Very High, Bright Over North West England

britannia191a · Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:59 am

Hi
Please dont moan if I have raised this in the wrong forum, because I do not know where to raise this however this is the story

At About 18:30 UK Time (1730GMT), I saw over 10 miles west of Manchester Airport a very bright light, I watched it for 30 minutes. It was travelling approx 330 Heading very slowly. Sometimes I could see it and sometimes I couldnt, assuming I could only see it when the reflection of the sun hit it. I looked in my binocs and couldnt see it apart from what I could see with the naked eye so it was very very high. I checked the satellite web pages on Nasa and couldnt identify any which was over head around that time. Anyone got any ideas. Could I see a Satellite under these conditions with a naked eye, was it a helium balloon. Any ideas. Thanks

BA380 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:20 am

could have been a A342 or A343 climbing out from MAN? stirthepot

BradWray · Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:22 am

Quoting BA380 (Reply 1):
could have been a A342 or A343 climbing out from MAN?

There hasnt been an A340 at MAN for a very long time!

Bradley!

BA380 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:36 am

fair enough... who has ever operated them? Air Jamaica?

boeingrulz · Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:48 am

I saw something very similar at my house last weekend. Sunday about 1900-1945 hours local time.

I saw a bright reflection ENE of my location which stayed approximately in the same position about 15 degrees above the hill for almost an hour as the sun was in the west behind me. In the binoculars the reflection was not identifiable. This object looked very very high. I thought it was a weather balloon because it was bright and shinny.

I was really mezmerized by it because I had never seen anything like it before.

britannia191a · Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:09 am

Quoting BA380 (Reply 1):
could have been a A342 or A343 climbing out from MAN?

Im sorry but i do know the difference between an A342/A343 and an extremely high object moving extremely slowly.

This was moving but very very slowly, as i say on a heading of approx 330, worked it out from the direction of the sun and moving across probably the centre of Manchester or slightly to the West.

Olympus69 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:44 am

Quoting Britannia191A (Reply 5):
Quoting BA380 (Reply 1):
could have been a A342 or A343 climbing out from MAN?

I'm sorry but i do know the difference between an A342/A343 and an extremely high object moving extremely slowly.

You evidently don't recognise humour/sarcasm when you see it.

aircanl1011 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:44 am

Quoting Britannia191A (Reply 5):
Im sorry but i do know the difference between an A342/A343 and an extremely high object moving extremely slowly

WOW, could you explain it please because an extremely high object moving extremely slowly describes the A342/A343 to me.

[Edited 2006-07-18 22:50:10]

aircanl1011 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:49 am

To be serious, maybe it was an alien space ship collecting data on Earth before the planned invasion!! alert

aircanada014 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:59 am

could it be a UFO? hehe

DLKAPA · Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:06 am

Quoting AirCanada014 (Reply 9):
could it be a UFO? hehe

At the moment I would say it is a UFO.

okelleynyc · Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:08 am

Quoting Britannia191A (Thread starter):
Please dont moan if I have raised this in the wrong forum, because I do not know where to raise this however this is the story

Britannia, was it this?

Occurred : 7/16/2006 15:30 (Entered as : 16.7.06 15:30)
Reported: 7/16/2006 8:29:03 AM 08:29
Posted: 7/16/2006
Location: Wirral (UK/England),
Shape: Sphere
Duration:15minutes
spherical moving object in sky ranging from fast to static

spherical object high in sky travelling slowly at apparently the same altitude to a certain point at which it paused for a few seconds then moved unbelievably fast to another spot high in the sky in a matter of a second and remained static in new posistion for about 10minutes occassionally dissapearing from view for a few seconds at time as if intermittently reflecting light,but always in the same spot. It finally dissapeared from view without moving away!

http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/051/S51370.html

billreid · Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:15 am

Common. Wasn't it that new device to check how much is in our bank account that airbus is going to incude in the A350-1000

MAAN · Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:49 am

Quoting BA380 (Reply 3):
fair enough... who has ever operated them? Air Jamaica?

Most recently, I'd say BWIA.

320tech · Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:52 am

To keep a grip on reality, it sounds like a high altitude weather balloon.

