strange lights above san diego 9:30pm 06/21/07

I just saw some really strange lights tonight while stargazing on my front porch.

There were four lights blinking randomly, flying in a wierd kind of formation, heading west to east. I timed two of the lights to see if they blinked in a regular timing fashion inorder to determine if they were anti-collison lights, and they were not flashing in that manner. It appeared as if each of the four lights were flashing randomly.

They were also flying in a somewhat L formation, with one on top, one below it, then two flying kind of parallel - forming a wierd L shape.

They were really, REALLY quiet - I thought I heard some noise - but as bright and clear as the lights were, I figure they couldn't have been flying at a very high altitude - and I heard very little / next to nothing. They were also flying at a high rate of speed. It took them easily less than 3 to 5 minutes to cross the sky from the northwest to the east and fade away in the eastern sky.

Did anyone else in the san diego region see these lights?? It was really spooky because I, like I said, I didn't hear anything, I actually spotted them while I was looking northwest, and followed them until they headed off easterly.

I see planes ALL the time - every night for the past week I've been stargazing and seeing / hearing the myriad of planes on approach to san diego international - and these were in no comparison the size of a 747 or even smaller craft. The lights were a brightish blueish in nature - not the bright white / red / etc collison lights normal aircraft have. I know for a fact that these aircraft (if thats what they were) were VERY small in size, flying at a low altitude and a decent (if not high) rate of speed.

It was really freaky to be honest. I've never seen anything quite so erie before. I hope someone else saw it so they can confirm

Cheers --

zeeon

What part of San Diego, I live in El Cajon. I am always looking up when I have the chance!

I have a hard time believing that people see possible Alien crafts over populated areas. Maybe it is just my naive way of thinking, but "rural" sightings seem more legit to me. Most urban sightings can probably be attributed to man-made crafts. Just a thought...

The thing is that living in a populated city, if you watch closely and pay attention, you know the flight patterns of conventional aircraft. Including smaller airports that a cesna would fly into. So something out of the ordinary would be more obvious than living in the stix!

Originally posted by Diplomat
I have a hard time believing that people see possible Alien crafts over populated areas. Maybe it is just my naive way of thinking, but "rural" sightings seem more legit to me. Most urban sightings can probably be attributed to man-made crafts. Just a thought...

Why is that Diplomat? After all, they're not hiding from us. The E.T.'s
seem to be simply doing their thing wherever the mission takes them.
I can't see them saying "We'll steer clear of San Diego enroute to our
underwater base so noone will see us." They really don't seem to care
who sees them here on Earth or up in space. Isn't that your impression
too, based on all material we read here on ATS daily? -CWM

Maybe it was space shuttle Atlantis?

Originally posted by carewemust

Why is that Diplomat? After all, they're not hiding from us. The E.T.'s
seem to be simply doing their thing wherever the mission takes them.
I can't see them saying "We'll steer clear of San Diego enroute to our
underwater base so noone will see us." They really don't seem to care
who sees them here on Earth or up in space. Isn't that your impression
too, based on all material we read here on ATS daily? -CWM

How do you know for a fact that Alien beings are not hiding from us? I would assume that they "are hiding from us." Otherwise every John, Dick, and Harry would know about Aliens. If Aliens wanted to make their presence known to human beings then I would assume that they would be capable of doing so on a global-level.

Well, although I posted this in the Aliens/UFO, they very well probably are not alien aircraft. However, they are UFO's and based on the description, interesting to say the least.

I just wanted to know if someone else had seen the lights last night?
I live in La Mesa area...more so kind of in lemon grove but still within the la mesa city limits.

PLEASE if you saw strange lights above san diego last night, don't hesitate to post. I'd love to know if anyone else saw them.

As far as type of aircraft....it could very well be secret military ops. I wouldn't be surprised based on how fast and how quiet these things were flying. Any suggestions on what kind of craft it could be?

That's an interesting observation, bt thre is a lot of information missing.

Since you were stargazing, I presume there were constellations visible. Can you tell us what constellation the formation was in when you first saw it, and through which constellations it travelled, and about how long this took? Also, if you tell us the local time and your approximate location (to within a few hundred meters or better).

Did the "L" hold its shape and orientation throughout your observation?

I'm not allowed to know for sure, but I believe a recent DOD launch was a constellation of satellites, and I think that's what you may have seen. The random pulsations could be different surface of each satellite turning into the sun, although the bluish color is a bit of mystery.

Thanks for the reply To answer your questions -

Originally posted by disownedsky
That's an interesting observation, bt thre is a lot of information missing.

Since you were stargazing, I presume there were constellations visible. Can you tell us what constellation the formation was in when you first saw it, and through which constellations it travelled, and about how long this took? Also, if you tell us the local time and your approximate location (to within a few hundred meters or better).

I am at work right now, but from memory I first spotted the formation flying through the big dipper, above the star dubhe, traveling east. It appeared to travel above polaris, then easterly towards vega, but was a little below it. It continued, mid-lowish on the horizon, through the summer triangle of vega/deneb/altair stars. I'm fairly sure it was pretty close to deneb as it went through the sky.

The local time is posted in the thread title - I spotted it at rougly 21:30 (9:30pm) + / - five mintues maximum. Approximate location, if I recall from memory is lat 117, 21 W , long 32, 45 N (I think! I'm at work, and my lat/longs are written down at home. As soon as I get home, I will edit this post to reflect the acurate lat/longs)

Did the "L" hold its shape and orientation throughout your observation?

