UAP Orbs: Magnetically Confined Dusty Plasmoids Produced by Meteors

Abstract. One of the most commonly reported Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) is a large, bright, luminescent sphere observed in the lower troposphere and colloquially referred to as an “orb.” Analysis of 508 orb sightings reported to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) indicates that these silent, floating luminous objects often exhibit plasma-like behavior and emit visible light of varying colors for durations of up to an hour or more. In this work, citizen-science reports of orb observations are shown to be significantly correlated (~3σ) with reports of meteor fireballs, suggesting a meteoritic origin. We propose that some orbs may represent a previously unrecognized type of weakly ionized dusty plasma formed by stabilization of meteoric dust in the lower atmosphere. A preliminary physical model is presented in which remanent magnetization of meteoritic particles, particularly elemental iron, nickel, and magnetite, contributes to aggregation and confinement of the dust cloud. In this hypothesis, heat from the oxidation of metallic iron and nickel provides an energy source and facilitates thermal buoyancy, while electrical activity arises from triboelectric charging driven by particle collisions and convective mixing. The wide range of reported orb colors is broadly consistent with microdischarges in air and with atomic emission from pyrophoric combustion of iron- and nickel-containing particles. Because iron meteorites, as well as the iron–nickel components of ordinary stony meteorites, can survive atmospheric entry into the lower atmosphere, meteoritic material may provide a natural explanation for orb observations.