Trajectory from flying objects

Perene

Folks, in February 5, 2014, 12:25 AM local time, I saw from my window a flying object that looked like an airplane because of the red twinkling light. From this window you can always see airplanes and you can't see the Moon, I believe (my first telescope will arrive next month) you can only spot Canopus/Sirius.

Well, here's the thing. The speed from this UFO (it was an object) was the same as any airplane. However, it was the first time I saw this kind of trajectory from my window:



I only watched from my window and couldn't see more (windows has bars and I didn't go outside), or if the object disappeared in the sky. However, any object going upwards it's a first for me.

All airplanes I ever saw in my life had this trajectory:



Not this one:



I am not buying it was an UFO even though I read there were red lights spotted in the sky in other locations (Google it), perhaps it has something to do with the angle I was looking, or maybe it wasn't an airplane, but another flying object?

Can someone give me an explanation? Nevermind if I am being stupid asking such questions.

Unfortunatelly I couldn't take any picture or investigate more. But from what I could see, it went really high. And it didn't change the trajectory while going upwards.

Popoutman

A plane at a higher altitude coming directly towards you from somewhere over the horizon will have the exact path you've described, and passing nearly overhead. Nothing at all unusual with that path through the sky.

MeteoritesEire

might have been a satellite or a plane.

there are websites to check exactly which satellite it may have been

if it was a plane you can check that here -it will show you the exact flight, departure point and destination
http://www.flightradar24.com/

just pinpoint your location on the map and clcik on planes that are going to pass or are passing overhead.For instance I can see that a flight from Vienna to Washington currently at 34,000 ft and going 453 knts an hour will pass overhead in 5 mins or so

Perene

But why is hard to spot this kind of trajectory? Is this unusual? If not why can't I see more often? From my window I can see planes everyday.

Popoutman

It's more likely due to the fact that if there was a perfectly random distribution of flights, you'd always see more flights closer to the horizon, and more flights nearer to parallel to the ground. That's only because you can see more stuff farther away. There's the same apparent distribution seen in satellite paths in the sky.

As well as that, the amount of time that a place is visible when looking out a window will be a lot longer when it is passing parallel to the horizon compared to coming up to overhead as the plane will be a lot closer when nearly overhead and will cover more sky in the same time - meaning that the planes that appear to have vertical paths will spend a lot less time in view than those moving horizontally across the field of view. In other words, there's less chance of seeing a plane on a vertical path than a nearer-to-horizontal path at a random view out the window.

Perene

Since I wasn`t happy with the answers, and needed a confirmation or more info, I did a little research of my own and thanks to Flightradar24 I was able to determine which planes flew over my area.

My location is (GPS coordinates)

-8.137479640749403
-34.90712159028243

And this is the sight from the window

http://i.imgur.com/syUrfQp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mRyCdcI.jpg

Two planes can be seen flying <

---

that way.

The event took place February 5th, 2014, 12-25 AM local time. However, the official time in Brazil due to the daylight savings was 01-25 (GMT -3). Flightradar uses GMT/UTC, so adding 3 hours to 01-25 resulted in 04-25.

Those pictures were taken in that specified time.

http://i.imgur.com/5a4PWbg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/q5VX6xn.jpg <

---

http://i.imgur.com/XCIOpfY.jpg (this one was also close enough in that specific period, but far from where I was)

http://i.imgur.com/5n1PWsW.jpg

Can you make an assessment now? JJ8071 was the nearest plane in that moment and area.

**********

** Update **

I have recorded that moment from Flightradar24 and posted a video on Vimeo (watch in fullscreen and in the best resolution)
https://vimeo.com/88062251

From what I can see, it was either the TAM8071/JJ8071 (Boeing 777-32W (ER)) or the GOL1182/G31182 (Boeing 737-8EH) that flew over that area, but from the looks of it only the TAM plane was close enough from where I was/am.

Based on this new data, is it possible to describe how this illusion I described was created?

And apparently the TAM plane came from Frankfurt-Germany and arrived 06-00 AM in Sao Paulo. The other plane (GOL) came from Joao Pessoa, Paraiba (I guess 120 km from here) and arrived somewhere else.

Popoutman

There's no illusion. The planes that appear overhead would have a ground track that comes towards you in order to appear overhead.

Picture this:
You are sitting on the floor of a large circular swimming pool (with scuba gear ). There are people swimming in random straight lines every so often across the pool from a random point on one side to a random point somewhere else on the rim, not necessarily through the middle. Wherever you are on the floor, some of these people will appear to be overhead at some stage, and to appear overhead they would have to have travelled straight towards you but at a height above you. Other swimmers would appear to travel across your field of view without appearing overhead.

What aspect of the explanations is unclear or confusing, so I can try to explain it better if I can?

Perene

Popoutman wrote: »

What aspect of the explanations is unclear or confusing, so I can try to explain it better if I can?

The image I saw was unclear at the time. It was midnight, so I couldn't have a clear picture of whatever was in the sky, and where I stood didn't help me at all.

At the time I assumed it was not a comercial plane, but some other flying object that could display a red light and fly upwards. The proximity of the light and the fact it was going upwards was what confused me.

