What did i just see?

I was just walking back from the shops and i saw a thing that looked like a star but it was moving across the horizon maybe 15 degrees up from the line, but it was bright red and i do mean RED.

Its speed was too slow for a satellite and far to fast to be a star or planet.

The light from it was bright red and constant with no flicker, this was not a plane.

Just what the heck did i see?

a reply to: Biigs

Perhaps what you witnessed was an asteroid that was on a course that did not cause it to disintegrate. If it was a hard metal one it can survive a deflecting pass with the atmosphere and not break up making it just a fast moving red glow.

a reply to: sourcecontroller

No this basicly had all the characteristics of a satellite, but moved at far to low an angle and at a strange speed not fast enough to be one yet too slow to be a plane and besides ite was bright red.

ive never seen a bright red........ anything and no this wasnt a lantern it was far far to high up and bright for that.

originally posted by: Biigs
I was just walking back from the shops and i saw a thing that looked like a star but it was moving across the horizon maybe 15 degrees up from the line, but it was bright red and i do mean RED.

Its speed was too slow for a satellite and far to fast to be a star or planet.

The light from it was bright red and constant with no flicker, this was not a plane.

Just what the heck did i see?

Dare I say a lantern, they do flicker though, but the flicker is not always obvious at a great height.

a reply to: smurfy

Ive witnessed lanterns being launched at festivals and what not and this was very much not that.

I couldnt make it out, it was extremely bright, red in colour and flu a perfect line accross the horizon.

it wasnt a plane, because no blinking lights, it was not a lantern because there barely any wind and its flight path was too good and straight (also a lantern is not that bright that far away).

Ive seen satellites pass over but not that slow and also they are not red.

Oh and also not a helicopter at the range it was theres simply no way it could be that bright and if it was a jelly flopter it would have blinkers

You may have seen a plane.

Atmospheric refraction at horizon angles would cause the multiple lights of a plane to blur together and appear as one. The red could be an addition from pollution or simply the most pronounced color of the mixed lights.

originally posted by: Biigs
The light from it was bright red and constant with no flicker, this was not a plane.

Just what the heck did i see?

Sounds like a plane to me. I don't know why you think it's not.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur

originally posted by: Biigs
The light from it was bright red and constant with no flicker, this was not a plane.

Just what the heck did i see?

Sounds like a plane to me. I don't know why you think it's not.

Ive been watching planes and satellites since before i can even remeber how young i was.

this was NOT either.

Im talking a bright red star like object moving across the sky fairly slowly but intently directional (hence not lantern or balloon) at a low angle to the horizon.

and im talking RED RED, not like "it flickered red" or "it blinked red" in talking about a solid bright as hell red star constantly on.

Definitely not a plane or helicopter, not a balloon or flare and unlikely to be a satellite (though not completely admissible)

originally posted by: Biigs
a reply to: smurfy

Ive witnessed lanterns being launched at festivals and what not and this was very much not that.

I couldnt make it out, it was extremely bright, red in colour and flu a perfect line accross the horizon.

it wasnt a plane, because no blinking lights, it was not a lantern because there barely any wind and its flight path was too good and straight (also a lantern is not that bright that far away).

Ive seen satellites pass over but not that slow and also they are not red.

Oh and also not a helicopter at the range it was theres simply no way it could be that bright and if it was a jelly flopter it would have blinkers

Lanterns can be bright red, or most any colour, they can be very luminous at height, and mostly follow any breeze no matter how slight in frankly, a straight line for as long as the breeze will carry them, or for as long as they last...that's the way they work. Wind at the surface is not an indicator of any wind at a higher level either, as for the heights they can reach, some countries include,' hazardous to aircraft' as a reason for their banning.
There are other things to consider, you don't say date time and place. I see them all the time, and there is usually a reason, something to consider.

This brings up a large problem with some eyewitness reports. Your average person is not accustomed to judging altitudes, as it often takes more specialized knowledge. Unless you have seen planes and whatnot at various known altitudes in the past, it is hard to even get in the ballpark. Since you stated it looked like a star, I would assume it was probably fairly high in altitude, but this also can be misjudged based on the size of the object. Is it a really large object that is far away, or a really small object a bit closer?

I know you said it was moving too slowly to be a satellite, and I admit that satellites usually appear to move quickly, but there are multiple orbits a satellite can travel. It is not likely that one would notice a satellite during the day, only at night, so if this was during daylight hours then another explanation should probably be sought.

Another thing is that speed is quite difficult to determine unless you are used to making such judgements, and it is hard to know the speed without having some idea of the altitude as well. Two planes moving at the same speed but at drastically different altitudes will appear a bit different to observers on the ground. Most observers anyway.

I guess my point is that determining just what the object was that you saw would be easier with more data. Unfortunately we will have to do without that. It is theoretically possible that you could have been seeing an aircraft. If the altitude was well above 30,000 feet or so, then that really limits what it could be. Granted that the majority of aircraft have a very specific configuration of lights, but the aircraft that fly at high altitudes, especially secret projects that never leave restricted airspace, could easily get away without having FAA approved lighting.

