On an otherwise clear January evening in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico, my eyes were drawn skyward to a phenomenon unlike any other I’d witnessed. At 18:30 local time, a luminous spherical object appeared, suspended high among the cirrus clouds, casting an eerie glow that rivaled even Venus in brightness. This wasn’t just an ordinary light in the sky; it was a semi-transparent orb girdled with a distinct ring of bright white lights, arranged in a precise V-shape. No flashing colors, just unwavering brightness that seemed to pulse with a quiet intensity.
This mysterious sphere moved deliberately from west to east, gliding slower than a transcontinental jet, with a trajectory so exact it suggested deliberate navigation rather than random drift. Using my telescope—a Celestron Astromaster 76—I observed this enigmatic body alongside two companions, including a child, captivated by the silence and surreal presence of the object for over 20 minutes. Despite the duration, the opportunity to photograph slipped away, overshadowed by the urgency of observation.
The atmospheric conditions bore witness to a mostly clear sky with a scattering of low clouds towards the east and a quarter moon nearly at zenith, providing a breathtaking celestial tableau that only augmented the surreal quality of the sighting.
Having a background in oceanography with daily astronomical observations, I was keenly aware of the night sky and its usual inhabitants—stars, planets, satellites, even the occasional meteorological balloon—but this encounter defied classification. The object’s brightness and steady course bore no resemblance to aircraft or naval bases nearby, nor did it match any known artificial satellite tracked by my advanced simulation software.
The experience was haunting, a blend of the cosmic and the uncanny that shakes the foundation of our understanding of the skies. To see such a precise, glowing sphere, steady and deliberate in movement, is to witness a mystery from beyond our everyday perception. For those who gaze upwards with wonder, Chilpancingo’s 2018 sighting remains a riveting chapter in the chronicles of unexplained aerial phenomena.