mysterious object??

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

so the other night i was setting up my scope, and i saw the weirdest thing in the northeastern sky. it was a fast- moving, flashing(?) object about 3- 4 degrees above the horizon. it went from the northeast to the southeast in about 3 seconds, then vanished out of sight. i didn't get a picture, my camera was still in its bag and i didn't even think of taking a pic until it was gone. now, i know this sounds like a ufo, but i don't know. i doubt it is, although i hope it was. i have seen things like this before quite a few times, but none of them at night. if it really is a ufo, id put it at a 2 on the hynek scale, for those of you who know what that is. if not, google it. its interesting. aside from the unlikely prospect of a ufo, what could it be, realistically speaking??

[Tim 3,578]

Well if you can't identify a flying object then it is, in fact a u f o.

Probably a chinese lantern. They move very quickly, blink, change colour, zig zag, slow down, speed up, go high, low, forwards and backwards and can disappear in a heartbeat, they just don't have a driver......

 

[Tim 3,578]

Just re-read your post. There's a bunch of meteors around at the moment, was it fast enough for that?

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

2 hours ago, Tim said:

Just re-read your post. There's a bunch of meteors around at the moment, was it fast enough for that?

i really hope it was a meteor, or a chinese lantern, and its very possible it could be either one. it seems a bit weird for a meteor, due to the color changes, and there was no wind to propel a lantern, especially at that kind of speed. idk.. i guess it really is a ufo, by definition. this has happened before, a few years back. if it happens again, ill try to have my camera ready.

[Tim 3,578]

20 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

it seems a bit weird for a meteor, due to the color changes, 

1

No, not really. At 4 degrees above the horizon you could be looking at it through 10's of miles of atmosphere. Just look how Sirius appears, every colour of the rainbow and flashing like mad, but of course what you are observing is the distorting effects of the atmosphere.

Aside from the countless sporadic meteors that constantly strike the earth, there are the regular and anticipated meteor showers which will appear to have similar points of origin and direction in the night sky.

So basically, you've seen a boring old, fabulous meteor trail

[Badweather 64]

Sounds like this UFO is getting less ufo like....

But for future reference, and for a bit of fun:

How to Identify that Light in the Sky:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170924.html

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

saw it again, this time it got pretty near the ground.. like i think it was within a few hundred feet of me. i could see it zipping around behind trees, and it even scared some deer.. i won't be going back outside at night for a while. thanks for the link badweather.. looks like i might need it.

[Tim 3,578]

8 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

 i won't be going back outside at night for a while.

Probably won't find an astronomy forum useful then.

[Moonshane 12,145]

9 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

saw it again, this time it got pretty near the ground.. like i think it was within a few hundred feet of me. i could see it zipping around behind trees, and it even scared some deer.. i won't be going back outside at night for a while. thanks for the link badweather.. looks like i might need it.

You have seen this several times mostly in daytime and keep forgetting to have a camera?

 

[Badweather 64]

9 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

saw it again, this time it got pretty near the ground.. like i think it was within a few hundred feet of me. i could see it zipping around behind trees, and it even scared some deer.. i won't be going back outside at night for a while. thanks for the link badweather.. looks like i might need it.

zipping around behind trees and scaring the deer as well as yourself it would appear, means this is not really an astronomical object.

This is most likely some kids having fun with a drone, probably capturing images as they go of slack-jawed deer and other fauna on the lawn.

Just a guess though.

Certainly seems like kids are involved at some point here.

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

25 minutes ago, Badweather said:

zipping around behind trees and scaring the deer as well as yourself it would appear, means this is not really an astronomical object.

This is most likely some kids having fun with a drone, probably capturing images as they go of slack-jawed deer and other fauna on the lawn.

Just a guess though.

Certainly seems like kids are involved at some point here.

if its kids, I'm gonna kill em!! they really freaked me out!! 

 

1 hour ago, Moonshane said:

You have seen this several times mostly in daytime and keep forgetting to have a camera?

 

seen it twice, first time was a fluke and second time i was taking out the trash cans. if i see it again, i WILL have a camera. I'm sure nobody believes me.. not even tim. right, tim?? nobody believes me.. but once i get a photo maybe ill get some belief.

 

1 hour ago, Tim said:

Probably won't find an astronomy forum useful then.

ill just crack the window and stick my head out. i even have a dinky little refractor i should be able to use handheld.

[Moonshane 12,145]

On 23/10/2017 at 15:32, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

i have seen things like this before quite a few times, but none of them at night. 

My comment was based on your comment of seeing this quite a few times before. Did you or didn't you?

[Tim 3,578]

I'm afraid you'll get fairly short thrift on this astronomy forum with even the slightest hint at little green men in a spaceship.

We just aren't into alien tales, conspiracy theories, abductions, planet x, y or z, or cover ups. Plenty of forums are though.

We are more into getting out there and actually observing the observable. There are tens of thousands of amateurs worldwide with countless hours of captured pictures of skies. I've only been serious about astronomy for about 10 years, but even in that time I have exposed my cameras to the sky for thousands of hours, all of which pictures are archived, dated, and positionally identifiable. Multiply this by the number of astrophotgraphers worldwide. And then consider the more numerous visual observers, out under clear skies time and time again, carefully logging their observations. We take it quite seriously, for a fun hobby

I was once stood with a very experienced observer, and he kept mentioning the odd light that kept appearing, and flashing. There was none. Eventually I convinced him that there really was nothing going on, and that whatever he was seeing was unique to him.

Turns out his retina was detaching, and he needed remedial action. Given that you experienced headaches after your "sighting", I would strongly advise seeing a doctor, chances are there may be something sinister at work.

Failing that, what you describe is not astronomical in nature, and therefore of no interest to the forum.