I also watched a few videos from Youtube from planes flying the way you are describing and I had a hard time thinking how a plane could appear to fly that way in the "ammount of sky" I saw from my window.

In this case, from the information I posted on Vimeo, it was not like the usual planes that I saw very often from this window.

I live near the aiport and most planes I saw flew at a lower altitude, departing from here or coming to our aiport. In this case, the plane flew from Germany, which is thousands of miles from here, crossed my airspace and arrived in Sao Paulo (1300 miles distant) 2 hours after.





In this image is possible to see the trajectory, but the altitude seems to be very high (36.000 feet = 6 miles above the ground) for you to be able to see a red twinking light clearly.

You have to understand as much as one can explain what I saw, it's only by watching the same event again that anyone can grasp anything that is being argued.

It's one of those things you either have to see with your own eyes to understand (if possible with the closest similarities to reproduce the scenario) or perhaps to draw a picture from what happened that moment.

P.S. TAM was the closest plane from the records I had access. There was another one (GOL) at the same time, but more distant from my current location so I doubt it could have been the flying object I saw.

Popoutman

Nav lights on planes are easily visible out to at least 20 miles away by naked eye, and farther using optical aid. As a regular skywatcher and someone that sees a lot of planes fly over, I often spot planes on e.g. FR24 then seeing how far away I can see them before they fly overhead. It's a fun pastime when I'm out waiting for the scope to cool to ambient temperature. Where I am (Limerick) there is some local aviation traffic coming in and out of Shannon Airport, but the majority of transatlantic flights from the UK and Germany pass somewhere near overhead, so I'm used to seeing the various flight paths possible with planes at altitude.

It's cool that there's a good explanation as to what you saw.

tricky D

Perene wrote: »

At the time I assumed it was not a comercial plane, but some other flying object that could display a red light and fly upwards. The proximity of the light and the fact it was going upwards was what confused me.

It's really difficult to accurately tell the proximity of an unknown light in the sky. I suspect this is the cause of your confusion as once this is wrong then things like speed are very deceptive. Only recently, this seasoned observer of lights in the sky mistook a light as a flare 800 metres away for what was actually a meteor 80 miles away. Easily done without triangulation or other knowledge.

Perene

What I was thinking when I saw the image described was exactly this:

- How far is this thing going up? This is amazing, it could not have been a comercial airplane because airplanes will never fly soooo high in the sky, is this thing a jet aircraft, rocket, weather balloon, drone, flying saucer or what?

- How long is this thing keep going upwards and not change its trajectory? It doesn't appear to be going somewhere, it should bent in the sky towards any direction, but it only keeps going upwards! A plane is so huge that needs to appear to be bent into a specific direction!

If this had happened on daylight there would be no confusion and I would never have thought it was an UFO. The UFO would be easily recognized.

So, it was not the anticollision light the only thing that got me thinking.

ps200306

You have no depth perception when you view an isolated light in a dark sky. What you are interpreting as "up" is probably not up, it is just level flight carrying the object to a higher angle in the sky from your perspective.

Perene

Another UFO was spotted less than 10 minutes ago (local time 10:50 PM). This time I think I saw exactly the same thing I reported earlier, but the light was faint (it was distant from my field of view, there was no way I could identify as an airplane - and I mean really no way to tell if it was anything other than a strange light in the sky - compared to the previous report, where I believe the light could be seen more close, but I also didn't remember what it looked like) and it was going upwards as well.

There were two lights, one seemed to be red and the other was "normal". However I noticed something that perhaps was also what happened in the 1st report - the plane went upwards, but after that...



It didn't went only upwards, but over my house/head. Visiting Flightradar24.com right after that moment, I saw that a plane from Rio de Janeiro crossed my airspace, going to another location (155 miles from where I am).

http://i.imgur.com/vk8uzeK.jpg

This image also shows something interesting - the plane is 6 miles above the ground, the same thing could be noticed from the records of the 1st UFO sighting I reported here.

The thing is, when you are seeing with a naked eye that sort of image in the sky you can't really tell whatever it is. Perhaps it's exactly this sort of thing that convinces people they are not seeing a comercial airplane, but flying saucers visiting their location.

When my telescope arrives I'll be keeping track of the sky to spot other planes doing the same.

Taylor365

Tis a plane.

2 stroke

Perene, if you lived where I do, you would not consider this an unusual sight. I appear to live directly under an aviation cross roads. Most jets I see, pass directly over my house. When viewed on the approach they appear as if they are flying upwards and after they pass overhead they appear to fly down to the horizion. I know this is just an illusion, the planes are actually in level flight, following the curve of the earth. Nothing misterious here, time to move on.

Pat Dunne

Taylor365 wrote: »

Tis a plane.

Tis a bird

ps200306

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Tis a bird

It'd have to be MH370 to justify the length of this thread so far :P

Capt'n Midnight

rule 1 , if you can't see relative movement of the plane then it's coming straight for you


I can remember seeing planes coming in to Dublin airport for christmas, they looked like a steady light house. Nearly stationary lights in the sky because I was on a directly line and they were all on the same glide path and head on the lights are very bright so you could see them far away and didn't appear to get brighter until they got closer