You saw a strange light in the Sky?! Read here before posting

Sykk

Hey there,

If you have seen a strange light in the sky that you think couldn't be an airplane/helicopter, yet was too fast moving or odd to be a planet/celestial body - Please look at this.

Chinese lanterns are commonly mistaken for many things as they are very noticeable, they're in the sky and many people have never heard of them, so they assume it's a falling star or a meteor.

There have been a increasing number of threads regarding these "Chinese lanterns" which are quite disappointing for the people who frequent this forum.

So, if you have seen something strange in the sky, but you're not sure what it might be. Just ask in this thread.

In order for the regulars to accurately tell you what you may have seen, try include as much info as possible (Location, time, direction etc.)

Happy hunting!

Edit: I hope the mods are okay with this thread, seems sensible at this stage!

djhaxman

Good man Sykk.

Could we have this thread stickied please?

bogman

Where can I buy a few dozen :eek:

dlofnep

I was going to create this thread a while back. I think it should be stickied. This is a very common question.

Dave!

Excellent thread

I often see threads posted in Paranormal about things they saw in the sky, UFOs, etc. I tend to chastise the poster for posting in Paranormal -- rather than asking the people who are interested in what's in the sky, and who spend much of their life looking up into it

So yeah, hopefully this'll help some people.

Incidentally I had my own 'UFO' experience recently as I was walking down the street with my (paranormal enthusiast) friend. We saw off in the distance a load of lights that looked like stars, and they were all moving around in random patterns, like distant spaceships having a war Anyway my mate's eyes lit up and you could see that his first thought was that something paranormal was going on. I said I didn't know what it was (I didn't), and that was that. I remained curious and interested though, so would often look in the same direction as I was passing. One thing that was strange was that we could see the lights from one direction, but as we walked around the corner and looked back at where we thought they were, we couldn't see them. One of the nights I was walking past and the same thing occured. I walked on a bit and looked up and saw the answer -- it was a flock of seagulls, and they were all flying around in front of a billboard which was emitting light! We couldn't see them from the angle we were looking from because they weren't actually in that location (even though they seemed like they were!)

Goes to show how poor humans are at judging the distance and size (and speed) of objects in the sky. Another example of a 'paranormal' experience that turns out to be something a bit more mundane Still looked awesome though

Flukey

Come on Mods. As others have already said, this thread should be stickied.

thebouldwhacker

Well thanks a million... because of this thread I threw away the chance of a life time.
I was out for a walk and saw a strange light in the sky, pay no heed I said to myself, its nothing... the next thing boom!! before I knew it it landed beside me and two little green men jumped out, They said something about me joining them in a trip across the universe which would take thousands of years but I would return in 5 minutes earth time which would allow me the chance to explain my learnings to the world heralding a new era in human understanding and bring the earths inhabitants into the greater galactic community.

Stunned, I looked at their ship and said 'is that a chinese lantern?', they were so insulted they flew off shouting that they would not return for another thousand years:rolleyes:

Sykk

If you guys report the thread, but instead of complaining request a sticky, that should do it

MR.VICE PRESIDENT

I'm freaking out here...

There's a really bright orange ball in the sky..

The Hill Billy

Flukey wrote: »

Come on Mods. As others have already said, this thread should be stickied.

Mods don't get to read every post in every thread in their forums. If you or anyone else want this stickied - drop them a PM.

slade_x

Hill Billy wrote: »

Mods don't get to read every post in every thread in their forums. If you or anyone else want this stickied - drop them a PM.

Its not really about having read the thread or not, its merely how large and disorganised a thread like this could become, not to mention potentially misleading

I wouldnt like the prospect of everyone posting in a thread especially with the illusion that a satellite, planet, star, or even a refracting or reflecting light source and atmospheric conditions, plastic bag, etc. unfamiliar to a beginner could be a chinese lantern and incorrectly identifying the characteristics of that sighting respectively. If it is such a lantern, fair enough but more importantly if you conclude it as such, if it is in actuality not then its just yet another misidentified object or non object that leads to more and more speculation

what i would propose is for potential posters seeking to find out what it is they have actually seen, to read the forums and pay particular attention to possible sightings previously posted that correlate to your own experience, it doesnt neccessarily have to be in or around the same location as potentially it may not be an object at all.


Below are some links that me be of some interest to people:

Natural identified flying objects

List of things mistaken for UFOs

UFO or... maybe not?

Cú Giobach

slade_x wrote: »

List of things mistaken for UFOs

birds migrating
_flocks
_individual
_luminous

Now I've heard of people mistaking birds for UFO's , but I have never heard of a luminous bird. :eek:
Am I missing out on something,

Edit: I've just been reading about luminous Barn Owls Hmmm.....

slade_x

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Now I've heard of people mistaking birds for UFO's , but I have never heard of a luminous bird. :eek:
Am I missing out on something,

Like any luminous object it either radiates or reflects light, in this case its reflected light

Cú Giobach

slade_x wrote: »

Like any luminous object it either radiates or reflects light, in this case its reflected light

I was just getting a kick out of the thought of bio-luminescent birds.
A great nights reading has subsequently been had.

The Hill Billy

slade_x wrote: »

Its not really about having read the thread or not, its merely how large and disorganised a thread like this could become, not to mention potentially misleading

I wasn't suggesting that it should be stickied. I was pointing out that rather than bang on about it on-thread - posters would be better approaching a mod directly via PM & discuss the possibility that way.

slade_x

Hill Billy wrote: »

I wasn't suggesting that it should be stickied. I was pointing out that rather than bang on about it on-thread - posters would be better approaching a mod directly via PM & discuss the possibility that way.

I know, your post just happened to be last, so i quickly quoted

djhaxman

It'd be a waste of time stickying the thread. There's about 3 "what did I see" threads on the first page right now anyway :rolleyes:

backboiler

True, the first thing I usually do daily is skip past the stickies to see what's going on. Same with most fora. I know it's just not cricket but that's the natural behaviour as far as I'm concerned.
More sensible option may be to summarily merge CL threads into this one as they are spawned and then identified.