Hope that helps.

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

On 11/4/2017 at 13:40, Tim said:

I'm afraid you'll get fairly short thrift on this astronomy forum with even the slightest hint at little green men in a spaceship.

We just aren't into alien tales, conspiracy theories, abductions, planet x, y or z, or cover ups. Plenty of forums are though.

We are more into getting out there and actually observing the observable. There are tens of thousands of amateurs worldwide with countless hours of captured pictures of skies. I've only been serious about astronomy for about 10 years, but even in that time I have exposed my cameras to the sky for thousands of hours, all of which pictures are archived, dated, and positionally identifiable. Multiply this by the number of astrophotgraphers worldwide. And then consider the more numerous visual observers, out under clear skies time and time again, carefully logging their observations. We take it quite seriously, for a fun hobby

I was once stood with a very experienced observer, and he kept mentioning the odd light that kept appearing, and flashing. There was none. Eventually I convinced him that there really was nothing going on, and that whatever he was seeing was unique to him.

Turns out his retina was detaching, and he needed remedial action. Given that you experienced headaches after your "sighting", I would strongly advise seeing a doctor, chances are there may be something sinister at work.

Failing that, what you describe is not astronomical in nature, and therefore of no interest to the forum.

Hope that helps.

figured once i told my story id get some grief. not really surprised, tbh. but the way you are talking you seem to think that because i saw some weird lights I'm not a serious astronomy fan, which i find rather offensive. i got into astronomy because of what i saw, but i am still interested in it now not because i want to solve this mystery but because i love it, and i love the community. i do appreciate your recommendation i visit a doctor, so i will do that. thank you for your help.

[Tim 3,578]

9 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

figured once i told my story id get some grief. not really surprised, tbh. but the way you are talking you seem to think that because i saw some weird lights I'm not a serious astronomy fan, which i find rather offensive. i 

3

No offence intended, sorry if you took it that way, Actually, I was impressed by your mention of a class 2 sky Let us know how you get on.

Also, if you need help processing the picture further, just shout, I have several tools which might help.

[ollypenrice 28,736]

I don't think anyone's being offensive but the astronomy community does not take alien spacecraft seriously for various reasons, the main one being that mentioned by Tim. That's to say the literally millions of hours of collectively accumuated observation logged by the cummunity without an alien to be had.

When things do happen the news circulates like wildfire. A few years ago two guests and I, one a retired professional astronomer Dr René Dumont, were astounded to see a roughly 10 degree-wide patch of nebulosity, as bright as the densest parts of the Milky Way, drifting slowly west. It was surrounded by a vast halo of yellowish light maybe 70 degrees in diameter. Some way to its west was a tiny patch of nebulosity and a bright point of light all moving at the same slow speed to the west. They disappeared quietly below the horizon in a matter of minutes.

I asked René what he thought it was and he simply replied, 'I have no idea,' but he then ran through the things that could be established. The following day it was all over the internet: the point of light was a tumbling rocket. The two nebulae were hydrogen purges from the fuel tanks. 

I've also seen a gloriously colourful bolide, a fragmenting meteor, which flashed brilliantly in blue and red as it flew apart. The collective yell that went up from the half dozen of us who saw it was probably heard in Paris... Indeed another member of SGL also saw it from the cab of a tour bus south of Beirut. He noted its time and trajectory.

Olly

Edited November 6, 2017 by ollypenrice
Typo

[tomato 2,542]

I hold the view (based on the numbers I would put in the terms of the Drake Equation) that Deep Sky imagers are probably photographing aliens all the time, they are just a bit too small and dim to make out.

[Moonshane 12,145]

How can anything that makes so many assumptions be valuable in assessing something so difficult to discern? I'd sooner just relax and have a cup of tea from Russell's Teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot

[Peter Drew 11,213]

49 minutes ago, tomato said:

I hold the view (based on the numbers I would put in the terms of the Drake Equation) that Deep Sky imagers are probably photographing aliens all the time, they are just a bit too small and dim to make out.

However how small and dim Deep Sky imagers are I'm sure they still make out!   

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

olly, i wouldn't even believe this was happening if it wasn't happening to me!! it really does feel like a weird dream more than something that is really happening.. and maybe it is. given how weird this all is i think it could be anything. i just hope this doesn't ruin my excellent reputation.. wouldn't want to lose those 4 or 5 rep points!!

[Tomatobro 516]

Look up FPV racing on youtube or FPV night flying. Could be what you saw

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass 11]

8 hours ago, Tomatobro said:

Look up FPV racing on youtube or FPV night flying. Could be what you saw

thats a definite possibility, but i already said i don't think its a drone. but thx 4 the idea.

[Stu 30,684]

6 hours ago, Some Dude With A Mak- Cass said:

thats a definite possibility, but i already said i don't think its a drone. but thx 4 the idea.

Can you tell us why not?

I was observing from home a few years back and saw this object flying around the sky at incredible speed. It was a triangle of 6 or 7 red lights. I heard no sound, and it took me quite a while to work out that it must have been a remote control plane being flown at night.

[Stu 30,684]

17 hours ago, Moonshane said:

How can anything that makes so many assumptions be valuable in assessing something so difficult to discern? I'd sooner just relax and have a cup of tea from Russell's Teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot

I do like Russell's teapot, hadn't heard of it before  

[Dave In Vermont 4,952]

Oh my!

Nobody wants extra-terrestrials in their Corn-Flakes...

I just looked in my "SETI" file. These reports are truly on the 'up-tick.' But here's a rather balanced piece of speculation, and a picture of a possible "Alien" to upset people with!

Why Tough, Tiny Tardigrades May Be the 1st Interstellar Travelers.pdf

 

Dave - Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!