PHOTOS: What is object seen floating above Batchawana Bay?

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane… It’s a weather balloon?

Reader and photo contributor Bob McGauley captured images of something floating in the skies along the shores of Lake Superior north of the city this morning and submitted them to SooToday, speculating as to what the object might be.

"An object in the morning sky at sunrise time over Batchawana Bay. Looks to be a weather balloon perhaps," McGauley wrote.

Balloons and other flying objects have been in the news recently, with a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the U.S. West coast making headlines in April.

Earlier this month, Saultites were left to speculate after a local resident captured video footage of a mysterious object flying over the Gros Cap area north of the Sault. Police and airport officials said at the time they had received no other reports of unidentified flying objects.

There are places near us that are launch locations for balloons. Gaylord, Mich., is one location from which balloons are launched by the U.S. National Weather Service.

Another is Timmins, Ont., where scientists began a new series of balloon launches earlier this month, with each balloon carrying an experiment. The ‘launch window’ for the Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base launches ended yesterday.

It appears it is possible to track a balloon using apps like FlightAware and Flightradar24, if you know the balloon's tracking number.

So, weather balloon, spy mission, science experiment? If you know the answer, send it to [email protected].