A sphere-triangle UFO was seen again recently - this time caught on video over Illinois. Recent reports were made to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database where three unrelated witnesses in Texas and Kansas described the same object. The Illinois case may be another report.


On June 20, an Illinois witness noticed a bright object on the horizon, "a cluster of lights which seemed to be traveling together in formation."

The witness said "the formation appeared to be a cluster of roughly coplanar lights in a sort-of triangular arrangement. It made no sound at all. Judging from the way the scale of the object changed as it moved across the sky, I would guess that it was approximately at the same height as a passenger jet at cruising altitude."

The witness was gone about 40 seconds to get a video camera, so the two minutes of video footage show the object further along in its path.

Ufologists are discussing the idea of whether or not reports of three spheres connected by metal-looking rods is a new UFO shape. While we look back into the past, we do have a micro trend here with seemingly related cases over a short period of time with a recent rise in sphere sightings and these cases of three connected spheres.

I relayed the idea of an upswing in sphere style UFOs today to Dr. Mark Rodeghier, scientific director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).

"You have to be careful at extrapolating trends from small numbers of reports, whether that be spheres, triangles, or UFOs colored fuscia," Rodeghier said. "That said, I think that the focus you are placing on finding commonalities in current reports is something that the UFO field could use. There has been work on large-scale trends in the UFO phenomenon, such as the number of cases each year, or relationships between the color of UFOs and their shape. What there hasn't been much of is looking for micro trends, where micro can be defined as either localized in time or space (or both)."

Rodeghier said he thinks research on these shorter trends would be worthwhile.

"Whether UFOs are extradimensional or alien, or something even weirder," he said, "it would be worth knowing that the same general type of UFO, or the same entity, is seen over a relatively brief period. If nothing else, it would argue for some objective reality to the phenomenon."

Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Illinois MUFON Director Sam Maranto investigates and reports back on this case, I will update this page.

The following report is unedited. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report index page.

Illinois, June 20, 2009 - A cluster of bright scintillating lights in formation passed across the sky

I was wrapping-up some work on my computer at about 5:20 AM on June 20, 2009, when the morning twilight began to filter through the windows. It being my birthday, and the weather being particularly pleasant, I decided to go outside to observe the dawn sky. I stepped out onto my front porch and looked up into the southern sky.

I immediately noticed a very bright object about 30 degrees above the horizon. At first, I thought it was a very bright planet, but I then noticed that it was moving towards me and to the northwest.

As the object came closer, I could see that it was not a single point of light; instead, it was a cluster of lights which seemed to be traveling together in formation. The cluster did not resemble an airplane.

Instead, it seemed to be composed of several individual elements of various sizes arranged in a "double-cross" or diamond-like pattern. The lights scintillated in a way that suggested to me that the morning sun which was just about to rise was reflecting off the object.

I have often seen jets reflecting sunlight in the twilight hours, but this thing in the sky did not look *at all* like a plane. When I realized that I was definitely not seeing a conventional aircraft, I thought to myself, "I am seeing a f-ing UFO!".

I raced inside and grabbed a small handheld video camera. By the time I got back outside (about 40 seconds later), the object had moved overhead along the same smooth trajectory in the sky it had been taking since I first noticed it.

I began filming the object. The video clearly shows a bright object moving in the sky, but the fine structure of the formation was not clearly captured by the camera (which unfortunately does not have a zoom lens). I shot video for about 2 minutes as the object receded into the northwestern sky.

When it was passing overhead and to the north, the formation appeared to be a cluster of roughly coplanar lights in a sort-of triangular arrangement. It made no sound at all. Judging from the way the scale of the object changed as it moved across the sky, I would guess that it was approximately at the same height as a passenger jet at cruising altitude.

The experience left me excited and a bit flabbergasted. I reviewed the video footage and was somewhat disappointed to find that the shape of the object on the video was not clear. I made a couple of quick pencil-sketches to record my impression of the cluster's shape, and then retired to bed.