My First UFO Sighting..

My First UFO Sighting..

Hello all,

Around 5 days ago now on the 9th of January at approximately 6:10/15pm I had a rather interesting sighting of a UFO over Doncaster, England, this being the first time I think I can honestly say I’ve seen something odd, unusual or just out of place in the skies above where I live. This sighting of mine, which I’m not saying is anything extraterrestrial or paranormal, is one that’s stumped me ever since and to be completely honest I have absolutely no idea what I saw. I also feel quite confident I can rule out some well known and often used explanations such as a Plane, a Chinese lantern, a Helicopter and so on..

As this was the first time I can confidently say I’ve seen something unusual my curiosity pretty much took over and I’ve been looking for an explanation ever since, and in doing research I’ve come across other reports of other “unusual sightings” from other areas relatively close to the area where I live (The South Yorkshire area of England.)

At this point however I think It’s worth pointing out that I’ve been discussing this sighting of mine in another thread which was started by ATS member LvSLoLo although his sighting in particular was from a different location to me here in Doncaster. This past thread of his can also be found here: UFO in thorne, doncaster right now

What's particularly interesting about the posting of this above thread, IMO, is I actually mentioned my sighting prior to it being posted. I mentioned it on Skype in a room that's been set up by some of us ATS members, here's a quick screenshot of what I said and when.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/cn4f119fb8.jpg[/atsimg]

I guess I couldn't think of anything better to say at the time really, lol. Oh, and unfortunately you can't see the day this is posted (the layout of Skype doesn't allow) but if needs be I can copy and paste the full conversation to a mod so people know I'm not making anything up, preferably Djarums as he's one of those members in the ATS Skype room although he wasn't there at the time.

The above thread being posted at exactly 06:49 PM as shown here.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ed4f119e46.jpg[/atsimg]

I'm only mentioning this because I feel as though it gives a little bit more credibility to my own claim here as I've shown I did see something I considered "odd" before it was later posted by another member I've never even come across before, I suppose it can add credibility to his case as well as we have a confirmed sighting by 2 different people of something very odd in the sky, in the same city but from different locations with-in that city. Either that's a big coincidence or we both definitely saw something here, and I know I saw something at least.

My Reasoning for starting this new thread however, this as opposed to posting continually in an already existing one, is quite simple really. (1) I want to place all the information about my particular sighting together in one post like this, instead of being scattered across various different pages like it is in the above thread I posted as content may be missed. (2) And I want to create a (hopefully) intelligent, worthy discussion about what I potentially saw on the 9th, not what someone else saw - it appears we saw the same thing yes, but we seem to have had sightings at slightly different times. It's as simple as that really. I'd hate to hijack someone else's thread as well admittedly.

Anyway, onto my sighting..

Here are some questions I would assume some people may immediately think to ask upon a UFO sighting:

What did you see?

Well, from what I can remember I know I randomly glanced outside my bedroom window and it was here that I spotted a very, very bright star in the sky. At first I thought it was a plane in fact because it was so bright and we do see planes in the sky hear as Robin Hood Airport is nearby (although I can rule out plane and I explained why below in the next post).

Because it was so bright and very white I thought it was a little bit unusual. Although I was still kind of sceptical it was anything at all because it was moving slightly (which was one of the reasons I initially thought plane), but then this object, which I would say was the brightest thing in the sky at the time and was currently moving in the sky from left to right fairly slowly, quite clearly stopped in the middle of the sky. I'd estimate it remained there for around 20 or so minutes too.

Here's a comment I made on Skype about it:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/mt4f11a4dd.jpg[/atsimg]

I didn't make many comments as I was moving back and forward between my computer and my window, and I was spending the majority of the time looking out the window not online. It's worth pointing out as well that I initially saw this object earlier and came to Skype after (I'm estimating) 5 or so minutes thus why there is firstly a comment from me on there at 18:16 and then a comment mentioning the object no longer moving at 18:17. Anyway, It was stationary for a while like I mentioned but then all of a sudden it began to start moving again, continuing it's movement from left to right across the sky before it finally went out of my view behind a house, so yes, the object was fairly low from my position.

Did you get Pics?

Regrettably, no.

