What did i see? Help me figure it out...

Hi there

I was hoping some people here can point me in the right direction regarding finding some info on something i just witnessed. As it stands, the sighting can be classed as a UFO in the sense that it was flying (at extremely high altitude, i think) and i have absolutely no idea what it was.

This happened today, beginning at 4.11 pm (i know that from the log of a phone call i got the exact time i noticed this thing) and lasted until 4.45pm.

Ok, so i was on a walk in the neighbourhood when i get a phone call from a friend so i decide to sit at a bench in a park just off the street. Doing so, i happened to look up into the sky and noticed a bright point of light, almost directly overhead while facing west. Initial thought was that it was pretty cool seeing Venus like that, given that it was still daytime. I noticed the moon about 30 degrees further to the left at about 45 degees I sat watching it for a few minuted while on the call then didnt really look again until the call ended. In that time, 15 minutes, it had moved further to the west, almost directly towards the moon. It looked as though it moved about 5 degrees in that time (your fist at the end of your outstretched arm is about 10 degrees). I thought that was a little odd that it moved so fast, so i kept watching it. In the next 10 minutes, it moved almost 30 degrees to the northwest. I had about a 20 minute walk to the apartment at that point and decided to grab the camera to get a shot. During the walk i lost position on it, but reaquired it several times and once more i got back to the apartment complex. At htis point it was directly above the moon, about 10 degrees above, but was moving more rapidly. By the time i got the camera set up on the tripod and outside it was already 20-30 degrees the the west and above of the moon, just as bright as before. I couldnt fnd it on the lcd screen and failed to see it again after that.

The object was bright, like i said, i initially though it was Venus. About the same size as the star sirius, but constantly white/shiny/metallic. Star like. I checked an astronomy software that showed venus as a morning planet and would not have even risen yet at the time of viewing. I live near a major Bay area airport, and see dozens of planes and a range of altitudes, and this was WAY higher than anything ive ever seen. No contrails.

Ive tried searching for pics of weather balloons on the net, but cant see anything resembling this. I so want to believe it was a weather balloon caught in an airstream or something, but never having seen a picture of one, cant make an assumption ike that.

Some background- im into astronomy, occasionally photograph iridium flares, know what most of the planets look like and am 50/50 on the UFO=aliens thing.

Can someone please help me figure this out!!!

edit: for descriptive content and more accurat times.


[edit on 10-2-2008 by johnDoe21]

I'm all for the unknown ..and can't really say what it was...

But please re-check your info on the times of day Venus can be seen...you might be a little surprised.

hi there

thanks for the reply, but all the software ive been using shows venus as rising around 5.45 am at my location. Ive used Sky and Telescope and the Astronomy websites viewing software.

Cheers

Ive seen a ufo once it was scary

reply to post by johnDoe21


Well, I work with weather balloons every time I am at work. Giving that you live near an airport, it is a high probablilty that it may have been one, because they are usually launched from aviation areas (well in my country they are). I will find a picture of a balloon if you want

Where do you live? I'm not going to stalk you if you are worried...north...south...you know stuff like that?

reply to post by _Johnny_Utah_


If it was me you were talking to, I live in a different country all together. Darwin, Australia to be exact

It could have been a satellite easily enough, especially that early in the evening. It's evening where you stand, but higher in the atmosphere, the sun's still pretty bright, and makes high-altitude clouds, orbiting satellites and weather baloons and such, stand out and seem to glow due to the contrast.

Originally posted by _Johnny_Utah_
Where do you live? I'm not going to stalk you if you are worried...north...south...you know stuff like that?

Hi there

Im in the South Bay, near SJ.


Re: weather balloon... if you have a picture of a confirmed weather balloon that is extremely high altitude and looks like a star, then thatll help. Ive seen plenty of pics of weather balloons, but none that look like what i saw. Given im only 20 miles away from 2 airports, wouldnt i have seen the balloon at a lower altitude than i did? im pretty sure that at the distance i am away from the 'launch site' it would have been more obviously balloon shaped.

Re: satellite- not sure about that. It was around 4pm that i saw it, not quite evening enough to be able to see a satellite. Plus, this had a variable rate of movement, was a pretty constant brightness and was visible for about a half hour.

Originally posted by johnDoe21
Re: weather balloon... if you have a picture of a confirmed weather balloon that is extremely high altitude and looks like a star, then thatll help. Ive seen plenty of pics of weather balloons, but none that look like what i saw.

No pics at high altitude sorry. Can only speak from experience. I have tracked balloons through a theodolite during the night and they can take on a luminous shine

Given im only 20 miles away from 2 airports, wouldnt i have seen the balloon at a lower altitude than i did? im pretty sure that at the distance i am away from the 'launch site' it would have been more obviously balloon shaped.

Not necessarily. It all depends on the speed and direction of the upper winds. I have had ones that have swung out to 20 kilometres only to land a couple of kilometres away. But like I said, I am in a different country and I am not sure if you do the same as us. You may not launch balloons from airports

reply to post by johnDoe21


Hi JohnDoe21....just looked it up for your location. It was Venus...sorry.

You may have been mistaken that it moved North as you were heading home, but Venus was clearly visible from your location from between 4.11 pm and 4.45 pm as you indicated.

If it had made some sort of erratic movement I would say otherwise...but this object is defintely identifiable...as Venus.

