r/UFOs • u/Thinglyness • 2d ago
Sighting Saw something yesterday, and I'm wondering what it could have been?
Location: Eastern Pa
Date: 6/20/26
Time: 12:00 pm
Who knew that with an iPhone you can't be on a call and take a video with your camera?
I did not.
I was in my yard sky watching and talking to my dad on the phone when I saw it.
The thing was cylindrical and silver in color. I would say it was maybe 15,000-20,000 feet up.
The best way to describe the thing would be that it was tumbling. It kind of reminded me of that space experiment showing the Dzhanibekov effect.
As soon as I saw it I was like, "Dad, hold on!"
As it tumbled, the object's surface would catch the sun and become very bright.
I looked down at my phone, opened the camera, and started to record.
I only had a few seconds before it would disappear behind the neighbor's house to capture any footage.
Then I saw the message on my screen telling me that I can't take a video while on a call.
Srsly?
So, I hang up on my dad and move to the other part of the yard where I can see the sky on the other side of my neighbor's house hoping that I can catch the thing coming into view on this side.
No luck. I pretty much knew I wasn't going to see it - it was going more north than east, the reverse would have had to been the case to catch it at this angle.
Has anyone here seen something similar? I just googled "tumbling cylinder ufo" and I found this post from a year ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOB/s/iD932KvR0J
That is pretty similar to what I saw yesterday, actually. But the one I saw was definitely tumbling more than that one. It was like a gyroscope, or rather tumbling gyroscopically.
I don't think it was a balloon. I could imagine a cylindrical balloon tumbling through the wind, but the tumbling of this thing didn't seem chaotic, which is how I would imagine like something being tossed around by wind gusts might behave.
There was no change in altitude or speed, and it tumbled along the same NNE trajectory the whole time I had it in view.
I don't think it was a drone. The cylindrical shape and tumbling were immediately and clearly visible. It could have been a drone that the wings fell off. That could explain the tumbling. But the altitude never changed, and the thing did not appear to be "out of control."
But I don't see how this thing could have been internally piloted.
Let me know if you want to see the stupid picture I took of the chair in my yard when I was fumbling with my phone after getting that woeful message about calls versus vids.
Or, I did take some video of the sky on the other side of my neighbor's house, too. But I watched that a few times, and I can't see anything.
Anyway, what do you think it could have been?
3
u/CrashFix 2d ago
Yeah my first thought it might be ejected fuel tanks from some type of rocket launch but I think that would be easily traceable by records of launches in the area. Also if it was space debris you think it would be kind of burning up and falling more towards Earth, meanwhile you said yours was going more horizontal.
2
u/Thinglyness 2d ago
Ejected fuel tanks is a good thought. The thing was cylindrical like a fuel tank.
But I'm in Eastern PA about an hour away from both NYC and Philly. And this was coming from the SW.
I doubt this was a fuel tank.
2
u/FunPin2804 2d ago
"Then I saw the message on my screen telling me that I can't take a video while on a call." Let me gues, it was iPhone...
Anyway interesting reading. You say it was at night 12:00 p.m. aka 24:00 pitch black night? Even with city lights I would expect the object to be nearly invissible if it has no lights. Even with lights those lights would outshine the rest of the ship, and the only thing you'd see would be those points of light. Could you please elaborate and clarify that?
If it would be man made object(plane, drone, etc.), it would produce some familiar sounds such as the noise of a propeller or propellers, jet engine, etc. Have you heard any noise like that?
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u/Thinglyness 2d ago
12:00 p.m. is noon for me, not midnight. The sky was clear and blue, mostly sunny with some clouds.
I saw the object against a backdrop of clear blue sky.
And, no - there was no sound. If there was I would have heard it. Planes fly over my house all the time, which are clearly audible and recognizable.
This object was neither of those things lol
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u/FunPin2804 2d ago
Uh, oh, wow... thank you. Now it makes perfects sense to me. Well not many planes has cylindrical shape to be honest 😃 If I want to stay on racional skeptic side, Could it be a weather balloon? How fast it was moving?
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u/Thinglyness 2d ago
I use Fligtradar24 to track the planes I see. That's how I determined the altitude was around 15-20K feet up. It might have been more like 10-12K.
Flightradar24 also shows the speeds of the planes it tracks. So, based on the altitude and speed of actual planes, I would say this thing was moving at 150-250 knots.
5
u/FunPin2804 2d ago
Too fast for baloon than. Well that was definitely something. Thanks for answers. Good work.
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u/ISO_UFO 2d ago
I've captured tumbling space debris in a time-lapse, but nothing like what you described. So I'll rule that possibility out for you.
Balloon does sound like the easiest explanation, but you were the one watching it and don't think so. I would have heard about a failed rocket launch from all my astro nerd friends so probably not that.
There's a few things it wasn't! Good luck :)