I understand that's going to piss off a lot of members here and I'm sure some will just think I'm wasting your time, but all I can really do is say sorry for the lack of pics. I know I did have time to get pictures, but I just didn't think. I was quite curious about what this light was so I guess I was focusing on it and not thinking about much else really. Plus I think it's worth pointing out that my mobile hardly has a great camera so admittedly I most probably would't have even been able to capture anything special anyway I imagine.

I do regret not getting a picture or a video still, even if the quality was low, but the fact remains I failed to get one.. So all I can do is explain what I saw as best as I possibly can I'm afraid.

How Long Was the Object there for?

Well, in the other thread I estimated that I saw it around 18:15 - 18:30 but I can be very confident I saw it no later than 18:16 at least as that's when I first commented about it on skype after checking my history (and I'd say I spent around 5 or so minutes watching it). Unfortunately after looking through the logs from a little later I didn't see a comment from myself mentioning the object disappearing though so I'm not sure of the time there.

I believe it was around 18:40 - 18:55 but that's from memory and is therefore unreliable but It's all I can provide at this stage.

How did It disappear?

It's worth pointing out that this object didn't "disappear", not as far as I could see anyway, it simply moved out of my view behind a house (yep, it was pretty low). I last commented to LvSLoLo's above thread before heading out at exactly 19:14 as well and upon looking into the sky as I was outside I couldn't see anything anymore and I believe I was now in a position where I should've been able to.

What was the time and what were the conditions?

As It's winter here in the UK it does get dark pretty early, about half 4 - 5 o clock in fact and since this sighting was at a time after 6 you can be confident in knowing it was very dark outside.

It was a clear night’s sky and I could see other stars (nothing as bright as this object was though). I don't remember being able to see any clouds although of course there was undoubtedly some around still.

Again, this is all I can share. It may prove to be helpful, it may not, I don't know. I’m just throwing out there all that may be helpful to anyone interested.

Possible Explanations

Here's my opinion as to why the below are not what I saw on the 9th, these being the explanations I thought of myself - Bearing this in mind I do hope others decide to share some of their own explanations which I have not highlighted.

Anyway,

Was it a plane?

In my humble opinion, no. Here's a Google maps overhead view of where I live:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ud4f0c4674.jpg[/atsimg]

The red line was where I estimate I was looking when I saw this light (I placed it right over my house in this pic too)

The orange line is where I estimate it was moving (Beginning at the bottom and moving up - It's worth pointing out that It was most probably further out, this is just to show the direction I thought it was moving in.)

The white cross is where I estimate It stopped for around 20 or so minutes (which was just to the right of where I was looking out my window) and then the continued orange line is where It quite clearly started to move once again to where I could no longer see it as there is other houses in the way and there is also tree's blocking my view more so the house though)..

As we can see there is an airport to the right hand side of the map (which is Robin Hood airport) so I do see airplanes in the sky quite a lot here and the object I saw was quite different to what I'm used to seeing. Plus whenever I do see a plane in the sky, with the landing lights on, It's always seen to the upper right hand side of that map - coming into land from a North East direction - roughly around the complete opposite direction to where I was looking and the light is always big and orange, similar to a Chinese lantern in fact but bigger. And what I saw was a very bright (brighter than an airplane I've ever seen) and it was white in colour.

Not forgetting I saw this light appear to stop in the sky after I could previously see it moving. If it was a plane then I don't understand why it would do that unless, like highlighted in a past thread here, it was moving straight towards me. But I'm still a little bit sceptical due to the appearance of it as well as the fact that it was heading in a direction away from the airport and the landing light would've been out for a very, very long time.

Was it a Helicopter?

In regards to it being a helicopter, again I'm not so sure because I do see them quite often here as well. Often flying overhead but I do see them in the distance from time to time as well and what I saw on the 9th was totally inconsistent with every other helicopter I've seen here so I do find myself feeling a bit more sceptical about that explanation as well to be completely honest with you all although of course I wouldn't rule it out completely.

I do think It is unlikely though taking into consideration my past experience with seeing them..

Was it a Lantern?

I have absolutely no reason to even mention this but as It is ATS someone else was bound to mention it so I thought I would get there first.

No it was not a lantern. Simple as that. What I saw was incredibly bright and white. Every other Chinese lantern I've seen here (and I saw one 2 days ago) are fairly small, albeit bright, and almost always orange (although yes they do come in other colours).

