UFO help needed!

[kittynh]

I got this question in my UFO expert site.

I'm pretty sure it's something... the early morning and great height make bells ring...but I'm not sure if I'm on the right track.

Any help welcome... I'll post here and hope some good old fashioned astonomy or high alt. plane explains this...

here you go................................................ .................................................. ...................................

I few weeks ago in the very early morning I saw high in the sky a distant light move in a straight line from one horizon to the other. It moved at a constant
speed and displayed a non-varying constant brightness. I know it sounds very much like a satellite so far but it also traversed the entire sky in less than 20
seconds. Probably more like 15-17 seconds from horizon to horizon. It's brightness also did not vary at the zenith of its path (it was harder to see as it
neared the horizon of course because of distance and atmosphere). I have seen lots of satellites and they move pretty slow across the sky. At that speed, I
would expect to see it again on the same path after a fairly short period. I continued to watch for over an hour and saw nothing. It was nothing like a meteor.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

The direction it moved would be really helpful in an analysis.

[The Atheist]

I saw something similar one evening, a line of bright objects moving quickly across the sky, seeming at great distance. Fortunately, and having a telescope nearby, I was able to find that it was seagulls gliding past.

It was a genuine optical illusion, because while the distance appeared to be great, they were actually only about half a mile away.

If the object was in the west, I'd say it's a possibility, because they'd be catching the light right.

[Tumblehome]

In the absence of other information...If the light was yellowish and brighter than the average satellite, it might have been the space station. I've seen it fly over a few times and it seems to move faster than other satellites.

[CFLarsen]

Date, time, place, direction, how "high", estimated speed. All missing.

Could very well be the space station, though (http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/)

[Soapy Sam]

I got this question in my UFO expert site.

I few weeks ago in the very early morning I saw high in the sky a distant light move in a straight line from one horizon to the other.

So where was it when first seen? High in the sky or near the horizon?

It moved at a constant speed and displayed a non-varying constant brightness. I know it sounds very much like a satellite so far but it also traversed the entire sky in less than 20
seconds. Probably more like 15-17 seconds from horizon to horizon. It's brightness also did not vary at the zenith of its path (it was harder to see as it
neared the horizon of course because of distance and atmosphere). I have seen lots of satellites and they move pretty slow across the sky. At that speed, I
would expect to see it again on the same path after a fairly short period. I continued to watch for over an hour and saw nothing. It was nothing like a meteor.

Agreed, not a meteor. The Earth's rotation would carry his POV away by at least 15-25 degrees before he could reasonably expect to see it on a second orbit. As this was early morning, the sky was possibly far brighter if and when it did return, so it would be both fainter and in a different place in the sky. He may have missed it.

He does seem pretty vague about whether he saw it first near the horizon or near the zenith. I agree that we need location , time and direction to go further, but it does sound like the ISS.

[ohms]

Date, time, place, direction, how "high", estimated speed. All missing.

Could very well be the space station, though (http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/)

Yep, on a clear night the ISS is easily visible with the naked eye and would be my guess.

[Astrophotographer]

I agree that it sounds like the ISS. From my location in NH, it has been making morning passes for the past few weeks. It is very bright and does not look like a normal satellite. As for the time issue, I am curious if it was actually timed. When you are watching the ISS, it is amazing how brief it appears to be but when you look at your watch it has actually been several minutes. Gasp.....am I experiencing "missing time" when the ISS makes its pass? Maybe I should call Budd Hopkins.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I agree that it sounds like the ISS. From my location in NH, it has been making morning passes for the past few weeks. It is very bright and does not look like a normal satellite. As for the time issue, I am curious if it was actually timed. When you are watching the ISS, it is amazing how brief it appears to be but when you look at your watch it has actually been several minutes. Gasp.....am I experiencing "missing time" when the ISS makes its pass? Maybe I should call Budd Hopkins.

Please. please, please don't contact Bud. Next thing you know you will be hypnotically regressed and you'll remember the anal probes. Then you'll take your website down and that would be a big loss. (IMHO). :D

[Ragnarok]

Anyone want to take a stab at my ufo experience?

Heading to the newsagents about 7am one morning, as I was about to cross a road, I looked right, to the west, and hovering seemingly about 2 miles away above a local park, was a dull orange orb that was about the size of a full moon at it's full height up in the sky. Pointing it out to the girl who was with me, we both stood there thinking "WTF?", as it then began to rise slowly into the sky. Using a clock face as an analogy, it was somewhere around 10 past the hour when we began observing it, and it then rose to about 3 minutes past within seconds, before completely disappearing!

Any guesses? Do you need any more details?

[The Atheist]

Anyone want to take a stab at my ufo experience?

Any guesses?

Klingon Owl of Doom.

Unlike the Bird of Prey craft, Owls of Doom are spherical and glow. The fact that it disappeared pretty well confirms the Klingon origin. Intergalactic orders specifically state that invisibility cloaks may not be used with two parsecs of Sol and only Klingons ever disobey that order.

[Astrophotographer]

Any guesses? Do you need any more details?

No idea but if you really want to challenge us with a puzzler, I suggest you provide real data and real information we can work with.

1. Location - City or town is fine
2. Time - I think you did OK here but give us a time range. You state you saw it at 7AM but when did it disappear? Your description confuses me.
3. Azimuth and elevation begin and end. You told us the west and then you went on about some clock analogy that I was unclear on what you meant.

Those could make it a bit easier to understand your puzzle. It may not be answerable but at least the data could help eliminate possibilities.

