Wondering what we saw above Liverpool, UK the other night...

I think I had my first UFO sighting the other night!

I live in Liverpool city centre, UK.

Myself and Liveforever8 were sitting on the sofa watching tv. I have an amazing view out my window, I'm in a 2nd floor flat and out the window I can see for miles across the river Mersey and over the Wirral area, right across the horizon.

Liveforever8 sat up and said, "what is that thing? it's been there for about 20 minutes now..." - so I sit up and have a look out the window. There was what can only be described as a really big, really REALLY bright star, completely stationary in the sky.

It was really quite low - certainly too low for it to have been an aeroplane. It wasn't flashing or moving or anything, just completely still. It definitely wasn't a helicopter, it didn't move an inch and again there were no flashing lights and no sound.

Definitely wasn't a chinese lantern, again it was just far too bright and it didn't move at all.

We just couldn't figure out what it could have been. Eventually, it just dissapeared, just like that - like a light had been turned out.

Any ideas what we could have seen?

Was it in the sky all night?

Maybe Jupiter? looks very bright, and it often catches my eye as something unusual.

Video would help, grab your phone next time.

edit. when it disappeared it could have gone behind a cloud, crappy weather up north at the moment I hear.

Originally posted by Soapusmaximus
Was it in the sky all night?

Maybe Jupiter? looks very bright, and it often catches my eye as something unusual.

Video would help, grab your phone next time.

edit. when it disappeared it could have gone behind a cloud, crappy weather up north at the moment I hear.

edit on 9-12-2011 by Soapusmaximus because: (no reason given)

It was there about 20 minutes in total.

It wasn't outside of the earth's atmosphere, it had to be only a few thousand feet in the air.

When I say it was bright, I mean REALLY bright! There weren't any clouds at the time, it was actually a really clear night, you could see all the stars. So I don't think it went behind a cloud, whatever it was.

reply to post by KatieVA


Was this on Tuesday night the 6th? I'm no astronomer but around 5pm Isasw a really bright light just right of the Moon. Brighter than the North Star. I've never seen something so bright next to the Moon. It became cloudy very quickly and I lost sight of it then. I live in the City centre but I've seen some incredible things in the Anfield area which I will share at a later date.
Barry

reply to post by renbarry


Your sighting was definitely Jupiter, to the right of the moon (currently), solid and very bright.

Jupiter has caused quite a stir this year. It's almost as if people have only just started noticing it.

as with most of the other replies, what you saw was probably Jupiter.

reply to post by Suspiria


Thank you. SUSPIRIA. With a lot of light pollution and cloud cover. We dont get to see much of our Universe here in the city.It did raise an eyebrow though.
Barry

What is wrong with people? I repeat, it wasn't Jupiter.

We're not stupid enough to mistake something like Jupiter for something that was hovering literally only a few thousand feet above the ground (if that!). I would say it was about as high in the sky as a helicopter would have been, although....definitely wasn't a helicopter. Whatever it was, was strange and I've never seen anything so bright in the sky before. It just sat there, still as anything for about 20 minutes and then it just...dissapeared! No clouds, it was a clear night. I could see Jupiter, for what it's worth!

Originally posted by renbarry
reply to post by KatieVA

 

Was this on Tuesday night the 6th? I'm no astronomer but around 5pm Isasw a really bright light just right of the Moon. Brighter than the North Star. I've never seen something so bright next to the Moon. It became cloudy very quickly and I lost sight of it then. I live in the City centre but I've seen some incredible things in the Anfield area which I will share at a later date.
Barry

Tuesday night, yep! Wasn't next to the moon though, I can see out across Wirral and it was literally just hovering above in the sky. Whatever it was, looked pretty big.

Also, hello fellow Liverpudlian!

Date?

Time?

Direction?

And for the record, I was replying to another poster when I said Jupiter.

reply to post by KatieVA


I witnessed the exact same phenomenon over Birmingham UK 3 years ago. Still have no explanation to what it may have been.

Originally posted by woogleuk
Date?

Time?

Direction?

And for the record, I was replying to another poster when I said Jupiter.

It's ok, I didn't mean you

This was on tuesday the 6th of December, around 10pm-11pm. North west Uk, above Wirral/river Mersey.

I saw a light flashing up in the night sky in Dublin last summer, just standing completely still and not flashing. it was also bright like the brightest stars in the sky, and after I watched it for a few seconds it just "turned off" like it was switched off... And was gone.

Think you might have seen something there :-)

reply to post by KatieVA
It could have been the star Vega, which would have been around 15 degrees above the horizon at the time.

It wouldn't make you "stupid" for not recognizing a celestial body. That kind of mistake is made ALL THE TIME. Viewing conditions are not always typical so it isn't uncommon even for people familiar with the night sky. If it was a star or planet, you should be able to see it again during nights in the near future if you look in that direction at about the same time.

BTW, what about the sighting makes you certain it was something inside the atmosphere? How high above the horizon was it? Are there trees or buildings in the direction you were looking?

If it stayed still the whole time, how did you get perspective to be able to tell how far away it was? What made you feel like it was not outside the atmosphere? Thanks.