When a large glowing oval shape appeared in the night sky on Wednesday it certainly got everyone talking and speculating.
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One local resident whimsically described it as a giant glitter ball in space.
Around 5.30pm calls started pouring into the Western Advocate as people across the region reported what they were seeing.
Even amateur astronomer Ray Pickard wasn’t immune to the mystery of it all.
Mr Pickard said he was at a friend’s home when he saw a strange bright orb in the southern sky (pictured) and hurried home to look at it through his telescope as it drifted slowly westwards.
When he first spotted it. he thought it could be a number of things, but a UFO wasn’t one of them.
Others around town weren’t so sure.
“I have seen some strange things in the past,” Mr Pickard admitted.
“I thought it might be a weather balloon, however they are not usually so large or so bright.
“Of course, in the end, that’s exactly what it was.”
The phenomenon turned out to be a giant NASA weather balloon, which was launched from Wanaka in New Zealand on Tuesday and will drift around in the stratosphere for the next 100 days.
Currently, the balloon is 110,000 feet above Australia.
Its flight path will carry it over Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America.
The super balloon measures 19 million cubic feet and is as large as 92 Goodyear blimps, which is why it was so visible in the sky over Bathurst.
As people spotted the giant weather balloon, which is measuring sub atomic particles in the atmosphere, they turned to Mr Pickard for answers.
“My phone was running hot,” he said.
In addition, the photo and details he posted on his Facebook page ‘Bathurst Observatory Research Facility’ received 742 likes, 660 comments and was shared 568 times.
Mr Pickard said with the balloon likely to circle the earth a few times over the coming months we will hopefully see it again before its mission ends.
