Melbourne UFO, Saturday 31st August; What did I see?

OK, no photos, no tales of abduction, and more than likely a totally natural occurence, but I'm still calling it a UFO. I witnessed something the other night of which I cannot identify, and anyone with knowledge of atmospheric phenomena who can help me with identification will receive my gratitude.

It was about 2:30 AM, and I was riding my bike home from a regular Friday evening /Saturday morning jam I participate in. The temperature was about 10 degrees Celsius and the sky was clear with a fair bit of ambient moonlight. I remember looking at the moon and out of the corner of my eye I noticed an object travelling at what appeared to be a decent clip (faster than a plane, or satellites I've observed). What was unusual was that the object was behaving in a similar manner to a match being struck. It was flickering and sputtering brightly and seemed to be moving parallel to the horizon. I was cycling and a house and tree obscured my vision of the object but I thought to myself - ok, the object should reemerge in a matter of seconds, and I can get a clearer view...

Alas, whatever this object was did not reappear, leaving me feeling a little stumped, as well as frustrated at having such a short glimpse of it. I've had one UFO sighting in my life I consider to be outside the realm of my normal day to day reality, and that was a good twenty years ago, so I feel a bit cheated at the brevity of my sighting. Between my becoming aware of the object, and its disappearance couldn't have been much longer than ten seconds - certainly no time to faff around with a phone camera which more likely than not would not have given a decent representation of the occurrence, if it would have been visible at all.

My own personal feelings are that I more than likely saw something (meteorite, space junk) burning up in the atmosphere, but if this is the case, it's an unusual/less conventional event than what I'm used to. I've seen plenty of 'shooting stars', but usually gravity seems more evident (the object did not change its height as far as I could see), and the flickering of the object was quite ferocious. I was travelling in a south-east direction, and the object came from the east-south-east, and was probably roughly at a 25 to 35 degree angle in the sky.

So here's where I turn to the collective mind of ATS, so that someone with greater knowledge than myself may be able to definitively identify what I saw, particularly anyone with an astronomical bent who may be aware of any identifiable phenomena at this rough time. If there are any other Melburnians who witnessed this event, I'm very interested to hear what you witnessed, and your take on it.

FYI, 2:30am is probably the prime time to see meteors. If I were to speculate on what you saw, that would be my best guess. Sounds like a great experience

Did it have any observable colour? BTW, I am taking it you are talking about this year. (see title)

I suspect what you seen was an Irridium Flare:



I remember seeing my first IF. I was looking up in the sky (looking for UFOs of course, cause that's how I roll) and I almost fell down when what appeared like a slow camera flash appeared right above..perfect awesome orb...quite bright also, then sort of slowly seeped away. I thought for sure it was the flippin mothership come to finally take me away (green space women, here I come!).

Then yeah, after a bit of research into my obvious total alien encounter, I realized it was just a iridium flare.
Still was cool to see given its general rarity unless you know when and where to look, but damn...I was packing bags and trying to figure out what best to wear while walking on alien worlds. dammit...

reply to post by SaturnFX

I suspect what you seen was an Irridium Flare:

Not at 2:30AM. Satellites, Iridium and otherwise, aren't visible more than a couple of hours from sunrise or sunset. They need to be lit by the Sun.

Could have been a meteorite that's called "An Earth Grazer". Those are meteorites that hit the Earth at an angle where they travel through a section of the upper atmosphere and skid off back into space. They Often tend to be the more substantial lumps of debris so are pretty damn bright. Don't forget, although it seems relatively low in the sky to you and running parallel, it could well be in the upper atmosphere, the line of sight is, to some extent, fooling you. I certainly wouldn't say that was a definite answer,without other data however, it is one that seems to fit the known information that has to be considered.

Originally posted by smurfy
Did it have any observable colour? BTW, I am taking it you are talking about this year. (see title)

Yes, this year, just a few days ago.