[Tumblehome]

Anyone want to take a stab at my ufo experience?


I don't understand the clock analogy either, but from the information I understood, my first guess would be a hot air balloon. In dark or semi-dark conditions, they appear to glow from within with an orange-y colour from the gas flame, and you tend to see them early in the morning or late evening when winds are usually lighter. If it's dark enough, they "disappear" when the flame is turned off.

[Ragnarok]

Place: North Manchester, England.

Time: Close after 7am, as we knew that was when the shop opened. The incident probably occured within a 15 second time span, from the moment of noticing it, to it disappearing. It didn't go behind a cloud, it just switched off, as if it was a torchlight behind a gauze screen.

Forget the clock; imagine 90 degrees is above me, and 45 is the road I'm stood on. When I first saw the object, it was at about 50 - 55, it then moved up to about 70 before vanishing.

Is that any more helpful?

It definitely wasn't a balloon. My ex had eyes like a hawk, and if there was a basket there, she would have spotted it.

Despite our differing eyesight capabilities, we both reckoned it was hovering in the same place, above the park mentioned. I realise the park bit might reinforce the balloon bit, but if it was a balloon, it was the 1st and last time the park was used for such purposes, and people fishing that day, saw no balloon taking off. Saying that, they didn't see any object either, but they wasn't looking for that.

[Bell]

Could it have been a Khom Loi?
That is a paper lantern with a candle or flame in it, heating the air inside the lantern which makes it float.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yesiam/2157015843/

[Ragnarok]

Could it have been a Khom Loi?
That is a paper lantern with a candle or flame in it, heating the air inside the lantern which makes it float.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yesiam/2157015843/

I wouldn't mind seeing that from a side on angle.

Not sure how well that would work after dawn had broke though, and if it would look as big as the moon at a distance of less than 2 mile.

[Bell]

I wouldn't mind seeing that from a side on angle.

Not sure how well that would work after dawn had broke though, and if it would look as big as the moon at a distance of less than 2 mile.

Found this picture of such a lantern from the side:
http://flickr.com/photos/76326445@N00/418475443/

Not saying that it is what you saw, just asking if it could be :)

Btw, how did you estimate the distance?

Eta: Just noticed you described that allready, but I didn't pick up on it first time I read.

[Astrophotographer]

Could it have been a Khom Loi?
That is a paper lantern with a candle or flame in it, heating the air inside the lantern which makes it float.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yesiam/2157015843/

That was my thought. They seem to be quite popular in England these days. As for the apparent diameter of the moon, the moon is only a half degree in size. A 6 foot tall sky lantern would have to be about 700 feet away to have the same angular size. A 3 foot tall sky lantern would have to be about 350 feet away. However, assuming the angular size could be as much as half that size (margin for error) and still appear to be about the size of the moon the distance could be as high as 700 and 1400 feet (or possibly more - the angular size is only an estimate).

Of course, the date is also important. Unfortunately, a solitary balloon launch would be almost hard to verify.

[Soapy Sam]

There is also the possibility of ball lightning.
Very hard to judge scale / distance with what is just a glowing sphere of unknown diameter.
I feel the lamp is far more likely- especially launched from a park.

[Astrophotographer]

I thought this story related to the discussion:

http://news.aol.com/article/northern-englands-ufo-mystery-solved/292830

[kittynh]

thanks for all the help! My first thought was that I've experienced several times where a high flying object is getting sunlight, but I'm not... both in early morning and at sunset. It's like the object is GLOWING or onfire or something. Very cool looking. It was explained to me using a globe a little origami airplane and a flashlight once. I use that method when explaining it to children (though with a tiny Z scale airplane which I know is still really too big, but I can make it glow while the little person I've glued on the globe is in darkness). Hey it works!

[Ragnarok]

I appreciate your replies, but perhaps I should have added that this happened in spring(March or April) '92. As it happened in the morning, I find the balloon explanation much more likely than the lantern one, but I'd still like to know what would make it disappear from view.

[Astrophotographer]

I appreciate your replies, but perhaps I should have added that this happened in spring(March or April) '92. As it happened in the morning, I find the balloon explanation much more likely than the lantern one, but I'd still like to know what would make it disappear from view.

That was why the date was important. Now we are talking about an event that is almost 17 years old, which brings into it a whole new set of factors. That being we don't know how accurate your recollections of angular size, time duration, speed, etc really are. Memory is a funny thing and can compress time periods together or mix things up with other events. I am not saying that is the case here but it brings into consideration that problem.

If the balloon popped, it could have appeared to disappear rapidly. Maybe it exploded such that you could not see the resultant pieces fall away. Maybe somebody was playing with a weather balloon. These usually reach a diameter of 4-6 feet and some are pigmented so they can be seen against the sky background. If it was overinflated, it would rupture rather quickly during ascent. There are a great number of possibilities.

I agree that the lantern explanation starts to look weak at this point since they were not popular in the early 90s. However, the "fire/prank balloon" is an old idea. This is similar to the sky lanterns but it is an amateur idea. I have seen it done with dry cleaning bags, candles, and sticks. There was an incident in the Condon report describing these types of prank balloons.

http://www.ncas.org/condon/text/case18.htm

These are much more effective at night but does not eliminate the possibility that it might have been somebody launching a trial balloon of some kind.

Again, the potential explanations are there. The problem would be verifying it. Because it was 17 years ago, I doubt that any explanation will work. Without a specific date, we do not even have weather data to determine if the wind was blowing in the proper direction.