I have seen them in Canada, and they look exactly like what is being described here.

britannia191a · Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:59 am

Quoting Okelleynyc (Reply 11):
Britannia, was it this?

Occurred : 7/16/2006 15:30 (Entered as : 16.7.06 15:30)
Reported: 7/16/2006 8:29:03 AM 08:29
Posted: 7/16/2006
Location: Wirral (UK/England),
Shape: Sphere
Duration:15minutes
spherical moving object in sky ranging from fast to static

spherical object high in sky travelling slowly at apparently the same altitude to a certain point at which it paused for a few seconds then moved unbelievably fast to another spot high in the sky in a matter of a second and remained static in new posistion for about 10minutes occassionally dissapearing from view for a few seconds at time as if intermittently reflecting light,but always in the same spot. It finally dissapeared from view without moving away!

http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/051....html

Yes it was exactly that - so i saw it 18/7 at 18:40 UK time , wow, so two sightings 2 days apart

GQfluffy · Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:21 pm

Quoting Britannia191A (Thread starter):

International Space Station...

jupiter2 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:30 pm

I know its not likley in the North West of England, but................
could it have been the Sun ?????????
I mean being bright, slow moving, etc, etc.

RL

okelleynyc · Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:37 pm

Quoting Britannia191A (Reply 15):
Yes it was exactly that - so i saw it 18/7 at 18:40 UK time , wow, so two sightings 2 days apart

Not surprising. There have been a number of strange sitings from "credible" i.e. knowledgeable folks in the U.K. recently. They're probably ours, but interesting nonetheless....

Wirral is located just slightly West of you, no?

ANCFlyer · Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:43 pm

B744Fs mothership out looking for him . . . .

britannia191a · Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:58 pm

Quoting Okelleynyc (Reply 18):
Not surprising. There have been a number of strange sitings from "credible" i.e. knowledgeable folks in the U.K. recently. They're probably ours, but interesting nonetheless....

Wirral is located just slightly West of you, no?

Yes i Live 20mile south of the Wirral, but would be interesting to know what it was..

ba757gla · Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:07 pm

it could be the space station because last year i looked up the times for it to pass over and it was on time for 2 nights in a row. 2 nights ago i spotted moving objects i think they were satilites.

BlueShamu330s · Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:09 pm

Mrs Shamu (my very own ATCO Annie) suggests it might be something to do with the Ordnance Survey flights which have been taking advantage of the clear skies this week at various altitudes and flight levels.

If it was high, slow and running closeley spaced horizontal tracks, it could have been them.

There have been no other unusual known movements over the MACC area of responsibility this week.

Shamu.

Shamu

FlyKev · Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:24 pm

Well we will know if its a UFO when the CIA turn up on your doorstep and bundle you on a plane to Guantanamo bay, or some middle eastern country Wink

Jokes aside, i think its most likely a weather balloon. However its good to know your not alone in seeing this.

kev.

scouseflyer · Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:34 pm

Quoting Ba757gla (Reply 21):
it could be the space station because last year i looked up the times for it to pass over and it was on time for 2 nights in a row. 2 nights ago i spotted moving objects i think they were satilites.

Is there a site that shows the track of the ISS so that I can see if I can see it in these ridiculously clear nights we're having atm?

By the way I live on the Wirral - I'll look out for anymore of these baloons - we normally only get to see Easyjet and Ryanair planes for LPL and the occasional Beluga going to Broughton when the wind's in a particular direction.

bhxdtw · Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:06 pm

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Check thisout.. should take you to the ISS tracking page... reallllly cool !

Joe

okelleynyc · Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:32 pm

Quoting BHXDTW (Reply 25):
Check thisout.. should take you to the ISS tracking page... reallllly cool !

I think we can eliminate the ISS as a possibility. I believe that the UK is too far north to view the station. Also, the window to see the ISS is typically around 2 to 4 minutes as it scoots across the sky at a pretty good clip....

