Low flying brown rectangular object
My brother and I were out for a cigarette on his third story porch enjoying the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter near it shining in the clear night sky. We were in the Lakeview neighborhood looking west. We were commenting on how many airplanes were in the sky waiting to land at O’hare.
I first noticed a dark shape moving low in the sky trending N/NW. At first I thought the moon had given me a sunspot and my eyes were deceiving me. I pointed at it and my brother couldn’t see it at first. It then passed above a street lamp and he saw it as well. In the light it appeared brownish. It was closest to being rectangular, long and thin, but instead of the “wingspan” being in the horizontal direction it was longest from top to bottom. It was very low, appearing to be perhaps ten feet above the 3 story apartments across the parking lot. It flew very steadily and without much change in elevation or speed for about 75 yards before we lost sight of it.
There were no lights on it, so I at first thought it may be an owl. It seemed too large to be an owl and did not ever flap its wings, not to mention it would be gliding in a straight line, completely on its side if it were a bird. From my perspective I would guess the object was between 5 and ten feet from top to bottom and maybe 1 to 2 feet in width. We had no perception of its depth from our view point, but I got the impression it was thin like a wedge. It was moving between 10 and 20 mph on a night with winds out of the SW at 2-11 mph.
There is a street below, but there are far too many trees for something to be attached to a car on the street or for someone to fly a kite. There is also an EL train that trends in the same direction as the object moved. It is unlikely we would be able to see something attached to the top of a train from that distance and viewpoint, but we are close enough to be able to hear trains go by with ease. There was no train going by. If it were something attached to the train it would have to be 30 feet or so above the train to be able to see it from that spot.
Neither of us are UFO watchers or enthusiasts of any sort. I liked the movie Independence Day, but that is about as far as I go with UFO’s. I would appreciate any suggestions on what we might have seen. My brother thought maybe a large trash bag was blowing in the wind, but he and I agree that it was far to steady in its shape, trajectory and speed to likely be a trash bag. It also seemed to be going faster than the wind would allow. A trash bag would probably undulate, while this object seemed rigid. Any ideas?
My brother and I were out for a cigarette on his third story porch enjoying the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter near it shining in the clear night sky. We were in the Lakeview neighborhood looking west. We were commenting on how many airplanes were in the sky waiting to land at O’hare.
I first noticed a dark shape moving low in the sky trending N/NW. At first I thought the moon had given me a sunspot and my eyes were deceiving me. I pointed at it and my brother couldn’t see it at first. It then passed above a street lamp and he saw it as well. In the light it appeared brownish. It was closest to being rectangular, long and thin, but instead of the “wingspan” being in the horizontal direction it was longest from top to bottom. It was very low, appearing to be perhaps ten feet above the 3 story apartments across the parking lot. It flew very steadily and without much change in elevation or speed for about 75 yards before we lost sight of it.
There were no lights on it, so I at first thought it may be an owl. It seemed too large to be an owl and did not ever flap its wings, not to mention it would be gliding in a straight line, completely on its side if it were a bird. From my perspective I would guess the object was between 5 and ten feet from top to bottom and maybe 1 to 2 feet in width. We had no perception of its depth from our view point, but I got the impression it was thin like a wedge. It was moving between 10 and 20 mph on a night with winds out of the SW at 2-11 mph.
There is a street below, but there are far too many trees for something to be attached to a car on the street or for someone to fly a kite. There is also an EL train that trends in the same direction as the object moved. It is unlikely we would be able to see something attached to the top of a train from that distance and viewpoint, but we are close enough to be able to hear trains go by with ease. There was no train going by. If it were something attached to the train it would have to be 30 feet or so above the train to be able to see it from that spot.
Neither of us are UFO watchers or enthusiasts of any sort. I liked the movie Independence Day, but that is about as far as I go with UFO’s. I would appreciate any suggestions on what we might have seen. My brother thought maybe a large trash bag was blowing in the wind, but he and I agree that it was far to steady in its shape, trajectory and speed to likely be a trash bag. It also seemed to be going faster than the wind would allow. A trash bag would probably undulate, while this object seemed rigid. Any ideas?
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Chicago
USA
15 seconds
15 seconds
41.88
-87.67
rectangle
IL
Occurred : 2/26/2012 21:00 (Entered as : 2/26/12 21:00) Reported: 2/26/2012 10:14:00 PM 22:14 Posted: 3/13/2012 Location: Chicago, IL Shape: Rectangle Duration: 15 seconds
Low flying brown rectangular object