did anyone in Phoenix, AZ see the bright light tonight?

reply to post by nikiano


Alot of nasas balloons once high enough up looks like bubbles and if the sun hit it just right it could appear to look like that.It still doesn't really answer why the military copters were around it though.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Wait...I just saw a picture of the weather balloon you posted....and I'm sorry, but no way could something only 20 feet in diameter appear to be that HUGE in the night sky, that high up, to so many people in the Phoenix valley.

That thing had to be humongous to be seen all around the valley (I live in Scottsdale) and also in Sedona. How on earth could a 20 foot weather balloon be seen all over the valley at the same time? My friend lives in the west side of the town, and I live in Scottsdale, and we're at least 10 miles from each other.

No way a weather balloon appear that big and bright....even if it expanded to 20 feet across. That thing I saw tonight was HUGE.

I'm not buying the official explanation that it was a weather balloon. (Althoguh I did before I saw a picture of an actual weather balloon.) Maybe if it was the size of two football fields and made of tinfoil.....but not a balloon only 20 feet across.

How could something only 20 feet across appear larger and brighter than huge airplanes that were flying flying lower than it?


[edit on 12-6-2009 by nikiano]

[edit on 12-6-2009 by nikiano]

Here is another video of Weather Balloon over Phoenix

NASA weather balloon seen over Phoenix one morning in 2004. Withe the correct exposure on the camera quite a bit of detail can be seen. This was taken about 7am, the wind was calm.

[edit on 6/12/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Here is a picture of what is supposed to be a nasa balloon now imagine it illuminated by the sun.
www.azcentral.com...
So from this pic and what you actually saw do you think they could be the same?
The object you guys saw seems massive I wish I knew an accurate way to determine size.

Maybe... maybe a weather balloon, really wish I would have seen it...

Anyone remember the ICBM they supposedly launched out of Cali about 3-4 years back that lit up the whole dang sky across the horizon?

Claimed it was a Darpa weather experiment and offered no more info...

lol

to all fellow Phoenicians... I call this place "Raccoon City" for a reason lol

reply to post by dee132423


Thanks for the post. No way were they the same thing...no way.

The thing I saw tonight was so bright...I don't think any sort of weather balloon that was made of a non-reflecting material could reflect a light that appeared that bright over a distance that far.



[edit on 12-6-2009 by nikiano]

Sorry I missed it. I have seen the NASA balloons in the early mornings. Also you can catch the missiles being launched from White Sands New Mexico if you look East early in the morning sometimes. They leave a crazy twisted vapor trail.

reply to post by mopusvindictus

About ten years ago I was out in the Goldfield Mountains prospecting when I witnessed a launch from Vandenberg AFB. It was spectacular! Even from Arizona.

As I was pulling in to my condo complex near old town scottsdale i saw a military helicopter flying fairly low, lower than their normal route to the base nearby.

I got inside, changed, and took my dog out for a walk along the golf course....and when I looked up at camelback mtn i saw it.....then I realized the chopper was going right at this thing but I was inside when it would have been close to it. I got so excited when I saw the thread title and now the pics and everything, just great. i'm gonna see if the 1 picture I took came out.


edit: the sky is way too bright. maybe someone can use a filter or something? dunno much about photo manipulation.




[edit on 12-6-2009 by careface]

reply to post by groingrinder


That launch was from Vandenberg too... but allot less than 10 years ago, no more than 4... summertime just like this, same time of year too...

Spectacular is an understatement though, it scared the bejesus out of me!

They said it was a converted ICBM, and if that's what a single launch looks like from...hundreds of miles away, I can't imagine what the first volley of a Nuclear exchange would look like, would never think deathfrom above could be so pretty rofl...

reply to post by careface


OOOOO I forget the name of the show, but they showcased the new Gatlin Gun being fired by chopper from the Scottsdale Gun Club... it was wild, it looked like a laser turret it fired so fast, frightening stuff...

I'd love to get in there... but you need a retina scan ;(

hopefully sheriff joe never gets one...

reply to post by groingrinder


Have you ever caught the star wars tests out of New Mexico?

From San Diego, the sky lit up like heat lightning from 2 states away... that's going back about 10 years...

It's almost incomprehensible how advanced some of our weaponry must be, that being the case...

I managed a glimpse of a prototype Stealth ship near the Coronado bridge in the same time frame too, hardly any of it in the water, 3 parts like an outrigger canoe, crazy... but hull like a stealth fighter...

apparently they never went into production ???

???

Great job reporting and documenting ATS Arizonans!!! If all these sightings over the years in the Phoenix area were UFOs that were actually craft controlled by space aliens I've got to say they have a lot of confidence and self assurance in their ability to traverse safely and unchallenged across the skies (and hover!) over such a huge sprawling metropolitan area. Maybe that's the point. It certainly looks much brighter and larger than a weather balloon. Any other reports from Sedona?

