Boy, I have to confess, that's a good one! I can't even begin to try and figure out what that is. Here's a couple things I'd want to rule out, though:
1) I definitely don't think this is one's a hoax. But just to be sure, it sound like someone knows who these people are. While I totally respect their need for anonymity, someone ought to verify their identity and back-story (if this goes anywhere), and see if a chain of custody can be established for the video.
2) I'd have them report it to NUFORC.
3) I'd obtain records from FAA, to see if there was anything flying in the air that day, commercial or military, to rule out more mundane explanations. That said, this certainly doesn't look like an aircraft.
4) I'm wondering if there were any space-based activity that day...Any rockets fired, any launches, any space-station work. At certain times during the video, it almost looks like an afterburner coming from the rear of a craft. That said, I'm not sure that's my first best guess at what it is. Still, though, you'd want to rule that out.
5) Check for any reported meteors, fireballs, or other similar astronomical activity. This sure didn't behave like a fire-ball as far as I'm concerned, but again, I'd want to find out what it is NOT.
6) Doublecheck for other sightings to cross-check. Was anything reported to NUFORC that day?
So, I'd rule try my best to rule out commercial aircraft, military aircraft, commercial and military space-based activity, and I'd cross-reference for other sightings reported.
Once all of those things are ruled out, what are we left with?
For me, I almost get the impression that whatever this thing is, it appears to be moving away from Earth, not towards it. I'm not an imaging expert, but it seemed that the camera was having a more difficult time zooming in at about 20 minutes, taking longer each time, to focus in on infinity. It was actually quite hypnotic to watch, and very distinct. So with an object closer to the camera (and earth), wouldn't the camera be able to zoom in faster? With an object farther away from the camera (and earth), wouldn't the camera take longer? That said, I was left with the impression of a shorter interval towards the beginning of the footage, and a longer interval towards the end of the footage. This gives the impression that the object is moving away from Earth.
I was also quite impressed with the initial close-ups. That certainly appeared to be a pixelated saucer-shape. The description that came with the video was quite apologetic, but I must confess that I thought it was a pretty good close-up. We have to appreciate that given the close-ups to the tree in the foreground, this object seems to be quite high, and quite far away. I'd imagine that an imaging expert could shed some light on optical issues that would arise with this kind of strain on a camera zooming in on an object. For that reason, I give little credence to the descriptions claims on size. BUT, it really does look like a saucer-shaped object, with something glowing, or reflecting, either towards the bottom of the object, or towards it's back-end. The only plausible explanation for this, is we could be looking at high-altitude military craft, and its' afterburner at the rear. From this vantage point, the tips of the saucer could be the aircrafts wings, and the saucers bubble (for lack of a better term) could be the craft's nose tip. BUT, It looks like a flying saucer, frankly.
At 12:51 I paused the video, and took a good, long, hard look. The afterburner-thing, seems to me, to have some separation. It appears to be more like 3 afterburners, rather than one large flame. This could be a military aircraft. The Space Shuttle also has 3 burners on its rear, I believe. I'm not saying that's what it is, but it makes me wonder.
Before you write that off, examine this pic:
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Now look at this depiction of the Space Shuttle from the rear:
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I'm not saying that's what it is, but it's the closest thing I come up with, based on the 12:51 image. It would also fit the white hue appearance of the unknown object. That said,
There was no scheduled Space Shuttle flight on 9-5-05. There was supposed to be, Atlantis, but the launch got skuttled due to bad weather.
My only other, logical, explanation could be this: Was it a launched Reuseable Launch Vehicle, aka RLV?
I wonder...
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