No colour, just bright flashes of white light.

reply to post by gavron


It was very interesting to watch, I only wish it could have been longer.

.reply to post by SaturnFX

Unfortunately YouTube is blocked at work so I can't comment on what you have posted. I will look when I get home this evening.

Sat 31st August?

Seriously?

Hasnt happened yet?

You have your dates totally screwed up.

31st of July you mean?

Not august. inless you are a time traveler.

I was in Melbourne until 8.00, boarded a plane back to Tasmania. didn't see anything what was your location?>

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by SaturnFX

 

I suspect what you seen was an Irridium Flare:

Not at 2:30AM. Satellites, Iridium and otherwise, aren't visible more than a couple of hours from sunrise or sunset. They need to be lit by the Sun.

edit on 7/31/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

Wouldn't that depend on the height and angle of the satellite in question? I understand the earths shadow would block out most satellite spotting of course...but even things off to the south (of Au) and far out?

reply to post by SaturnFX

Wouldn't that depend on the height and angle of the satellite in question?

The altitude, yes, to a certain degree. Think about a geosync satellite, about as high as they get (and not visible to the naked eye because of that). In the middle of the night they are in the dark too.

Originally posted by Melbourne_Militia
Sat 31st August?

Seriously?

Hasnt happened yet?

You have your dates totally screwed up.

Totally and utterly.

July, July, July!

reply to post by SaturnFX


Not an Iridium flare I think.

What I saw was quite a few magnitudes brighter, with a lot more flaring.

reply to post by cuckooold


Sadly if you cant get your days right......

Friday/sat in OZ was a week ago, not a couple of days ago, and not August and the 31 of July was last night. Friday week ago was the 26th of July

Take a breath get your date right so people can go back and look at what may have been in the sky that night at that time.

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Friday/Saturday was not a week ago, and when I posted this thread it was just over 4 days past. If you want to be so pedantic, yes it's not a 'couple of days', but saying it was 'a week ago' is also hardly correct.

I would be surprised if anyone had any trouble 'interpreting' the date I accidently put down, and if one was to be thrown out of sorts by my inadvertent time travelling, it's unlikely they would be able to tell me what I saw unless they too had the ability to travel in time, or to see the future from the present.

Good thing that most other members have a firm grip on general standard Earth time, while myself, the OP can lay claim to a sense of 'dyslexic time'.

What can I say other than, 'my bad'?

reply to post by cuckooold


so what date was it.
Do you know or not?

Im asking to help as someone can research what was in the sky on a date. Not to be pedantic....

reply to post by zazzafrazz


I would also like to know as the 31st July was yesterday, Wednesday!

I think given the OP said it happened Saturday morning its safe to assume the date was the 27th , if that's the case it may have had something to do with the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower .

The Delta Aquarids meteor shower is happening this weekend. It can be seen across the planet and sky watchers in the southern hemisphere and northern tropics are expected to have an especially good view. The best time to catch the meteor shower is between midnight and dawn. The Delta Aquarids will be visible from 27-29 July.
www.ibtimes.co.uk...

Gortex has the correct date (I don't even want to type it), early Saturday morning, now six days ago.

reply to post by cuckooold


I've seen this phenomenon in Brisbane too brother. You're not alone in your confusion! In fact one of these 'things' (they don't appear to be physical, but what do I know) put on a great show for me tonight at around 1am and I got some pretty fantastic footage of it with the city lights in the background for reference. The camera's battery is dead (as am I) so I'm going to bed for now, but I have tomorrow free so I'm going to go to the trouble & upload it this time.

These things are fascinating, and I have no idea what they are. I didn't believe in the realism of UFOs until I saw one for myself and caught it (or rather them) on video camera. Now all my friends & family are always on my case asking me questions about them lol. Whatever these things are, they have humanity's attention. I'm curious as to what they intend to do with it

"Interesting times" indeed. But bring it on I say! Why not?