A NASA engineer has described an unnerving encounter with a luminous orb over Florida in 2014, detailing how the object appeared to approach him after military aircraft investigated and departed the scene.
Dr. Charles Buhler, a physicist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, recounted the experience during a podcast appearance, stating that he and his wife observed a bright orb over Cocoa Beach at approximately 10 p.m. ET. Buhler described the object as intensely bright, comparing its luminescence to that of a "giant nuclear weapon."
"It wasn't a mushroom cloud with it, but it was just the brightness of it," Buhler told the Danny Jones Podcast. "And we were like, 'This is weird.' So the helicopter hung over for a few minutes and then just went back and the light was still there."
According to Buhler, a helicopter from the nearby Patrick Air Force Base was dispatched to observe the unidentified object. After a brief investigation, the military aircraft reportedly returned to base, leaving Buhler to speculate about their assessment. "They're like, 'Okay, they know what it's not. It's not the Russians. It's not the Chinese. So, okay, it's not them. We'll be fine. Let's go back.' That's my guess. They know what it's not."
Following the military's departure, Buhler claims the orb began to move closer to shore, eventually coming within approximately 200 feet of the beach. He stated that the object then divided into five or six smaller, basketball-sized orbs that appeared to rotate and interact with the water.
"They went and rotated, these five lights, five or six lights... Went like bicycle spokes into the water, halfway out of the water, halfway into the water, and they just kept doing this," Buhler described. "It was like the freakiest, I don't know what the hell it was."
Buhler recounted that he and his wife began to retreat, and the lights followed their movement while maintaining their spinning pattern. The entire episode reportedly lasted about 45 minutes.
Feeling apprehensive, Buhler recalled attempting to mentally communicate with the objects, urging them to leave. Shortly thereafter, he stated, the lights submerged into the water and disappeared.
"It wouldn't have gone away if I didn't tell it to. I don't think it would have gone away unless I told it to. It was completely gone after that," Buhler said.
He noted that despite the event occurring near a populated area and a military installation, he found no official reports or mentions of the incident the following day. Buhler also mentioned that such orb sightings are reportedly a known phenomenon in the Cape Canaveral area, with some tour groups actively seeking them.
Buhler's account comes amid the Pentagon's ongoing release of UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) files. One video released by the Department of Defense showed what officials described as a "plasma-like sphere" hovering over a pond in the U.S. in 2025. However, both NASA and the U.S. government maintain that there is no definitive physical evidence confirming the existence of UFOs or extraterrestrial life.
