You’re standing in your backyard, maybe taking the dog out or just catching a breath of fresh air, and you see it. A white ball of light flying across the horizon. No sound. No blinking strobe lights like the ones on a Boeing 737. It just glides. Your brain immediately starts cycling through the possibilities: Is it a drone? A meteor? Maybe something... less terrestrial?
Honestly, you aren't alone. Thousands of people report these exact sightings every year to organizations like the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) or the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). But the reality of what’s up there is usually a mix of cutting-edge aerospace tech, atmospheric physics, and sometimes, just a really well-timed trick of the light.
The Most Likely Culprits for That White Ball of Light Flying
Let’s be real. Most of the time, it's SpaceX. Since 2019, Elon Musk’s company has been launching Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit at a breakneck pace. When they first deploy, they look like a "train" of bright lights. But as they reach their operational altitude and adjust their solar panels, a single satellite can appear as a steady, bright white orb moving at a consistent speed.
They don't twinkle. That’s the key.
Stars twinkle because of atmospheric turbulence. Satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) don't. The ISS is actually the third brightest object in the sky. If you see a white ball of light flying that looks like a bright star moving steadily from west to east, check an app like Heavens-Above. It’s almost certainly the ISS hauling research and astronauts at 17,500 miles per hour.
Then there’s the "Orb" phenomenon. In the world of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), "orbs" are a specific category. Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), specifically mentioned these in a 2023 hearing. He noted that a large percentage of reported UAPs are actually silver or white spheres, typically 1 to 4 meters in diameter, flying at altitudes where commercial aircraft hang out.
The Science of "Ball Lightning" and Plasma
Sometimes the light isn't a solid object at all. It’s weather.
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Ball lightning is one of those things scientists used to think was a myth, like giant squids or honest politicians. It’s rare. It’s weird. It usually happens during or after a thunderstorm. Witness accounts describe a glowing, spherical object that can vary from the size of a pea to several meters in diameter. It hisses. It moves erratically. And then, pop, it’s gone.
In 2014, Chinese researchers actually captured a spectrum of ball lightning on camera for the first time. They found it contained silicon, iron, and calcium—the same stuff in the soil. Basically, a lightning strike hits the ground, vaporizes the dirt, and creates a floating ball of glowing plasma. If you see a white ball of light flying low to the ground during a storm, you might be looking at a literal scientific miracle.
Why Our Eyes Deceive Us
Humans are terrible at judging distance in a featureless sky.
If you see a light against a black backdrop, your brain has no frame of reference. This leads to something called the autokinetic effect. If you stare at a stationary point of light in the dark, your eyes will eventually start to make it look like it's moving. Small, involuntary eye movements (saccades) trick your brain into thinking the object is darting around.
Distance is another liar. A high-altitude weather balloon catching the evening sun can look like a glowing orb. Because the sun has already set for you on the ground, but is still hitting the balloon 60,000 feet up, it glows intensely white or gold. This is the "twilight phenomena." It’s responsible for more "UFO" calls to local police stations than almost anything else.
Drones are the new kids on the block. A DJI Mavic or a custom-built FPV drone with high-lumen LEDs can mimic almost any flight pattern. They can hover, which satellites can't do. They can change direction instantly, which planes can't do. If that white ball of light flying above your neighbor's house suddenly zips 90 degrees to the left, it’s probably a hobbyist testing their flight controller.
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The Military Factor
We can't talk about mysterious lights without talking about the "Black Projects."
The US Air Force and companies like Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works are always testing things we won't hear about for twenty years. Remember the F-117 Nighthawk? People saw "triangles" in the desert for a decade before the government admitted it existed.
Today, we have high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones and stealth platforms that use unique lighting configurations. Some of these involve "plasma masking" or electronic warfare decoys. These decoys are designed to create "phantom" returns on radar and can sometimes produce visible light signatures that look like glowing spheres.
How to Identify What You’re Seeing
If you want to be a local hero and actually identify that white ball of light flying over your town, you need a toolkit. Don't just stare at it and wonder.
- Check the Flight Path: Does it follow a straight line at a constant speed? It’s a satellite or the ISS. Use the Flightradar24 app to see if there’s a commercial flight with its landing lights on. Landing lights stay on below 10,000 feet and can be seen for dozens of miles, appearing as a brilliant, unmoving white orb if the plane is heading directly toward you.
- Look for the Flicker: Does it pulse? Real "orbs" or ball lightning tend to have a shimmering quality. Aircraft have specific FAA-mandated strobes (red on the left wing, green on the right, flashing white on the tail). If you don't see those colors, you’re looking at something either very high up or very unusual.
- The Finger Rule: Hold your arm out straight and use your pinky finger to cover the light. If the light is smaller than your pinky nail, it's likely a distant craft or celestial body. If it’s larger and moving, it’s closer than you think.
- Time of Day: Most "mystery" lights occur during civil twilight—the hour after sunset or before sunrise. This is when the geometry of the Earth allows high-altitude objects to reflect sunlight while the ground is in darkness.
Real-World Examples: The Hessdalen Lights
In Norway’s Hessdalen Valley, people have been seeing a white ball of light flying for decades. These aren't drones. They aren't SpaceX. Scientists from the Hessdalen Observatory have tracked them on radar and captured them on high-speed cameras.
The theories range from ionized dust clouds to a natural "battery" created by the valley's unique geology (one side is rich in copper, the other in zinc, with a river acting as an electrolyte). It's one of the few places on Earth where "glowing orbs" are a recognized, recurring scientific phenomenon. It proves that just because something looks "alien," it doesn't mean there isn't a grounded—albeit complex—explanation.
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What to Do When You See One
Don't panic. Grab your phone, but don't just take a photo. Photos of lights at night usually just look like blurry potatoes. Record video. Try to keep something in the frame for scale—a tree branch, a house, a power line. This helps investigators determine the object's angular velocity and altitude.
Most sightings of a white ball of light flying end up being mundane. But "mundane" is relative. Even if it's "just" a satellite, you're looking at a piece of human engineering screaming through the vacuum of space at five miles per second. That’s pretty cool in its own right.
If the light does something truly impossible—like hitting the "instant reverse" or disappearing into the ground—report it. Submit your data to the Enigma Labs app or MUFON. Even the Pentagon is crowdsourcing data now through AARO. We live in an era where the "taboo" of talking about weird lights in the sky is finally evaporating.
Next Steps for the Curious Observer:
- Download a Star Map: Apps like SkyGuide or Stellarium use AR to show you exactly where planets and bright stars (like Jupiter or Venus) are. Venus is often mistaken for a UFO because it’s incredibly bright and low on the horizon.
- Track the ISS: Sign up for NASA’s "Spot the Station" alerts. It will text you when the space station is flying over your specific zip code.
- Check Launch Schedules: Follow sites like Spaceflight Now. If there was a rocket launch within the last few hours, you might be seeing a "fuel dump" or a second-stage burn, which creates a massive, glowing white cloud or orb in the upper atmosphere.
- Invest in Binoculars: A simple 7x50 pair of binoculars will instantly reveal the wings of a plane or the tumbling nature of a piece of space junk, saving you hours of late-night wondering.
The sky is getting crowded. Between the 5,000+ Starlink satellites, the rise of consumer drones, and the increasing transparency around military UAPs, seeing a white ball of light flying is becoming a common part of the modern human experience. Most of the time, the explanation is right there in your pocket, waiting for you to look it up.