Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:

Juraj wrote:And where is the UFO possibility? Without it, it has no value.

It's a UFO until it isn't.

No, because then it is an IFO (Identified Flying Object). :wink:

Exactly.

Chris Peterson wrote:

Juraj wrote:And where is the UFO possibility? Without it, it has no value.

It's a UFO until it isn't.

No, because then it is an IFO (Identified Flying Object).

Ann

Juraj wrote:And where is the UFO possibility? Without it, it has no value.

It's a UFO until it isn't.

And where is the UFO possibility? Without it, it has no value.

D^3 wrote:One source of mysterious lights, especially near water, is the reflection of terrestrial or watercraft lights off of birds such as seagulls. Some feathers are very reflective. They have been mistaken for UFOs numerous times. I have seen this effect myself, and was surprised by how bright they can be. In my case, the birds were not that far away, and it wasn't hard to figure out that they were birds, but there are other recorded cases where it was more difficult to discern. The flight path of the birds could be quite complicated.

I, too, have been startled at the sight of seagulls flying fast at night.

Ann

A quick, bright blue tear drop? space staff returning from ISS, almost ready to land.

Two years ago from the Southeastern US I saw a stationary (at least it appeared stationary) blinking light while looking SSE. It was fairly high in my field of view, but still south of my zenith. It blinked about every 10 seconds. I saw it a few times over the course of a couple of weeks at about the same time of night. I could find it any clear night. I figured it was a geostational (sp?) satellite that was spinning and reflecting sunlight. Has any one else seen something like that?

D^3 wrote:One source of mysterious lights, especially near water, is the reflection of terrestrial or watercraft lights off of birds such as seagulls. Some feathers are very reflective. They have been mistaken for UFOs numerous times. I have seen this effect myself, and was surprised by how bright they can be. In my case, the birds were not that far away, and it wasn't hard to figure out that they were birds, but there are other recorded cases where it was more difficult to discern. The flight path of the birds could be quite complicated.

Not only near the water. My allsky camera network regularly records owls flying overhead and mistakes them for meteors. In the middle of the Rockies.

One source of mysterious lights, especially near water, is the reflection of terrestrial or watercraft lights off of birds such as seagulls. Some feathers are very reflective. They have been mistaken for UFOs numerous times. I have seen this effect myself, and was surprised by how bright they can be. In my case, the birds were not that far away, and it wasn't hard to figure out that they were birds, but there are other recorded cases where it was more difficult to discern. The flight path of the birds could be quite complicated.

A quick reply to Quintin Gumucio: Under the right conditions, Mercury is actually quite bright! Earlier this month, when Mercury was near both Mars and the bright star Regulus, Mercury was the brightest of the three.

A number of years ago during a Lunar eclipse, I observed what appeared to be two satellites traveling in tandem. That caught my attention as that seemed not right, when one made a 90 degree turn in an instant and headed on that trajectory until fading out of sight quickly.

You neglected to include very large objects hovering in the sky with lights all over them: one type with very loud audible tones being repeated over and over, the other with destructive rays shooting out.

Dr_Steve wrote:
Is it Christmas Eve, you see a lighted red nose and someone is shouting "Ho, ho, ho?"

That might be my grandfather: Rudolph Carl Neuendorffer.

(I'm still trying to figure out everything in my grandmother's thick Bryn Mawr Lamb calculus text.)

https://books.google.com/books?id=fUMbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=Rudolph+C+Neuendorffer&source=bl&ots=F_c18M0wJl&sig=VZCG7dBUJS7GNoQvB-TUjYIKNf8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiF-KTUwMDWAhViwlQKHSPxCTEQ6AEINzAG#v=onepage&q=Rudolph%20C%20Neuendorffer&f=false wrote:
Bryn Mawr College Register of Alumnæ and Former Students:

• Sinn, Esther Marion,......875 West 180th Street, New York City.
  
  A.B., 1904, group, Latin and Mathematics.
  
  Married, 1917, Mr. Rudolph C. Neuendorffer. One son, one daughter.

Is it Christmas Eve, you see a lighted red nose and someone is shouting "Ho, ho, ho?"

One thing missing is Iridium Flares. Not sure whether they are "yes" or "no" to "so quickly you almost missed it ?". They're not that quick, but if you're looking at a different part of the sky and just catch it out of the corner of your eye, as you turn towards it, it can already be fading.

Also "is it blinking ?" "Yes" could be a tumbling rocket body.

Lukas Stratmann wrote:Fuzzy without tail: probably the Andromeda galaxy?

Or one of the Magellanic Clouds, for those further south.

I've seen once a light in the sky, very bright, like a ball of fire, seemingly not moving, from afar high in the north sky. (ruled out venus)
after a minute Iv'e noticed it is moving slowly upwards, and then downwards, very slowly, I was very exited of the possibilities,
then it started smoking, and I realized it was an illuminating bomb...

snooks5647@hotmail.com wrote:While living on Oahu a couple of decades back, in the middle of the night while in the bathroom, I witnessed a HUGE light coming from the West, going over the house (and island), and disappearing in the East. It happened almost instantaneously, made no noise, and lit up the entire sky. I figured it had to either be a meteor or space junk. No space junk is on the chart, and should have a place on it.

That would almost certainly have been a meteor. Space junk isn't that bright as a rule, and travels slower than the slowest meteors. If you're underneath a long space junk trail (e.g. horizon to horizon) the event will last from 30-60 seconds. A fireball of that length is likely to last less than 10 seconds.

While living on Oahu a couple of decades back, in the middle of the night while in the bathroom, I witnessed a HUGE light coming from the West, going over the house (and island), and disappearing in the East. It happened almost instantaneously, made no noise, and lit up the entire sky. I figured it had to either be a meteor or space junk. No space junk is on the chart, and should have a place on it.

Some lights I have seen which I am not sure where they fit in the chart. Can you identify them? (1) This is a fairly bright light, moves quickly, forms a long root like squiggly line, sometimes to the ground, is sometimes pictured being thrown by the mythological Zeus or Thor, and is usually accompanied by a loud thunderous sound a couple seconds later. (2) This light is rather silent, mostly dim, varies in color from greens to reds to whites, sometimes covers a large portion of the sky, and is usually seen above the Arctic Circle. (or below the Antarctic Circle.) (3) These lights are rather localized to a square mile or so. They are first seen as a thin sliver of light shooting almost vertically. Then there is a loud sound and a burst of multitudinous colors from a reds to blues and whites that usually spread out in a fan shape, ball shape, or a flame shape that lasts a few seconds and then they fade out. These lights seem to be not randomly seen but usually during sporting events finals, musical festivities and on the Fourth of July after dusk and at midnight of New Year's Eve.

I saw quiet helicopters late at night with their lights on. a flock of them, likean air show. It was misterious until the pakistani adventure was revealed.

Pretty good. Officially, "bolide" and "fireball" are synonyms, so shouldn't have separate boxes. But colloquially the terms are often used this way, so for a light hearted chart, it works. Decaying space debris looks a lot like a fireball, just a bit slower than usual and often with more of a train. It's common enough that it should probably have its own box. And a big miss is the absence of balloons- everything from little mylar birthday balloons a few hundred meters away to weather balloons tens of kilometers away commonly show up and make people wonder what they're seeing.

I saw one that was a little different:
really big -> No
moving -> Yes
quickly -> No
blinking -> No
jumping around, left, right, up down -> Yes

It is a meteorite that is coming directly at you!

I think they forgot "training exercise"

That's ridiculous, Ann.

The Enterprise has artificial gravity on board, as any fule kno. No need to spin the accomodation.

John