UFO Sighting in Santa Rosa, California on May 29th 2015 – Very Bright, Planet-like Temporary Satellite(?) Observed over Santa Rosa, CA, over 6 Hours

At 1530, 29 May 2015, my two roommates (A & S) and I were sitting in the back yard together, chatting idly. The day was warm, dry, with high cirriform clouds or mist of unusual extent and texture resembling at times wool or inverted sand dunes. I was facing eastward. At approximately 1540, I looked up to the east-northeast to see a singularly bright "star" or "planet" at about 40 degrees above local horizon, to which I brought the attention of A and S. It shone steadily with a bright white light that easily shone through but did not cast light on the intervening clouds. A and I watched continuously for two hours as the object rose to approximately zenith. Numerous passenger and mail jets passed on a plane below the cloud film and several left lingering trails. During this time, it seemed to variously take on a slightly oblong, cometary, or oscillating appearance which, without the aid of binocular or telescopic aid, we are forced to attribute to a trick of the eye. Our observations agree on this point. At this point, we all left the house by car and observed the object from several locations in Windsor and Santa Rosa (Mendocino and College). We pointed the object out to several people in different locations, who all thought that it might be different objects ranging from balloons to Venus. We returned home about 2030, at which point, the daily heavier clouds and fog began to roll in from the ocean, at times partially or fully obscuring the object which, at this point was about 40 degrees above the horizon and setting. At about 2200, the object was lost behind heavy cloud cover which quickly progressed to overcast skies. The object was a very bright white and did not change in apparent magnitude relative to the position of the sun. It was visible while the sun was high in the sky, suggesting a magnitude of at least -7. Its angular velocity seemed to be somewhat greater than the sun, perhaps a bit less than that of the moon. It did not travel along the line of the ecliptic as the planets do, but took a path to the north of it, perhaps crossing the ecliptic at its northernmost node. Ruled out Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, near-earth asteroids, balloons, and man-made satellites as possible misidentifications. I have been an amateur astronomer and meteorologist for over 20 years and am confident in these determinations. I have attached photographs recorded with an iPhone 5c between the hours of 2037 and 2102 during the sighting. Roommate A has more pictures and video on his iPhone 6.