Being closer to the sun than we are, Venus can be seen at almost any time of the day if its orbital position is right. I remember once accidentally finding Venus through a small pair of binoculars around mid-day. I was convinced I was looking at a silver or metallic globe-like object. I concluded it was a hot air balloon at very high altitude. The use of binoculars on a bright point object in the daylight sky tends to cause focussing error and you get a 'disc'. It's then very easy to interpret this as a UFO/balloon/etc. When I got back home, I checked again and managed to find it virtually where it had been an hour earlier in relation to the sun. It was totally invisible to the naked eye and had to be recovered by repeatedly scanning the same area of sky with the binos.

WG3

[edit on 11-2-2008 by waveguide3]

Originally posted by mightymouth
reply to post by johnDoe21

 

Hi JohnDoe21....just looked it up for your location. It was Venus...sorry.

You may have been mistaken that it moved North as you were heading home, but Venus was clearly visible from your location from between 4.11 pm and 4.45 pm as you indicated.

If it had made some sort of erratic movement I would say otherwise...but this object is defintely identifiable...as Venus.

HI there

thanks for the post. Id be interested in knowing what software you were using for this- the ones i used all give venus as rising around 5am at my location. Any chance you have a screen shot showing venus at 4.30pm on sunday?

I would buy the venus explanation, if it werent for the rapid movement and the fact it disappeared from view at 445pm. Within the last 5 minutes or so of viewing it moved aprox 40 degrees in distance, about 10 degrees above the moon at its closest. It was this that nailed it as not being venus for me.

I just realised that the initial description i have for the movement was off. I was describing the latter part (once i arrived home) incorrectly. As i stood facing the moon, to the SW, the object moved from about 10 right and above the moon, to 30 degree left of the moon and about 10 above. It did this in the amount of time i got my camera and tripod set up for a shot- around 4-5 minutes.

I checked these map positions on the Astronomy dot com website stardome software.

cheers

Originally posted by johnDoe21
In that time, 15 minutes, it had moved further to the west, almost directly towards the moon. It looked as though it moved about 5 degrees in that time - - - In the next 10 minutes, it moved almost 30 degrees to the northwest.- - - I had about a 20 minute walk to the apartment at that point and decided to grab the camera to get a shot. During the walk i lost position on it, but reaquired it several times and once more i got back to the apartment complex. At htis point it was directly above the moon, about 10 degrees above, but was moving more rapidly. By the time i got the camera set up on the tripod and outside it was already 20-30 degrees the the west and above of the moon, just as bright as before. I couldnt fnd it on the lcd screen and failed to see it again after that.

From my reading of your report, the object wasn't moving in a planetary orbit, but more like a satellite. In other words it was decending from your first sighting near the zenith and travelled downwards towards the west and continued towards the north-western horizon. Is that about right?
I would guess the sun was more or less set and the moon a slim cresent in the south western sky. A good piece of software to check your view is Stellarium. It's free and can easily be found via Google.

I strongly suspect you observed a circumpolar or high inclination satellite of some kind, clearly a large one to be so bright. I guess the circumstances of your location and the sun's position were favourable to see it so well. The angular speed you estimate suggests a fairly high body, certainly higher than the ISS (200 miles) but closer than the geostationary orbits at around 20,000+ miles. Maybe it was the out of control USA 193, which has about the right inclination and is currently around 300 miles up but heading for re-entry in late March. You no doubt use Heavens-Above.com for Iridium predictions. They are tracking the 193.

There are literally dozens of circumpolar and high inclination satellites and seeing one in daylight is not particularly rare. You will be aware that there are many daytime events stemming from the Iridium satellite constellation. As to your sighting, you might possibly identify the actual satellite by obtaining a satellite tracking program which uses the NORAD 2-line orbital elements to calculate sightings over your location. I guess you could do a rough reterospective analysis by setting the date on your computer to the date of the sighting. It may work well enough to suggest possible candidates.

WG3

reply to post by OzWeatherman


Uh this is completely of topic just an observation but I have checked like 10 post and nearly everyone is offline and Im getting this really eiire feeling almost like ATS has been abandoned or something, Im very perceptive and something just feels way off.

It feels like Im the only one here, so freaky. Something is REALLY wrong Im serious It feels vacant, it shouldn't be this quiet.

[edit on 12-2-2008 by Drakiir]

reply to post by Drakiir


Boo!

WG3



[edit on 12-2-2008 by waveguide3]

reply to post by waveguide3


Ive looked through ten post and nothing no one everyones gone, is it just me or do you think somethings up too????

Hi Drakiir no Im on line!

Mr Green

reply to post by Mr Green


Hi there um I cant describe how Im feeling at the moment I just went through ten threads and almost no one is here and I getting a vacant sense its really eerie and is really getting to me. No joke man I feel really uneasy and my gut Is telling me somethings really up I dont usually get this. Its like everyone has abandoned the site.

Im really freaked, I feel as If Im not meant to be here I like coming here but somethings telling me somethings SEVERELY wrong

[edit on 12-2-2008 by Drakiir]

[edit on 12-2-2008 by Drakiir]

Mmm you do seem to be right not many people on line what so ever. Well if Im on line it isn t your commputer so don t freak they haven t cut you off or anything like that. Please dont worry about it but I know you will whon t you. You do seem to have caused a stir some what on ATS but that was bound to happen , not many people come on with your claims. I think you were very brave but you must stay grounded. Your getting more and more people backing you up now though which is good.

Hey everyones probably at lunch, I must go and get some work done myself actually.