White sphere being followed.Sighting was Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, starting at 9:47 p.m. Stepped outside on porch, facing east, to see how cold it was before going out for the evening. I looked up, and saw a whitish-cream orb followed by what appeared to be four military aircraft. The craft were moving from my right to left, south to north, approximately 60 degrees from the horizon, not completely overhead.The craft following the orb looked to be military fighters, and one of the broke off, and was joined by three others. The three craft following the orb had to catch up when it turned right, and started heading east. The craft stayed on it, and we watched until they were out of sight.After the orb and the three planes following it were out of sight, other airplanes appeared, flying in a grid pattern. Lost sight of the orb at 10:07 p.m., and the other craft were in the area another 15-20 minutes.