milkyjoe Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Hey everyone.I've just seen something very strange moving across the sky in a southerly direction as i was looking east towards jupiter... now, I've either gone completely mad or this thing was glowing bright orange, like a fireball!!!Did anyone else see this?? Richard.P.S. I'm not making this up nor was it a chinese lantern, it was moving very fast!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooth_dr Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I was gonna say Chinese Latern! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Bizarre, I missed that, however on Friday I did see something very similar flash underneath the Plough, right underneath Merak and Phad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesatanbug Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Military jet going into re-heat perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 thats an interesting theory. From where I was looking it would have been over the Bristol Channel. I must admit it feel kinda 'low' in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayBig Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Was it the ISS? There have been a few bright passes tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkyjoe Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 This thing looked like a fireball, it seemed to be 'on fire', I don't know how else to describe it! It certainly was weird and it was moving very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I did just see a meteor run below Vega approx east to west maybe remnants of Perieds or a rogue meteor that you saw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sailor Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I seen the same thing here except I could see it was a Chinese lantern and it was travelling at a rapid rate of knots due to high winds Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkyjoe Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 I did just see a meteor run below Vega approx east to west maybe remnants of Perieds or a rogue meteor that you saw?No way, it was moving fast from north to south. I was trying to locate M57 at the time when something caught my eye. I'd say it was 3 times the size of jupiter, looking at the sky from a seated position in an easterly direction... I've never seen anything like it; it was huge and mesmerising!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesatanbug Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Was there a blue spot or haze in the middle of the ball or corona? If so, I'd say it was a Typhoon. They are still testing them and spend a lot of time zooming up and down around there.The strangest thing I ever saw was a Lightning heading straight up at dusk many years ago. I thought at first it looked like a silver cross raising into the sky. Second coming and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 weird, funnily enough Im shooting M57 now and thought it might have been on a frame but it wasnt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkyjoe Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 It honestly looked like a ball of fire moving across the sky, it certainly was weird... and I haven't been drinking! lolWish I had my camera with me! :-(I think I found M57, but like M31, it looks dull; if I look at it using my peripheral vision, I can see it a bit better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 yeah, using averted vision is key for this. Still taking an image is even better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonH Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I also saw a bright orange light about 40 minutes ago. It looked like a Chinese lantern but had disappeared before I could grab my bins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BazMark Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Strangely enough I too was viewing Jupiter this evening when I spotted something similar floating by to the south and it was travelling very fast. However, in my case a quick check with the binos confirmed it was a Chinese lantern. I see them almost every time I'm stargazing for more than an hour now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I dont think Ive ever seen a chinese lantern, what locations are we all in? UK? Europe? Farther afield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkyjoe Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 Thank goodness for that, thought I was going mad! I thought chinese lanterns moved slower than that, but I guess I'm wrong. Still, at least ithas been confirmed now. lolDigz: would taking an image of M57 come out looking viewable, i.e. you can look at it properly? What scope were you using/what camera?Jupiter looked a lovely sight tonight and I could make out a few more cloud belts using my tal 2x barlow and 7.5mm super plossl ep. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BazMark Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Basildon, Essex, UKMust have been good seeing tonight as I also found I could clearly see four cloud belts at mags 90-180x.I also spent about an hour or so checking out star clusters around Cassiopeia and even had a meteor shoot across my FOV followed shortly thereafter by a satellite slowly drifting across the same FOV. All in all it was a good nights viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sailor Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I dont think Ive ever seen a chinese lantern, what locations are we all in? UK? Europe? Farther afield?Never seen one myself except burning in the night sky, looks like a paper bag with a candle or suchlike below to give off heat to lift the bag. And I guess all those saying they seen one will be in the Uk, seem to just as popular as fireworks now.Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digz Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 @ Milkyjoe I am in the middle of doing some darks for M57. I have been using my Nikon D200 @ prime focus on my Skywatcher 250P DS reflector. A single shot of M57 at 120s (which is what I am using as I am not autoguiding) and ISO 800 shows up the ring and colour quite clearly. Keep an eye out tomorrow as once processed Ill post here in the right forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beulah Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 Strangely enough I too was viewing Jupiter this evening when I spotted something similar floating by to the south and it was travelling very fast. However, in my case a quick check with the binos confirmed it was a Chinese lantern. I see them almost every time I'm stargazing for more than an hour now.I've noticed the trend is becoming even more common - I am seeing Chinese Lanterns being sold in lots of high street shops now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BazMark Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 I've noticed the trend is becoming even more common - I am seeing Chinese Lanterns being sold in lots of high street shops now! Me too! Generally about £1 each. Many of them have thin wire frames but some of the latest ones I've noticed, have thin bamboo frames. I think the idea is too make them biodegradable and thus more Farmer friendly as they don' like them landing in their fields and getting chopped up in their animal feed or so I read somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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