Yes, it did for the most part, although I did see movement as it headed easterly. It was to tell, to be honest, because they were moving very fast. But, again, while they were clearly visible, they did hold the "L" shape formation. As they started to fade in the distance, it appeard as if they were changing formation.

I'm not allowed to know for sure, but I believe a recent DOD launch was a constellation of satellites, and I think that's what you may have seen. The random pulsations could be different surface of each satellite turning into the sun, although the bluish color is a bit of mystery.

I don't know what you mean by "allowed", lol *scratches head* ... however the sun was down and it was quite dark, save for the san diego light pollution. The eastern sky is actually the darkest available where I live because there isn't much out east except for desert / arizona. North, South and West are all majorly populated and suffer tremendously from light pollution.

Also, if they were satellites, wouldn't they have been moving upward, gaining altitude? These appeared to be flying level in regards to altitude.

Thanks again for the reply -

zeeon

Also, if they were satellites, wouldn't they have been moving upward, gaining altitude? These appeared to be flying level in regards to altitude.

Thanks again for the reply -

zeeon

Not necessarily. The motion you describe is completely consistent with satellites. So is the time.

I wish I had seen it. I've seen shuttle/station in a 2-point formation before, but never a 4-point. The bluish color is something I've never seen, though. That leads me to think of space debris in the early stages of re-entry.

The space station and the shuttle were visible.....seperated from one another that evening in San Diego.

THE FOLLOWING SHUTTLE SIGHTINGS ARE POSSIBLE FROM THU JUN 21 TO MON JUN 25
SATELLITE LOCAL DURATION MAX ELEV APPROACH DEPARTURE
DATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR)

SHUTTLE Thu Jun 21/09:47 PM 1 55 26 above NNW 55 above N
SHUTTLE Fri Jun 22/08:35 PM 4 17 10 above N 10 above E
SHUTTLE Fri Jun 22/10:09 PM 1 19 11 above WNW 19 above W
SHUTTLE Sat Jun 23/08:59 PM 3 64 34 above NNW 22 above ESE
SHUTTLE Sun Jun 24/09:22 PM 2 25 16 above W 21 above SSW


Are you sure this is not what you saw?

Thanks for the post OP. It is a UFO until it can be determined to be something else, so I would say this is the right place.

And just a question on what I heard here from Diplomat, but I've heard it elsewhere. If a UFO is seen in the rural areas, everybody asks, "If they really are up there, why are they always out in the country where there aren't any people. And if they are seen in a city setting, one hears some variation of Diplomats comment.

I love bendable logic, it's used all the time.

Originally posted by Sight2reality
The space station and the shuttle were visible.....seperated from one another that evening in San Diego.


Are you sure this is not what you saw?

Not unless he was seeing double. There is no way I can see for the shuttle/station to be seen as 4 points of light.

[edit on 22-6-2007 by disownedsky]

Having witnessed two UFO's at close range (from less than 100 yards away hovering just above the treetops on two seperate occasions/locations), I can tell you with no uncertainty whatsoever that they do indeed exist. Now if you start out with this in mind, it's far more likely that the OP witnessed a UFO than an object re-entering the atmosphere or the ISS.

If you deny that UFO's exist, then why bother looking for/replying to posts that deal with the subject? It's rather silly actually. Normal humans tend to gravitate towards subjects they can relate to, rather than wasting their precious time and resources denying the existence of things that don't even exist.


But hey what do I know?

In my defense,

The time described matches that of the visible flight of both the space station and the shuttle. The direction is a bit off.

This I can assure you. There were silent lights in the sky over san diego that night. They faded out of view and were visible for nearly 4 minutes.

Its too much of a coincedence for me. I would argue that misinterpretation or exageration are responsible for the discrepencies. (both human nature)

Strange quiet lights were in the sky that night, in the location described.

Originally posted by HaveSeen4Myself
Having witnessed two UFO's at close range (from less than 100 yards away hovering just above the treetops on two seperate occasions/locations), I can tell you with no uncertainty whatsoever that they do indeed exist. Now if you start out with this in mind, it's far more likely that the OP witnessed a UFO than an object re-entering the atmosphere or the ISS.

If you deny that UFO's exist, then why bother looking for/replying to posts that deal with the subject? It's rather silly actually. Normal humans tend to gravitate towards subjects they can relate to, rather than wasting their precious time and resources denying the existence of things that don't even exist.

That's a target rich environment: 2 non sequiturs and a strawman. I'll just take the first.

How does it follow from your personal experience(s) that lights seen in the sky over San Diego are "far more likely" than these commonly observed events? Especially given that it is widely recognized that the MAJORITY of UFO reports are misidentifications?

Guys, just to clarify, I did not see these in the telescope, they were in the sky which I saw plain sight with my own two eyes.

I'm sorry for the obfuscation...I just was describing why I was outside and what I was doing - but at the time I observed the aircraft I was NOT looking inside the telescope. I saw them with my eyes.

I am up near San Francisco, only thing I saw was the space station which was really awesome to see. It was very clear in the sky.
Just out of curiosity, will you be keeping a camera handy now when outside just in case? I'd love to see pictures.

The space station and shuttle were easily visible to the naked eye. Honestly they were two of the brightest objects in the sky. About 75% that of Venus, and twice that of Saturn. Moving...in tandem.