2010-03-18 - Barberton, OH - Sphere

I spotted a dark sphere with random flashing white, red and blue lights hovering in the distance.

I got home from work at about 15 minutes after midnight the morning of the 18th, and I walked to the barn to see the bike my mother-in-law took my son to get for his birthday. I looked at the bike, shut the barn, and the night was so beautiful I just looked up at the stars. The sky was so clear and the stars were so crisp, I wandered to the middle of the yard trying to pick out constellations. Heck, the stars were so bright, they ALL looked like constellations, so I just decided to head in to bed, and as I lowered my eyes, I saw it! Off in the distance, over my neighbor's roof, there it was. It was a dark sphere, roughly 10+ times the size of the biggest star, with strobe-like blue, white and red lights flashing around it in all kinds of ways. Like one of those kid's balls you hit and the lights go wild inside of it, only on the outside of what I saw. The lights were mostly around the edge, with two constant white lights that came into view from time ! to time, as it would rotate off and on. It hovered, totally quiet, rising a little, or dropping some from time to time. I didn't want to leave it for a camera or to get someone up for fear of missing it doing something or being gone. I watched from my neighbor's side yard and for awhile and from the big empty lot across the street where the school used to be. I watched, and watched and watched, and it hovered and slid around totally quiet. I watched and heard a few planes go by, and heard three trains pass through while I watched. This thing made no sound. I kept trying to see under or around it for something supporting it, or waiting for it to make some kind of move I'd recognize as a plane, etc. Nothing. After some time, it became harder to distinguish the color of the lights, and I realized it was getting smaller, and then I realized it was moving away from me. It just kept getting smaller and smaller, bobbing around until it became just a pinprick like the st! ars, then it just disappeared down behind the trees. When I c! ame back in, I found I had been watching it for an hour! It was 1:10 on the microwave when I closed the door. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen! I have no idea how big it really was, because I have no idea how far away it was when I started watching it.