UFO sighting 11/29/13

[shijing]

Just wanted to make a note that sbeaudry and cerogers just got in touch with me about 20 minutes ago to take a look at something strange in the sky above Tucson. When we went out to look, there was a very bright light with multiple spikes radiating out from the center (I counted nine or ten). It was brighter than anything else in the sky and seemed to hold steady at first, but as we watched it would move slightly in one direction and then another. From time to time there seemed to be some kind of light pulsating behind it at regular intervals. Then, fairly abruptly, it began to dim until there were no more spikes and it ultimately looked like kind of a hazy star (although it still appeared to move at uneven intervals). I just tried to look at it with some low-res binoculars, but it only looks like a dim little ball of light -- if I were to have seen it now for the first time, I wouldn't have noticed it against the background of the other stars in the sky.

 

[sbeaudry]

It was very strange. I also noticed the spikes though I didn't get an accurate count, but at least 6 at times. I stood and looked in a fixed direction with a 10' wood beam in front of me and it definitely moved at a semi steady pace from south to north from my perspective and vertically toward the ground as well. I agree it was the brightest object and subsequently dimmed to be almost unnoticeable before we came inside. It at times appeared to be possibly two objects and I also noticed some weird almost like electrical arcing or some such thing as longer spikes seemed to jut out further from about maybe a centimeter to an inch. Not sure how else to describe it. I tried to take some photos but none were very good. I'll try to post them anyways after I download them to the computer. It also appeared like it would move slightly left to right and then back again as well as up and down or in a circular motion, so we're certainly not sure what to make of it FWIW.

 

[shijing]

It at times appeared to be possibly two objects [...] It also appeared like it would move slightly left to right and then back again as well as up and down or in a circular motion, so we're certainly not sure what to make of it FWIW.

We noticed both of those things as well -- there was one point when it was dimming but before it had completely faded that it looked like two connected objects.

FWIW, driving back home this evening we also noticed at least one and possibly two probable bolide trails in the sky just before sunset. My daughter took pics with her phone, and I'll post them whenever she has a chance to download them and send them to me.

 

[sbeaudry]

Not great photos and I'm not sure if some of the effect visible in the photos is movement of the camera, as it was a cell phone, but figured I'd post anyway...

 

[cubbex]

I had a similar experience, it was big, as big as to be seen far believe me far far away, pyramid shape, pulsating between red and green. Let us know if something weird happens next.

 

[Laura]

Direction?

 

[HiThere]

There has been similar light spots in the sky where I live (Norway), starlike light spots too high up to be helicopters and with no sound, with a strong enough light to be visible though a light cloud cover, moving back and forth and in circles. It's been there the last two nights, and my wife pointed it out to me some weeks ago as well.

 

[SeekinTruth]

I've seen several strange star-like objects acting strangely in the last few years here in Armenia, as well. FWIW.

 

[shijing]

Direction?

It was in the southern sky. I live in the northwest of Tucson and sbeaudry lives in the southeast -- to me it looked almost dead south, and I think that's what sbeaudry was describing as well (we were talking over the phone as we were both watching), but he can confirm and add more details if need be. It's movements were pretty subtle, but we both tried to line it up with fixed points in our respective locations (mine was a treetop), and we both saw it move in the same directions at the same times.

My daughter suggested later that it looked like traditional depictions of the Star of Bethlehem, which I think is pretty accurate -- I've attached a couple of pictures that capture the general idea (the first one is particularly good, except there was no secondary halo and no beam of light extending downward). I also felt like the 'light spikes' (not sure what the appropriate term is) tended toward a bluish-green color at times, but I asked sbeaudry about it and I don't think he had the same impression.

 

[sbeaudry]

Direction?

It appeared to be headed north by northwest from my perspective headed away and down in the sky as far is it's overall movement goes over a 30-40 minute period... As far is it's general location in the sky, we are in the southeast side of Tucson (slightly north of Davis-Monthan) and the object was southwest of us, clearly south of Davis-Monthan. Unfortunately I'm not very good with describing these sorts of things, but that was my impression and I stood in the same fixed position for some time to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

[EDIT: added additional info I'd meant to include with CERogers input]

 

[sbeaudry]

Direction?

It was in the southern sky. I live in the northwest of Tucson and sbeaudry lives in the southeast -- to me it looked almost dead south, and I think that's what sbeaudry was describing as well (we were talking over the phone as we were both watching), but he can confirm and add more details if need be. It's movements were pretty subtle, but we both tried to line it up with fixed points in our respective locations (mine was a treetop), and we both saw it move in the same directions at the same times.

My daughter suggested later that it looked like traditional depictions of the Star of Bethlehem, which I think is pretty accurate -- I've attached a couple of pictures that capture the general idea (the first one is particularly good, except there was no secondary halo and no beam of light extending downward). I also felt like the 'light spikes' (not sure what the appropriate term is) tended toward a bluish-green color at times, but I asked sbeaudry about it and I don't think he had the same impression.

I would say the inner bright spikes seen in the 1st photo were pretty close to what I saw, though at times they seemed to elongate on one side or the other, in particular I saw several times, of what I can only describe as arcing, a longer spike that was curved out and downward extend about 2-3 times it's length, several times from the left and at least once on the right side from my perspective as well. As far as the bluish-green, CERogers says, it was kind of greenish at times then would 'spark' and turn reddish yellow, but overall more bluish-green as Shijing described. As for me, I noticed some slight color variations, but for the most part, when it was bright, it just resembled a very bright star as far as color goes.

