:31 Posted: 8/5/2009 Location: Bellvue, CO Shape: Oval Characteristics: There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Dark oval object noticed in pics taken NW of Ft Collins