2014-12-30 - Acapulco (Mexico) - Circle

Large, bright circle seen descending quickly near the horizon.

I was the only one still awake in our beachside apartment in Acapulco, Mexico. It was 3:00AM on the dot and I was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. I opened the window to let the warm ocean breeze in and was very surprised to see what I at first thought was a very beautiful moon in the clear, dark sky!

I stood at the window, watching the object-- it was a very large circle that was emitting bright orange light. I realized quickly that it couldn't be the moon for several reasons: it was much bigger (about twice the size of a full moon), it was a full circle (the moon was a waxing gibbous at the time), and it made no sense for the moon to be positioned there at this time (my bedroom faces in the direction in which the moon rises-- at 3AM, the moon would not be so close to that part of the horizon.)

It began moving downwards at a steady pace (faster than I've ever seen the moon move) so I reached for my phone to take a picture before it was hidden behind the mountains. I did take a photo and it is visible there, although it's terrible quality because I took it with an iPhone 5 at nighttime. I wanted to see if I could get a better picture, so I went to grab my mom's professional camera.

I stepped away for maybe 3 minutes tops, and when I came back, the object was completely gone. I didn't think too much of it past a curious, "I wonder what that was!" and didn't talk about I again until I mentioned it casually to a friend 2 days later and they informed me that that's not an uncommon description for UFO sightings.

I honestly can't think of any other logical explanation-- I've never seen anything like that before! I am an 18 year old student who was vacationing in Mexico at the time.