2013-11-02 - Discovery Bay, CA - Oval

reddish orange sphere seen by off duty police officer and his family

On 11-2-13 at approximately 11:15 pm, I was walking my dog with my 6 year-old daughter when I looked into the east sky at about a 45 degree angle and saw a stationary reddish orange ball. The color was changing different hues of red and orange and would change brightness. It then started moving very slow toward the south for about a minute and then turned and went east at a much faster speed directly away from me. It then went out of view blocked by roof tops of the residential area. I could tell it was not very high, maybe a 1000' feet because it went out of view quickly when it went easterly. I waited about 3-4 minutes and it just reappeared again in the original location where I first saw it. It could have been a different one because the first one was pretty far away to return this quick but I only saw one at a time. I then ran back to the house which was about four houses away to get my 11 year-old daughter and my video camera. We came back and it was g! one and waited about five minutes and the ball suddenly appeared again in the same easterly location where I first saw it. I believe it was there but was just not lit. I attempted to video tape it but my dog was pulling on me and my camera does not have a view finder so you have to look at the monitor which was difficult to do. I got a poor quality video of it thought. The ball then moved easterly again and the lights appeared to dim and then went out. We waited about 5 minutes and did not see it again and went home.

I went inside my house up to the second story and looked easterly for about 10 minutes and did not see anything. I figured whatever it was it was gone. I left and came back about a minute later just out of curiosity and it was back directly across from my house at about a 60 degree angle and was very bright. At the time, my daughter was on the telephone telling her friend who lives a short distance away, what we just saw and she told her it was back to go outside and look in the sky. I ran outside with my kids and wife and started video taping. The ball starting moving south and continued glowing and changing red and orange colors as if it was on fire. It continued moving south at a slow pace stopping occasionally and dimmed and went black a few time for a few seconds and then the red came back. It then moved quickly in a south easterly direction and then either the lights went completely out or sped away but I did not see it speed away, it was just gone or the lights went o! ut. This viewing lasted about three minutes.

During the viewing, there was no noise and it was definitely not a plane because it would stop in its path and did not have flashing lights typical of an aircraft. The whole sphere glowed and changed colors of red and orange. I live over the flight path for the San Francisco Bay area and planes fly over at about 10,000' but this sphere was at a much lower altitude. I thought it may have been a balloon with some kind of light inside but it did not track a steady wind path and changed direction. I have several videos of it and my daughter took a picture with her tablet.

The next day I called the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office to ask if anyone reported seeing lights in the sky and they had no reports. I am also a police officer so what I'm saying is what I saw. Not saying it's extraterrestrial but it was very strange.

I Googled red lights over Discovery Bay and found two other incidents this year with similar sightings of a reddish orange hovering sphere.