What I saw moved, seemed to stop for what seemed like a long time, and then began moving again, not forgetting I see a lot of lanterns here and I know this was not one of those - another member also saw this "UFO" and they seem to be as sure as I am this was not a lantern. And there is nothing in the description to suggest it was one of these.

Like I said though, I'm only mentioning it (I don't feel it deserves a mention personally) because I know some out there would go straight to that explanation, as I often do myself.

Did others see the same thing?

I've already explained how another member here in Doncaster posted a thread about a sighting of his, this being the one I seem to have seen from my position also, but after doing some searches online from the same date (the 9th of January), I came across another report that really interested me.

Bear in mind my sighting was just before 7 pm at the latest, this report came in on this website for UFO sightings very shortly afterwards:

Location of Sighting: Osmotherly, Pickering North Yorkshire
Date of Sighting: 09/01/12
Time: 7:45-9:30
Witness Name: Luke

Witness Statement: Me and my friend were lamping in a farmers field in osmotherly and as we were walking downto the field we noticed what looked like a star that was flashing different colours:red,blue yellow,white green. It seemed fairly close and was in the direction of Pickering. We then went into the farmers house at around 8:00 and pointed this "star" out to him but thought nothing of it. At around 9:00 i went outside and the "star" had gone so we went back in the house and we chatted some more. At 9:30 we were leaving the house but my friend pointed out that the object had returned and was in a simliar place and the farmer also saw it for the second time. As we were watching it suddenly started to moved after being completely stationary all night. It moved to the left and came slighting towards us still flashing various colours but then out of nowhere two bright lights appeared either side of the flashing dots and then it moved very quickly to the point where it was out of vison but there was no sound from the object such as an engine . This could be nothing but all three of us saw it and agreed we had never seen anything like this before and was worth noting.

(Source)

Obviously this could just be a coincidence that the object I saw was heading north, and then shortly after my sighting a UFO report came in from the north not long after my initial sighting. But I think it's at least possible they could be connected.

I find it particularly interesting how they mention and I quote: "As we were watching it suddenly started to moved after being completely stationary all night" which is of course similar to how I saw this strange light here in Doncaster.

Anyway, this is my UFO report, I think I've covered everything that needed to be covered here. Sorry if I missed out anything. I’m just opening up this separate thread though as personally, I’m fascinated by what I saw and as of right now I can’t think of any explanation which makes sense to me and fit’s with what I saw exactly. But in opening up this thread I figure some more explanations are bound to be shared by those who research this topic pretty much every single day and I genuinely do hope someone can come up with a rational answer for me.

Thanks to those who took the time to read about this potential sighting of mine.


Mod Edit: External Source Tags Instructions – Please Review This Link.

Great thread!

Haven't read it all yet but I'm looking forward to!

Wish I could have expierenced something like this. I really think disclosure is near. More and more sightings are happening.

good job (clap) very interesting information and good thing that you remembered it all. I'm jealous now because i've never seen a UFO before.

The most logical explanation is believe it or not... Venus.

I'm not saying you saw Venus, but for the sake or ruling things out i'll mention it. Venus is in fact very very bright at the moment and easily visible in the evening (gmt 6pm - 8pm). It will be the brightest thing in the sky other than the moon, and will also slowly move from left-to-right across the sky sometimes appearing as if it stopped due to scintillation.

I, myself actually wasn't aware of Venus being visible in the evening at the begging of the month and was mesmerized by the brightness of it. It was only until checking the planets locations in the sky that i knew it was Venus. It should be approx. around the south-west-west region of the sky around 6-8pm.

Have you checked to rule out if this was Venus? Stellarium is a good piece of software to do that.

Sound's interesting nonetheless, hope you find out what it was.

Yeah, so this one time I saw a UFO. It was fast, almost as fast as a lens flare.

reply to post by Rising Against


Hey, thanks for the mail...sorry i took so long to reply

Hmmm seems odd, and as a skeptic (like yourself) im inclined to believe its something natural. Ive not had the time to read you thread entirely as im kinda busy at the moment.....but il give you a flag so i can come back and look at it tomorrow

reply to post by InsideYourMind


Yeah I can understand what you're saying here and I genuinely do appreciate the input - I can see you put some thought into that reply after all. The reasons I never really considered it before though was primarily because I remember seeing a very clear movement from left to right (which is why I thought of a plane initially) and then it seemed to just stop. Then after a while it started a very clear movement again.

