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Orange thing in the sky last night

wibble

By wibble
in The Astro Lounge

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wibble

wibble

Posted
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Hi all,

At about 1:20-1:25am last night I was on my way home from a mate's birthday party (given the way my head is hurting this morning, in a state of extreme refreshment) when I spotted a bright orange thing in the sky moving SW to NEish, at first I thought it was a satellite as it was moving at about the right speed, but then I also noticed the drops of rain that were building up on my glasses and the clouds that they were falling from :) so that rules that one out I thought and was left completely clueless as to what it was.

It was quite a bright object and it was a steady orange glow, about the same colour orange as a street light and as mentioned moving at about satellite speed taking about 40secs to maybe a minute to pass over with no noise.

Now this morning I did remember about those Chinese lantern things, but having never seen one I've got no idea if they would be that bright so I'm left scratching my head, does anyone have any ideas?

Cheers

S

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Rusty Strings

Rusty Strings

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group excess refreshment? I know so aircraft lights can seem rediculously bright if the aircraft is at the right orientation to your eyes and is low enough, I know i've spent what seems like ages looking at a very bright and low moving object, seemingly silent, only to realise it's an aircraft when it's almost overhead and the engine noise appears from nowhere.

John

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wibble

wibble

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group excess refreshment? I know so aircraft lights can seem rediculously bright if the aircraft is at the right orientation to your eyes and is low enough, I know i've spent what seems like ages looking at a very bright and low moving object, seemingly silent, only to realise it's an aircraft when it's almost overhead and the engine noise appears from nowhere.

John

It's possible although it was glowing at a constant level if you know what I mean, there were no signs of flashing navigation lights and it seemed too orange for landing lights and it was going to wrong way to be heading into Cardiff airport or RAF St Athan, it's got me confuzzled.

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AlphaTau

AlphaTau

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Hi

The ISS passed over the UK from West to East at 01.33 and was very bright last night!

If the cloud cover was thin there's a chance that it showed through the cloud.

It would be my guess that this is what you saw.

Cheers

Andrew

P.S It could have an orange colour due to the clouds too.

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Darren B

Darren B

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Chinese lanterns are the same colour as streetlights. Saw a few of them on new years eve. I must admit they do look strange when they're high up. I don't know if you saw the glastonbury festival, they were sending a few of them up aswell.

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Milliways

Milliways

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I completely believe in UFO's and aliens... i remember walking back from college a few years ago, it was abouit 5pm and was daylight. I saw a black "cube" like object about 60ft in the sky... moving perfectly straight and with no noise at all!!

A few years ago i was in my bed and was woken by a bright light in my room... i sat up and saw this green ball of light dancing around outside my balcony doors and the disapeared.. never been so scared in my life.

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661-pete

661-pete

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The downside. There's a bit of a row brewing on chinese lanterns I'm afraid: coastguards have been complaining that they look just like distress flares from boats, causing a fruitless 'rescue' to be mounted. See here. Good idea to tell the coastguards before you let them off on the beach, then.

How much they interfere with astronomy and astroimaging, don't know, not had the experience - yet. But they can't be helping!

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Beulah

Beulah

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I completely believe in UFO's and aliens... i remember walking back from college a few years ago, it was abouit 5pm and was daylight. I saw a black "cube" like object about 60ft in the sky... moving perfectly straight and with no noise at all!!.

Could have been the Borg........

Seriously though, your latter comment about the ball of light is interesting. You may have seen a rare event of a lightning ball. Lucky you! :)

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Tim

Tim

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Just for the record, chinese lanterns do all of the following.

Drift across the sky

Speed across the sky

Raise and lower suddenly and dramatically

Change speed and altitude dramatically

Appear to move in groups, seperate, reform

Move in different directions.

Hopefully these things will be banned soon, just needs a few fields or forests to go up in smoke I suppose.

From an imaging point of view, usually they travel at a fairly low altitude, but if they were in the frame, it'd be ruined.

TJ

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661-pete

661-pete

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just needs a few fields or forests to go up in smoke I suppose.
Good point. Over the past few years, near where I live, large tracts of Ashdown Forest (a particularly vulnerable area) have been gutted time and time again. Often enough the culprit is believed to be a discarded cigarette. If a smouldering fag-end merely tossed on the ground can do that, think what havoc a blazing balloon flying through the air could wreak...

And people down my area aren't going to take kindly to things incendiary of Chinese origin surely! There are bitter memories here. Two or three years ago, two of our local firefighters were killed in a fireworks warehouse blaze near Lewes. And I believe the fireworks were Chinese...

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MeerkatinBKK

MeerkatinBKK

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They've been used here in East Asia for centuries, so it's no great surprise that the practice would spread worldwide. How long until they're regulated or banned though I don't know.

Here in Thailand they're often set off at weddings (so Saturday is the most common day to see them), and also on religious holidays, the biggest of which, Loy Krathong, sees thousands of them sent up while simultaneously thousands of floating candles are sent downstream on the rivers. Regardless of how you feel about the things, it truly is an awesome sight.

Instinctively you'd have to think that they'd be a major fire risk, but I can't recall reading about any incidents caused by them in the press out here despite what must be tens of thousands of them sent up each year. That's not to say it hasn't happened though.

If you are out with the scope and see one, have a closer look. They are one of the more interesting non-astro objects I've seen through the eyepiece. I'd love to get one imaged, but they're a pain to track...

Nick

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wibble

wibble

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Wow, this thread has grown since I last had a chance to check it.

i dont think this craze has hit Wales yet ,never seen one or heard about them...............kev

There was one that made the news last here, just found it on the BBC (linky)

Hopefully these things will be banned soon, just needs a few fields or forests to go up in smoke I suppose.

Funnily enough when I told my mate what it was likely to have been and sent him a link to a website selling them his response was "Wow, they look dangerous", I wonder how long before this craze of sending naked flames aloft to drift wherever they please causes a fire somewhere :)

Anyway, I'm off to make some Japanese balloon bombs ready for New Year :)

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