Greetings to all the fellow desert rats!!!!

Although it seems that every bright light or round thing that gets spotted by numerous people, eventually gets explained as a "weather/research" balloon, this one is going to be hard to explain as such. Sorry Channel 3, this light was simply far too bright....I cannot tell you how sick I am of that explanation, too trite, too used & worn out.

But, just to be on the safe side, I checked out what kinds of weather and research balloons they are using these days. Here's what I found out-

There is a research balloon company out of Palestine Texas called "Columia Scientific Balloon Facility". They launch out of New Mexico along with NASA. Their balloons can measure up to a football field in diameter and are made out of the same material as sandwich bags, although much thinner. These balloons can ascend up to 26 mi., can carry payloads that weigh as much as 3 cars and can stay up for about 2 weeks. These balloons can drop the payloads after contact from a radio signal and these drop down on parachutes. Then the balloon eventually rips and floats down. I couldn't find any info on these particular balloons being self-illuminated.

There is a major company that does make illuminated balloons for movies, events and such and these balloons are quite bright, mimicking sunlight, but only over an immediate area and these balloons are not for launching into space or air. The largest of these models is only around 18ft in diameter. One of the biggest companies that makes these is "Airstar". They use tungsten halogen lamps or HID (high density discharge) to light these balloons.

All that being said, there is NO way that the light north of the Phoenix area spotted today matches either of those things IMHO.

This light was waaaay too bright and was visible for far, far too long a distance. The Airstar balloons are a maximum of 16,000 watts. This is like 160 100-watt bulbs. I seriously doubt that if I held up 160 100-watt light bulbs that you would see what we all saw across the city. And by the way, the Phoenix metropolitan area is huge....

All that being said...who knows what sort of mischief our government is up to with "research" balloons....perhaps all the military craft were buzzing the area in order to keep people away, in case someone got too close and could figure out what was up there....? Just a guess.

BTW, is just me, or has anyone else been seeing an "elevated" number of military craft here in Phoenix? I have even been seeing them on schedule, same time every day (as well as random times). Usually early morning, flying from east to west, probably out to LAFB (Luke Air Force Base) & usually in small formations. I live right in central Phx., around Central & Glendale, and they fly right over my complex.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd throw that in so we'd all have a little more info on this supposed "research balloon"...if anyone out there knows of any other types...I know we're all anxious to know what it was that we all saw out there!

No way that it was weather balloon, I'm all the way down in Casa Grande and also saw it. It was very bright I also thought it was a star.

Always got to love the mass audience of witnesses during one of these UFO events. I just hope there are some people out there with some clear images of video and/or photography. Now that would be some sweet stuff, especially since this was during the day and not at night.

The various information I am seeing in the news are contradicting, from the altitudes they are saying it was at to who it belongs to and where it was sent from.. first a company based in Texas (Palastine), launching it from New Mexico, to all of a sudden it being a high tech heavy duty from NASA? Also was first 40,000 up, now 130,000 up... I suppose? It just doesn't make much sense to me, taking in the times of the reports along with the pictures and what it looked like at certain points of the day, odd... especially considering military helicopters were relatively near it throughout the day; wouldn't they know what is occupying their airspace if it was a research baloon from NASA?

Hmmm, I don't know, seems fishy to me, but for all I know it could just be a really odd weather ballon lol.

Ok so I came across this...

"We saw the same thing, military aircraft and all in so. co. monday night. did you look through binoculars? "

from the youtube...

and this..

hey

its 4:10 am in mid-Michigan and there is something down and to the left of the moon that seems too bright to be a star. Anybody know what it is? We guessed Venus due to the color but we have pretty much no clue. The interwebs were surprisingly unhelpful in this inquery.

ASTRONOMY MAJORS UNITE

c'mon...

thanks!


from another board...



hmmmmmm

reply to post by arizonascott

The weather balloons deflate & the instruments float back to the ground under a small parachute. i.e. the balloon will disappear from view.

Here's an excerpt of an email I sent to a friend last night:

I came outside of work near FLW and Scottsdale Rd. at about 7:35 PM this evening and I looked toward the western sky at the sunset, well maybe 5 or 10 degrees to the north of and above the horizon there was a stationary object, about twice as bright as the brightest star or planet you would see and no distinct shape or anything. I stood there for a few minutes and two of my co-workers came out who were also looking and I asked them if they saw it too and they acknowledged it. About 10 minutes later after going back into the building for something, I'm heading home down the 101 South and it was still there for about 15 or 20 more minutes. Right around the time I got off the 101 at Indian School Rd. I lost track of it due to trees/buildings and what not, returned a movie at one of those DVD machines and when I left there, there was no sign of it.

I called my friend in Las Vegas to confirm if it was a planet or star, because that was my first assumption, and of course he didn't see anything.