Look, up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane...
Well, yes it is a plane.
In fact, it's an aircraft from NASA flying as low as 1,000 feet today and tomorrow over the East Bay.
The plane is collecting air quality data on behalf of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
The aircraft will fly over the Interstate 680 corridor and other Bay Area regions. It'll take off Thursday morning from the Sacramento area.
It's one of four NASA planes that will be flying over the central portion of California collecting data on how pollution flows through the atmosphere.
"In terms of the results, it's a 3D look at winter air pollution that has never been looked at before," said Ralph Borrmann, a spokesman for the air quality district.
The district paid $28,000 for its portion of the study. Air district employees will also collaborate on interpeting the results.