Brittania said he watched this for approximately 30 minutes.

bhxdtw · Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:45 am

Ahhh I see... Ive been tracking the ISS all day and boy that thing shoots around the planet !!!

btw.. off topic and should be in another forum but... any ideas what they actually do up there in the ISS ?? a gas station for the enterprise maybe ?

Joe

britannia191a · Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:45 am

Quoting BlueShamu330s (Reply 22):
Mrs Shamu (my very own ATCO Annie) suggests it might be something to do with the Ordnance Survey flights which have been taking advantage of the clear skies this week at various altitudes and flight levels.

If it was high, slow and running closeley spaced horizontal tracks, it could have been them.

There have been no other unusual known movements over the MACC area of responsibility this week.

Shamu.

Shamu

Hi , how high do these things fly. This "thing" was silver , sphere like and well above 35,000ft, I am guessing the altitude as I know what a 737 looks like at say 35000ft, size , dimensions etc.. unless it was very very small.

It looked like it was on a trajectory as it didnt seem to deviate off a course so it was a consistant direction. As I say one minute it was there next you couldnt see it bu this was down to the light reflection from the sun setting in the west. Like i say heading approx 330 over crewe area around 1830 UK time and i followed it for 30 mins until I would say approx over the wirral area if that gives a speed indication.

If it helps what made me notice it was the sudden light reflection as if a star had appeared in the blue sky.

Very strange but comforting to know that there have been sightings a few days ago of the same thing.

scouseflyer · Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:46 am

Quoting BHXDTW (Reply 25):
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Check thisout.. should take you to the ISS tracking page... reallllly cool !

Joe

Brilliant thanks!

lehpron · Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:01 am

How is it that when people associate things to UFO's, they are not taken seriously or that the subject is defaulted to humor? What's it matter to anyone?

Quoting BHXDTW (Reply 27):
btw.. off topic and should be in another forum but... any ideas what they actually do up there in the ISS ?? a gas station for the enterprise maybe ?

It's a series of scientific labs studying most things that would be affected by a loss of gravity, such as plant growth and human mucle tissue, etc.

planesarecool · Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:12 am

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 17):
I know its not likley in the North West of England, but................
could it have been the Sun ?????????
I mean being bright, slow moving, etc, etc.

BigOrange · Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:23 am

AFAIK Ordnance Survey flights are carried out by Islander aircraft, therefore you can rule that out.

Could possibly be a US unmanned aircraft/drone, they have some sphere shaped ones

[Edited 2006-07-19 18:25:07]

BlueShamu330s · Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:03 am

Quoting BigOrange (Reply 32):
AFAIK Ordnance Survey flights are carried out by Islander aircraft, therefore you can rule that out.

This week they have been using an Islander up to 5,700 ft agl and a 125 for upper work (a couple of evenings ago, they were covering roughly an area 20 nm east and west of the POL - TNT track at 34,600 ft agl, flying at 180kts.

I understand it is operating today over the Vale of York.

Shamu

bestpilot · Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:38 am

I've seen something similar to this. I watched a missile launched from Vandenberg AFB in CA do crazy stuff in the sky. I believe it was part of the testing process of the missile defense system. The exhaust created CRAZY contrails* in the sky that hung there for an hour or so.

On another note, the international space station looks like a very big and bright star that moves across the sky in about a minute.

*I know that they aren't really contrails.

britannia191a · Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:39 am

Quoting BlueShamu330s (Reply 33):
This week they have been using an Islander up to 5,700 ft agl and a 125 for upper work (a couple of evenings ago, they were covering roughly an area 20 nm east and west of the POL - TNT track at 34,600 ft agl, flying at 180kts.

I understand it is operating today over the Vale of York.

Shamu

This was was much higher then a normal aircraft height as I explained before the closest description so far has been this

Quoting Okelleynyc (Reply 11):
Britannia, was it this?

