Unknown night sky object

[LowBat]

Back on topic, I found a yahoo thread on this. It appears many people, mostly local, saw this too. http://local.yahoo.com/neighbors/s2237

I see it also made YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKWZ097J1Xs

 

[ducat]

I can almost guarantee what you saw was a chinese lantern, a tiny hot air balloon made of paper with a candle inside.

We get hundreds of UFO reports in this country as people at parties set these things off into the sky, sometimes singly, as you saw, sometimes in chains. Once the candle burns out they come down.

We don't tend to have the same risk of fires as you do in the States, although I'm sure these things have been responsible for a few grass fires.

All down to some twonk at a party!

 

[LowBat]

I can almost guarantee what you saw was a chinese lantern, a tiny hot air balloon made of paper with a candle inside.

We get hundreds of UFO reports in this country as people at parties set these things off into the sky, sometimes singly, as you saw, sometimes in chains. Once the candle burns out they come down.

We don't tend to have the same risk of fires as you do in the States, although I'm sure these things have been responsible for a few grass fires.

I'm certainly open to theories. The localized reporting would help support the flare or candle theory. I have seen aerial flares before, including the type suspended by parachute. If it was a flare or balloon it was way up there. You did remind me of the time I saw someone launch a plastic dry cleaning bag that was powered from the hot air generated by a birthday candle which was supported by two popsical sticks. It floated up and was interesting to watch.

I have never seen anything free fall from space before (excluding meteors). I wish I had as it would give me a point of reference. The idea of the light being caused by a rocket booster may have some merit, but the only place around here that launches is Vandenberg, and that's hundreds of miles to the south. I'm sure my observer in Monterey would have seen what I saw even more clearly if it had been a Vandenberg launch, but he didn't.

EDIT: Ok, I've reread the yahoo thread and tried to map the points of observation with the direction people where observing the light. It looks like the light was indeed localized and not high altitude or low orbit as I originally suspected. This explains why others I called couldn't see it outside of my area. The passing station/shuttle appears to have been just a coincidence. I still think the light looked like something burning and I now suspect it was a flare, maybe suspended from a balloon and floating a long ways up.

 

[sabojo]

Lowbat, thanks for the Yahoo and Youtube links. I tip my hat to your superior Googling skills :thumbsup:.

No less than a minute after filing my MUFON report I got a call from a case worker she was an initial screener and said that another caseworker would be assigned to me. I then got an email the next day from a caseworker that wanted to speak with and visit me (interesting that they were also female). I forwarded her the yahoo and youtube links. I doubt that they'll still want to spend time with me, I have the least interesting & detailed report. No men in black, but maybe a lady in red?

I don't believe that any UFO sighting are of ET origin either and that any that remain unexplained are probably military (amazing at what kinds of things you can develop with trillions of dollars).

I think that the MUFON folks are serious, even though the sight looks hokey and they seem to lean towards the ET aspect. I figure that they are non-profit and need funding. There are a lot of ET enthusiasts willing to donate for that purpose, not so much to research flare toting baloons.

I must say that even though there is probably a reasonable explanation for what we saw, I am now little bit more open to the ET aspect (just a little).

 

[Illum]

okay, I think we can agree that this isn't a reentry:ohgeez:

While reentry may have different colors of light from fuel, metal, or a hideously wide variety of exotic gases at high purities burning off, they usually pose a tail of some sort before breaking up into smaller tailed objects...like this

 

[LowBat]

Thanks Illum, I guess we can pretty much rule out re-enrty.

Sabojo, I fixed the YouTube link, as I originally double posted the Yahoo link. And I too got an email asking me to call in and answer some questions for an investigator.

 

[Patriot]

I'll bet you were happy to discover that you weren't alone in your observations. Very cool to see youtube footage of your witnessed phenomena. That thing must have been darn bright in order for a consumer video cam to render an image with such ease. Amazing really and I just have to rule out in my own estimation lanterns and re-entering debris.

I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes/telescope. :popcorn: