Appearance / Description of Object(s)

As best as I can tell, the object was cylinder-shaped, a bluish-silver in color with possibly a bit of mostly blue color of a projectile or shaft like object which seemed to be attached to the main cylinder body. I tried to identify if their were wings, but could not. I thought perhaps it was a helicopter, which I have seen flying overhead before, however there appeared no rotary blades above or aft the cylinder and helicopters make a good deal of noise and this object made none. I can only say that I have not seen anything like this in the sky over my house before and its color was not as bright as the ISS as I remember, which appeared white. This object was faster than the ISS, but every bit as silent.

Size of Object(s)

I can't say. It is remarkable that people report that a UFO is the size of a football field or whatever. I just read that an commercial airliner about 100 miles out from an airport is at about 6,000 ft. The jet looked about 3 to 4 inches long to me if I were to spread my thumb and index finger from my standpoint on the raised deck in back of my house. The UFO (if I may use that term) was approximately the same in length, but thinner or not having the same dimensional proportions of the jet.

Description of Area / Surroundings

This is a rural area; a cul-de-sac of of perhaps 20 or so individual homes approximately 3 miles from the town of Hartwell, in Hart County, Georgia, 30643. My house sits on a couple of acres of hardwoods. I was standing on the back deck of my home after letting my dog outside and decided to look up and enjoy the beautiful sky. As I stated, the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta lies 100 miles south of my home and I am accustomed to seeing and hearing airliners crisscross the sky. Also there are some smaller airports in the area so that I see non-commercial aircraft. There have been helicopters flying overhead from time to time, but I do not know if they are military, police, or medical, or other commercial copters. Georgia and neighboring South Carolina do support military bases, although none in the immediate area (i.e., Hart County).

Full Description & Details

On this morning of January 24, 2012, I saw a cylinder-shaped object going at high speed passing directly overhead my house in a north-easterly direction (note: within flight pattern of air traffic out of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport). The object left no vapor trail and I could not see wings spanning out from the side, but noticed something shaft-like near the main body. As I watched and tried to make out more details of the object, I saw a commercial jet with vapor trails and heard the familiar sound of jet engines heading in the opposite, south-west direction toward ATL. I followed the cylinder-shaped object until I could it no longer see it. I then turned my attention back to the commercial jet and noted its speed in relation to the cylinder-shaped was a good deal slower. I thought to myself that the paths of the two aircrafts were dangerously close, but this of course is just an ungrounded assumption as I have no idea as to the size of the cylinder-shaped object or its altitude in relation to the identifiable airliner. I came inside to check via internet if a satellite or the ISS is visible today over NE Georgia, but that is not the case according to the NASA site. I did see the ISS when it passed over a couple of years ago, but this cylinder object I saw today was traveling faster. In the 70s, I lived in Africa and I on occasion could see satellites in the night sky so I have a little experience with seeing how they traverse the sky; they were much higher and form not really detailed; rather looked liked a "tumbling" (not shooting) star moving swiftly across the sky. This was probably a flight from the airport, however, the observance was unusual enough to prompt me to report this as a UFO and whatever it was should have been easily visible to the pilots of the jet airliner.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

This was no star, comet, planet, bird or cloud or any other natural object. It was not a weather balloon; blimps usually travel slower, but regardless, it wasn't the right shape or dimension to be a weather or recreational balloon or blimp. It was not a glider because there were no wings spanning out that I could detect by eye.

Witness Background

I am a retired social worker with a degree in human services.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I grew up in the 50s and a thriving community on Mars with intelligently designed canal systems were still a possibility. (Sigh) Seriously, I have a somewhat open mind about the possibility that UFOs (that is extraterrestrial visitors) could exist given the age, size, weirdness and amount of unknown (or even unknowable) factors of our universe, the number of galaxies, and the fact that we ourselves, creations of this universe, have ventured out into space. But basically, unless beings discover the wormholes Einstein spoke of or the ability to travel near the speed of light or molecularly teleport, I am not hopeful because of the vastness of space which is moving further and further apart. And I am a Christian and so believe in the possibility of spiritual beings who are not subject to the laws of the physical universe. So once you can accept the latter, you have hope in things unseen. I am sure there is a logical, mundane explanation for the phenomenon that I observed and which prompted this report. However, I consider what I saw to be outside my realm of experience or knowledge to date. I think it's important to share the information for we never know what might turn out to be of some value.

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