Update at 5:14 p.m.: The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) contacted us via Twitter to say that the white objects floating above D.C. on Monday were not the JLENS program. JLENS does not begin until December of this year.

Original post:

On Monday morning, small white objects flew high in the sky over Washington, D.C. No one seems to know what they were.

Reader Rob Pierce describes what he saw: “I noticed these white spots in the sky in the west, in the vicinity of the moon . . . They didn’t appear to be moving at all, so not planes or small bits of cloud, and they seemed to be too small or high to be helicopters holding position. My best guess was balloons?”



Arrows (drawn onto photo) point to white specks high in the sky stationary over Washington Monday morning. Click to enlarge. (Rob Pierce)

Capital Weather Gang’s Angela Fritz saw 2 such objects, but other eyewitnesses saw up to 8, she said.

To verify the objects were not weather balloons, Fritz called the National Weather Service. They confirmed that no special weather balloons had been released. Single weather balloons are launched twice a day from Sterling, Virginia and would not ordinarily be visible over the District.

We asked our Twitter readers what they might be. Some suggestions:

@capitalweather I believe they are Army cruise-missile detection blimps; were at Aberdeen training for months: http://t.co/jQ0mEJY1J2 — Drew Saunders (@drewbsaunders) September 15, 2014

@capitalweather On Friday, I saw a white ballon in the shape of a nautilus or shrimp, to the N while driving over the 14th St bridge. Same? — Dr. Jennifer Wade (@volcanojw) September 15, 2014

Capital Weather Gang’s Ian Livingston wondered if they were JLENS blimps or aerostats. But the objects above Washington Monday appeared too small to resemble those bulbous aircraft. On the other hand, they appeared to be at a very high altitude, so their details were not visible to the naked eye and the objects likely appeared smaller than they actually were.

@capitalweather big? JLENS shouldn't be active yet but that's what it might look like. — Ian Livingston (@islivingston) September 15, 2014

Related: Blimplike surveillance craft set to deploy over Maryland heighten privacy concerns

So can anyone speculate or even confirm what these objects were? We’re dying to know…