You have something like the U-2, which is still in service and can fly at 70,000 ft, as well as newer spy drones that can fly at around 60,000. Some have not had their ceilings published as far as I know. But it is not likely that you would see a light from a smaller drone at high altitude. But then there are theoretical aircraft that nobody really knows a lot about. Some are only speculative, and may not even exist.

This is not related to what you saw, but take something like the stealth blackhawk that we now know exists. We wouldn't have known it existed had one of them not crashed in Pakistan during the raid on Bin Laden's compound. Most people thought that stealth technology itself had been discontinued in 06. So who knows what we have? There are rumored "space planes" going back to the 1980's. Of course most people would probably expect such aircraft to launch into space utilizing rocket propulsion, some after being jettisoned from a larger transport aircraft, so this is not what you saw...Unless it was already in orbit. Maybe it was something like the RQ-180 being tested. THAT is a cool drone. It likely has a wingspan well over 100 feet, which is relatively large for any unmanned vehicle. These likely can go well above 60,000 feet. I doubt anyone really knows, as there are likely multiple versions. The USGS once picked up some noises that supposedly indicated a craft at around 90,000 feet and moving around mach 5.

The X-40 was being developed by NASA, but was suddenly taken over and classified by the military. Perhaps they have done something with that as well. My point is that I believe that if what you were seeing was not a satellite, it was likely an aircraft. And considering civilian aircraft are fairly easy to identify and do not fly at extremely high altitudes, that is not a likely explanation IF what you saw was extremely high or even orbital. See if anyone has witnessed a launch from a military base recently.

I wish I could have seen it to get a better idea of how high it was, as that makes all the difference. Perhaps the main clue is found in the single red light. I don't know anything about the lighting of aircraft except those that I have personally witnessed. When I was in the USAF I watched a lot of aircraft coming and going on every base I was stationed on, and I've never really seen anything unexplainable in that regard. I have never seen a craft with a single red light. Some of the triangular craft the military is developing could easily have a single light under the belly of the aircraft.

a reply to: smurfy

Your are right but what your not listening to is that ive seen lanterns and flares launched at ground zero and miles away, this was FAR to bright for the time of day and range to be any of those.

a reply to: Biigs
But you still haven't explained what rules out a plane or if you did, I missed it. I live near an airport so I see planes all the time. They all have red lights and some blink, some don't. If you see them from a certain angle the red light may be the only one you see. If you see them from other angles you can see green and/or white lights.

a reply to: JiggyPotamus

range is a good point but baring in mind that i could tell what it was it must have been a some great distance and if thats correct then its brightness makes no sense for the range at all.

Im honestly talking about somthing brighter than the north star on a clear night, bright red and about 10 degrees above the horizon and the kicker, it ws actually still daylight the sun haddnt set yet and didnt for half an hour. this was BRIGHT.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Planes have white and red blinkers.

This was a solid bright red light, dazzling even. constant bright red light on the horizon this was not a plane drone balloon or anything ive witnessed before.

My father was in the RAF and i went to more air shows than i can count and this was not a plane, no way, no how.

Other than you saying it moved to fast, I'd suggest Mars. I think it's at or near its closest and brightest and above the horizon at sunset.

Only you know what you didn't see unfortunately. Did you manage to catch a picture of it or was it gone too quickly? I fear it will be one of those things which will have to remain a mystery. It would be interesting if it was there again at another similar time but these things often just happen as a once-off and we go to the same place hoping to catch another glimpse of it but we never do.

I wish I lived in a place where there was a clear open night sky and then I could capture any movement on camera. I think thats what we all need to do if we live in these kind of places. Normally in big cities just too much light pollution.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Too fast for a planet, i could track it at a degree a second maybe, ive watched mars and jutpiter and sturn with my scope and this was too fast for that.

The weird thing about this is that it was at the wrong angle from the setting sun to reflect moved too fast for celestial stuff yet too slow for a chopper or whatever and had that weird bright red glow.

im honestly perplexed and im not a newbie at this sort of thing my any means. But its really got me.

a reply to: qmantoo

as strange as this sounds, i dont carry a phone on me normally so i had no phone cam snap opportunity and i couldn't see it from my house when i did get home.

originally posted by: Biigs
a reply to: Arbitrageur

Planes have white and red blinkers.

This was a solid bright red light, dazzling even. constant bright red light on the horizon this was not a plane drone balloon or anything ive witnessed before.

My father was in the RAF and i went to more air shows than i can count and this was not a plane, no way, no how.

On the horizon? that's a bit more, so definitely in the area of atmospherics. That rules in just about everything you rule out.

In edit to add this, a military 'copter with FLIR and I have seen this often,



And yes, it's very bright red, and when operating you will see not much else.

this was not swamp gas or some atmospheric anomaly.

Im thinking perhaps a satellite that just happend to be coming at a weird angle, i really have no other idea what it was.

The thing that i cant shake though? It was SO SO RED im talking like red like a laser beam red, ive never seen anything like it and im a keen sky watcher. It was just so bright and red it makes no sense to me.