There has been similar light spots in the sky where I live (Norway), starlike light spots too high up to be helicopters and with no sound, with a strong enough light to be visible though a light cloud cover, moving back and forth and in circles. It's been there the last two nights, and my wife pointed it out to me some weeks ago as well.

I would say this sounds very similar, except instead of too high it was way too far away and far too bright. It would be very difficult to judge how high it was, as it appeared to be a great distance away and it was very dark. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it. It was kind of spooky

 

[marek760]

several people from Poland seen lights like you describe, one of them recorded these light , im not sure its fake or not:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17p9ri_meteor-poland-27-11-2013_tech

 

[shijing]

I finally got the pictures from yesterday evening of what seemed to be a bolide trail and have attached four of them that were taken as I was driving. The resolution isn't good enough to show some of the details that we noticed when we first saw it, like one place where it corkscrewed or a couple where it tended to zig-zag. The first three pics were taken in the mid-town area, and the fourth is in the northwest, just to show how far it extended. If you look toward the upper right in the first three, you can kind of see where it expands at the end and then just disappears. In real life, that part of the trail was very dark, whereas the rest was lighter and multi-colored depending on how it caught the light (these were taken as it was approaching sunset, which was particularly striking and very red last night).

several people from Poland seen lights like you describe, one of them recorded these light , im not sure its fake or not:

That might be kind of like what the nighttime object looked like once it had faded, but it's hard to tell if it's the same kind of thing or not. Thinking about it more, what might explain a lot of the features we noticed is if it were a comet that we were basically seeing directly from behind. The wandering glow that we all noticed and the arcing that sbeaudry mentioned could have been discharge effects, and the way that it moved (what appeared to be slight, erratic movements in multiple directions) could have been small course deviations as seen from a posterior vantage point.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it. It was kind of spooky

We felt the same way -- in retrospect, one of the strangest things is that during the time it was fading in brightness (but before it had completely dimmed), it really did seem to look like two connected objects, but they were asymmetrical. It was hard to see more in any detail, but the fact that we could see even that much with the naked eye -- especially if it was as far away as it appeared -- gives me a strange feeling.

It also looks like there were some other reports the evening before on Thanksgiving:

http://www.kvoa.com/news/strange-lights-and-fireballs-seen-over-tucson-thanksgiving-night/

 

[sbeaudry]

This whole thing was kind of preempted by questions about relocation. I was thinking about some things Shijing said and went outside to look at the night sky. I was thinking, not that the universe had to show me a sign but it would be neat if it did and that's when I saw whatever it was. Anywho, I saw a similarly bright object in a similar position in the night sky last night, although it was not behaving erratically at all as far as I could see. I'm wondering if it could have been Venus (http://flandrau.org/resources/skywatchers/december2013).

Stars and Constellations

In December, the summer constellations are still visible for the first few hours of the night towards the west. The Summer Triangle is still fairly high, with Vega heading to the west-northwest, Deneb closest to the zenith, and Altair in the west-southwest. The center of the Milky Way is now below the horizon, but there is still a good portion of our galaxy we can see streaking high across the sky. The fall sky is now very prominent, getting high in the eastern sky. The "W" of Cassiopeia is very high in the north-northeast. In the absence of the Big Dipper (part of our spring sky) Cassiopeia can be used to locate the north star: The top (open side) of the "W" faces to the north, so in that direction look for a star about the same brightness as the main stars in Casssiopeia, and that will most likely be Polaris. Next, the Great Square of Pegasus is nearly in the middle of the sky. Andromeda is nearby in the northeast, with Perseus just below. There is also a fairly bright star called Fomalhaut in the south, though its constellation Piscis Austrinus is not easy to distinguish. Finally, the winter sky is beginning to come up along the eastern horizon. Taurus the bull is now up in the east with the bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades (aka the seven sisters or Subaru) star cluster. Auriga the charioteer is also up in the northeast, with the bright star Capella.



In January, the summer constellations are now very low in the west. Deneb is the highest point of the Summer Triangle in the northwest, with Vega below near the horizon, and Altair more towards the west. The Milky Way continues to streak across the sky, though the summer portion is now giving way to the winter portion. The fall constellations are now right in the middle of the sky. More of the winter constellations are now up, most notably Orion the hunter in the east below Taurus. Gemini the twins are also up in the east-northeast just below Auriga

Solar System

Venus is still a bright "evening star" in the southwest after sunset, In the constellation of Capricornus. It is now a thin crescent shape if you view it through a telescope, but is now getting closer to the sun in the sky.



Jupiter is now coming up soon after sunset and can be found in the constellation Gemini.

Although, that wouldn't explain why it appeared to be acting so strangely... I also found this (http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/venus.htm)... Could it have been Venus in conjunction with another planet that gave it that appearance of two objects and strange effects? Or was it something else altogether??? Based on the above it doesn't look it's supposed to be in conjunction with any other planets, so I'm still at a bit of a loss, but I'm no expert.

 

[shijing]

Anywho, I saw a similarly bright object in a similar position in the night sky last night, although it was not behaving erratically at all as far as I could see. I'm wondering if it could have been Venus [...]

I had the same thoughts last night. If it was Venus, one clue about why it may have appeared the way it did that night was that the sunset had been really red, which could mean there was a lot of stuff in the atmosphere that caused some unique refractory effects. I think that's probably the best explanation, although I'm also still puzzled about it looking like two objects at one point and that it appeared to move in various directions (whereas the same object last night was completely motionless), but there might be an explanation for those effects as well if there was something unusual going on in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, it's interesting that it happened at the same time you were wondering about getting a sign from the universe about relocation.