by Thomas Minderlé
Orbs may be defined as spherical floating anomalies. Since this covers quite a wide spectrum, we cannot assume all orbs are the same thing. Their range of size, texture, luminosity, color, and motion indicate various classes of orbs. Some can be explained away as ordinary objects, but some cannot.
Mundane explanations include Chinese lanterns, party balloons, weather balloons, balloon satellites, drones, and ball lightning. Lanterns and balloons move in smooth trajectories and at reasonable speeds. Chinese lanterns predictably flicker in the breeze and fade out after 10 minutes. Weather and satellite balloons are usually white or silver in daylight and don't glow at night.
Balloons and lanterns don't accelerate at high speeds, make sharp right-angle turns, or change color. Ball lightning can have these traits but it's extremely rare to see more than one at a time, let alone ones that fly in formation. Drones have size limits, whereas orbs several meters in diameter or larger are commonly reported. Drones that can hover stationary have a maximum speed of 150 kph (100 mph) which is far slower than some reported orbs.
Not to mention none of these ordinary objects can fade out from view, be optically invisible but still visible to infrared cameras, or move at extreme speed and acceleration. Therefore any orb that demonstrates such characteristics is truly anomalous.
The smallest orbs are ones that show up in photographs usually taken inside the home. These are mere inches in diameter. Some could just be dust particles reflecting light, but attempts to replicate such photos with dust or mist are not a perfect match. These orbs only show up on camera, a translucent white, and are likely localized spherical emissions of infrared or ultraviolet light. Various sources have speculated that these particular orbs are associated with a disembodied consciousnesses (discarnate humans or remote viewers) being in the room. In his 2014 paper "Wormholes and Paranormal Phenomena," paranormal investigator David Rountree suggests these orbs are spheres of UV-emitting cold plasma created by ionizing gamma radiation from micro-wormholes.
There are also large physical orbs that move with unexplainable speed and acceleration, like the Navy's 2004 encounter with a white "tic-tac" object the size of a school bus that accelerated at up to 1000G. These appear to be highly advanced ET or black ops drones. Their lack of visible propulsion indicates a mastery of "spacetime metric engineering" to produce antigravity. In the case of ETs, such drones would likely be launched from a larger occupied vehicle or mothership and used for remote scanning purposes.
There are also large nonphysical orbs. Consider the work of orgone scientist and UFOlogist James Trevor Constable. In his book "The Cosmic Pulse of Life," Constable explains how he used infrared cameras to capture photos of otherwise invisible plasmatic lifeforms in the sky. These plasma creatures are technically UFOs (unidentified and flying) but were large and amoeba-like, whether spherical or tic-tac in shape. Unlike ordinary objects, which emit light that induces a chemical reaction on film, the energy from these beings had the opposite effect by masking the exposed portion of the film from undergoing a normal reaction. It's as if these amoeba-like UFOs were emitting some kind of "anti-light." Constable also claimed he could "see" these objects in the sky, not so much visually, but more as a pulling sensation on the eyes from a particular spot in the sky.
I may have seen one of these plasmatic lifeforms in a rural part of central Florida in December 2020. It was around 11 PM, with clear dark skies, 40°F, and no wind. A friend and I were looking at the stars with night vision monoculars. I wanted to point out to him the Andromeda galaxy, so I aimed my infrared laser/light unit in that direction. Afterward, I aimed my laser up to another constellation when suddenly a round amoeba-like "cloud" appeared, visible only under night vision. It looked to be 100-200 yards above us, semi-translucent, the size of a pea held at arm's length. It chased my laser pointer like a cat would, its shape distorting from a sphere into a "pac-man ghost" shape while moving, the ragged edge trailing behind it. I played with it for a minute. My friend had trouble with his night vision unit and by the time he looked up, it was gone. I thought it was some optical artifact from fogging or reflection on my lens, but after blowing on the lens and angling the light and laser, I wasn't able to replicate it. The "cloud" acted like it was intelligent and it reminded me very much of what Trevor Constable described. It's possible that the infrared laser/light energized it (like with glow-in-the-dark materials) into becoming visible through an infrared imaging device
Sometimes entities come in the form of visibly luminous spheres resembling ball lightning. In a 2012 paper published in the journal "Anthropology and Humanism," Dr. Diego Escolar recounts his anomalous experiences in the arid Barreal Blanco region of Argentina. Dr. Escolar and his team encountered flying spheres of light, around 3 meters in diameter, moving at speeds up to 300-400 kph (180-250 mph). They glowed diffusely and would sometimes transition between white, green, and orange, but most often red; they could also change shape somewhat. Some of the orbs come as close as 15 meters, stopping as if observing, and some would fly low over the team's heads. Usually, however, they would hang back and trace the team's footsteps. At one point they entered into a twinkling triangular formation. As an anthropologist, Dr. Escolar was not prepared for this experience and the rest of his paper is an attempt at reconciling this anomaly with consensus reality.
Dr. Escolar's orbs seemed to be intelligent, glowing yet nonsolid, like spherical plasmas. They lacked the solid silver or white texture of physical orbs. Were they supernatural plasma beings, like some kind of jinn? Or were they plasma-like drones operated by an ET intelligence?
I’d like to conclude with this intriguing account from "The Secret of the Saucers" (1955) by contactee Orfeo Angelucci:
"About a mile further along the disk swerved to the right, away from the road, and hung motionless over an unfenced field some distance below the road level. I drove off the pavement about thirty feet to the edge of the declivity. From there the glowing red disk was directly in front of me and only a short distance away. As I watched it in bewilderment it pulsated violently; then shot off into the sky at a 30 or 40-degree angle and at very great speed. High in the sky to the west it decelerated abruptly, hung for a moment; then accelerated and disappeared like a meteor.
"But just before the glowing red orb vanished, two smaller objects came from it. These objects were definitely circular in shape and of a soft, fluorescent green color. They streaked down directly in front of my car and hovered only a few feet away. I judged each to be about three feet in diameter. Hanging silently in the air like iridescent bubbles their green light fluctuated rhythmically in intensity.
"Then, apparently coming from between those two eerie balls of green fire, I heard a masculine voice in strong, well-modulated tones and speaking perfect English."