UFO Description: A group of six people at one location and one person at another location more than a mile away saw a train of glowing reddish-orange orbs moving more or less northward.

Witness(es): Joe Smith (pseudonym) and family, and Jane Brown (pseudonym).

Time and Date: May 17, 2010, from about 10:00 to 10:10 PM.

Duration: About 10 minutes.

Place: Close-in southwest and southeast, Portland, Oregon.

Weather: Cloudy, but clear below; wind from the south, 12 mph; temperature 55 degrees.

Case Report: SE Portland Glowing Reddish Orange Train of UFOs (long download). Investigated by Keith Rowell.

Brief Narrative

Note: I thank Joe Smith and Jane Brown for cooperating fully with this investigation, and I also thank them for communicating so effectively the results of their excellent powers of observation. Without the latter, UFO investigations are inconclusive at best.  Ufology owes much to the hundreds of thousands of UFO witnesses in the last 60 years who have accurately observed and then accurately communicated their observations, so that UFO investigators could determine that there is in fact something like 10% to 20% of the time a strange, yet real, phenomenon in our skies.

This UFO case was identified as a somewhat unusual, but fairly common thing. You can try out your skills as a UFO investigator to see how soon you can figure out what the ID is.  I've tried to write my case report to delay the ID till the end, so don't look ahead!  Download the case report above and be an armchair investigator!

The illustration below will get you started.  This is the view from Joe Smith's place except that the sighting took place at night.  

Photo Illustration of Joe Smith's View of Glowing Reddish-Orange Train of UFOs