That's why with all the possible explanations I mentioned in the opening posts they're all objects which we know move in the sky - A plane, a helicopter and a chinese lantern..

But yeah, I can see where you're coming from here and although I do have to disagree, I certainly won't rule something like that out.

Originally posted by InsideYourMind
The most logical explanation is believe it or not... Venus.

I'm not saying you saw Venus, but for the sake or ruling things out i'll mention it. Venus is in fact very very bright at the moment and easily visible in the evening (gmt 6pm - 8pm). It will be the brightest thing in the sky other than the moon, and will also slowly move from left-to-right across the sky sometimes appearing as if it stopped due to scintillation.

I, myself actually wasn't aware of Venus being visible in the evening at the begging of the month and was mesmerized by the brightness of it. It was only until checking the planets locations in the sky that i knew it was Venus. It should be approx. around the south-west-west region of the sky around 6-8pm.

Have you checked to rule out if this was Venus? Stellarium is a good piece of software to do that.

Sound's interesting nonetheless, hope you find out what it was.

edit on 14/1/2012 by InsideYourMind because: (no reason given)

And I think you may be right...

I swear im not spamming this, but I truly believe that everyone who looks up needs to be made aware of all the tools available for sky watchers. Below is a thread of compiled tools that will help identify the things above us. There are many many many misidentifications due to people not know what planets and stars are on prime display at given dates/times/locations....

Also many do not realize that we can see satellites zipping across the skies with our bare eyes! This causes many to believe they are seeing a UFO zipping by when it may not be that.....

So again.....for any skywatcher, having the proper tools at your disposal is a must!

Please everyone bookmark this thread...NOT because I started it but because it is filled with TOOLS that we all should have.
Is it a star, planet, aircraft lights, satellite or.........a UFO? Find out here!


Im not saying this is the case of the OP...just saying that we all need to be properly equiped...and before we think "UFO" create a list, and go down that list. Check things off "nope, cant be that" and so on. When you have everything checked off as NO...then you truly have a UFO!

reply to post by greeneyedleo

Im not saying this is the case of the OP

Don't worry, I wouldn't be offended, lol...

I've looked into some UFO cases in the past, such as the Rendlesham Forest incident for example, but my main areas of interest are on topics such as the JFK assassination, RFK, Waco, Jimmy Hoffa, and just in general some of the older and more politically based conspiracies..

With that being so, UFO's (which I know to mean Unidentified Flying Objects, not strictly "Aliens") is a topic I could do with learning that little bit more about really. So trust me I do appreciate the link you gave.

reply to post by Rising Against
Howdy RA, I'm not here to dispute your sighting as you've clearly explored a few explanations and remain puzzled.

Venus is a frequent suspect in UFO sightings and it was low in the sky directly in your field of view at that time. As InsideYourMind pointed out, it's been quite bright recently. It would also appear to travel in the same 'north' direction (left to right) from the perspective of the observer.

It won't provide the same skyline of your view, but stellarium might be useful to either confirm (for you) what you saw was unusual or to put it down to Venus.

A quick look at the arrivals and departures at Robin Hood airport didn't place an aircraft landing. This doesn't rule out landing aircraft as I couldn't find any information for the day and time.

I've described two genuine UFO sightings, with several witnesses, on ATS before. Although they still remain unidentified, the first one took a hit when I recently brought it up with a friend who was there for the first one. He couldn't remember it (it was mid-90s) so I couldn't discreetly compare his recollection with mine.

Like you, I've no 'will to believe' the sightings were 'aliens' or anything more than something unusual.

reply to post by Rising Against


I’m sorry to say this but Venus was the brightest thing in the sky at 18:10 on the 9th of January 2012 at your location (Mag -4) after the moon (Mag -12.6) (the moon was just coming up at the east) and was exactly in the direction you pointed out. The image bellow is self-explanatory (except that the east is shown in the west and vice-versa … well, it’s made that way to allow someone to look at the sky in a laydown position and compare the sky with the image). If you didn’t see anything else very bright in the sky in the direction you were looking, just one explanation: Venus.



You may want to check this video:
www.youtube.com...
Cheers.