Occurred : 7/16/2006 15:30 (Entered as : 16.7.06 15:30)
Reported: 7/16/2006 8:29:03 AM 08:29
Posted: 7/16/2006
Location: Wirral (UK/England),
Shape: Sphere
Duration:15minutes
spherical moving object in sky ranging from fast to static

spherical object high in sky travelling slowly at apparently the same altitude to a certain point at which it paused for a few seconds then moved unbelievably fast to another spot high in the sky in a matter of a second and remained static in new posistion for about 10minutes occassionally dissapearing from view for a few seconds at time as if intermittently reflecting light,but always in the same spot. It finally dissapeared from view without moving away!

http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/051....html

boysteve · Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:29 am

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 17):
I know its not likley in the North West of England, but................
could it have been the Sun ?????????
I mean being bright, slow moving, etc, etc

Cheeky bastard! I got sunburnt in Manchester Yesterday!

astuteman · Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:12 am

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 17):
I know its not likley in the North West of England, but................
could it have been the Sun ?????????
I mean being bright, slow moving, etc, etc.

You SO picked the wrong week to target us with this comment Smile

Quoting Boysteve (Reply 36):
Cheeky bastard! I got sunburnt in Manchester Yesterday!

Exactly. We've been in the '30's C (high '80's, low '90;s) all week - Wall-to-Wall bright, slow-moving................er, what is that strange thing biggrin

?

Regards

BlueShamu330s · Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:22 am

Quoting Britannia191A (Reply 35):
This was was much higher then a normal aircraft height as I explained before the closest description so far has been this

Quoting Okelleynyc (Reply 11):
Britannia, was it this?

Occurred : 7/16/2006 15:30 (Entered as : 16.7.06 15:30)
Reported: 7/16/2006 8:29:03 AM 08:29
Posted: 7/16/2006

So this was a report of a future sighting...?

Check the times.

A Heading of 330 and the time you made the sighting would tie up with the track the survey was doing that day.

Not trying to pee on anybody's parade, but there is often a very plausible explanation for the unexplained!

The only other contribution I can offer you is that the quality of upwards vertical visibility is greatly diminished in this kind of weather, especially in areas of haze, dust and smoke (eg., in the vicinity of a city). This might have made you perceive the "object" to have had few distinguishing features and to guage it as having been further away in the vertical plain than it actually was.

Shamu

BCNGRO · Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:39 am

Perhaps it was an Iridium flare. You can check them here: http://www.heavens-above.com

okelleynyc · Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:13 am

Quoting BlueShamu330s (Reply 38):
So this was a report of a future sighting...?

Check the times.

Nope, the time difference between Manchester and the Pacific West Coast is 8 hours. So when the report was submitted to NUFORC it was 7:30 AM in Washington state. NUFORC posted the encounter an hour later.

Quoting BlueShamu330s (Reply 38):
Not trying to pee on anybody's parade, but there is often a very plausible explanation for the unexplained!

You're not peeing on anybody's parade. You're actually correct that most of these are either atmospheric phenomena, celestial events, black program aircraft, etc. I just tend to pay attention more to folks like Britannia when he says he saw something unusual/out of the ordinary... Plus it's fun to speculate. scratchchin

davestanKSAN · Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:27 am

Hmm very interesting.....Wonder what it was?

Quoting Bestpilot (Reply 34):
I've seen something similar to this. I watched a missile launched from Vandenberg AFB in CA do crazy stuff in the sky. I believe it was part of the testing process of the missile defense system. The exhaust created CRAZY contrails* in the sky that hung there for an hour or so.

It was certainly cool to watch! Heres a pic I took of it:

Cheers,
Dave

jupiter2 · Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:16 am

Good to see you boys in the UK still have a sense of humour.......

I mean with that hot sun beating down on you, it could be playing tricks with the mind !!!

Certainly no threat of that happening here at the moment, at least not the heat part, 15 celsius, although clear as a bell at the moment.

Enjoy the sun while you can.

RL

boysteve · Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:19 am

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 42):
Good to see you boys in the UK still have a sense of humour.......

We will never loose it, you can count on that!

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 42):
I mean with that hot sun beating down on you, it could be playing tricks with the mind !!!

You have a good point!

astuteman · Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:35 pm

Quoting Jupiter2 (Reply 42):
I mean with that hot sun beating down on you, it could be playing tricks with the mind !!!

Relax - business as usual this (Thursday) morning - it's p**ing down.
Still mid-20's C though Smile

Regards

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