Reports of 20 to 30 glowing orbs flying in the night sky above northern Capitol Hill Saturday night have an earthly explanation.

CHS was contacted by three readers since Saturday night with stories of small glowing orbs floating through the sky above the Roanoke Park area of the Hill. They appeared to be coming from the north, we were told.

A search of Facebook and Twitter found other reports so we started the process of contacting local authorities to learn more about what people were seeing. But further searching on Twitter also yielded an explanation:

A fleet of small balloons lit with sconces were released by many friends in memory of someone who recently passed.

Here’s an image from @raulthepoolboy  showing one of the memorial ‘wisps’ being prepared for launch.

We don’t know who the memorial was for but it definitely created a sense of awe for people on the earth below.