UFO sightings bring town to a standstill

[CheezeFlixz]

A crowd of 100 stunned stargazers brought a town center to a standstill when five mysterious UFOs were spotted hovering in the sky.

Drinkers spilled out of pubs, motorists stopped to gawk and camera phones were aimed upwards as the five orbs, in a seeming formation, hovered above Stratford-Upon-Avon for half an hour.

The unidentified flying objects lit up the otherwise clear night sky above Shakespeare's birthplace in Warwickshire on Saturday.

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So are we being visited from another world? Or is can it be explained away?

[Dennis]

I spend a lot of time looking at the night sky (amateur astronomer) and these lights could be anything from chem lights in helium balloons that are tied together, to a formation of alien spacecraft, there's just no way to tell from the picture. What the picture does show is something in the night sky that is very odd, something that shouldn't be there. They're exactly what the witnesses said they are, lights in the sky, unidentified flying objects, no more, no less. What has always amazed me about this kind of thing is that there is one group of people who will say that these are in fact otherworldly spacecraft, and another group of people who won't even look at the picture before telling the rest of us that this is swamp gas or weather balloons. If you tell people you are interested in UFOs they either think you're joking or that you're a member of the lunatic fringe, but if you think about it there is a small amount of sightings that can't really be explained away by weather ballons, swamp gas, satellites etc.

For those who are interested it is very easy to spot satellites as they fly overhead. Once it's full night find a comfortable spot outside away from any lights and look up at the stars, you don't need a telescope or even binoculars, what you will see sooner or later is a moving light high up in the sky, usually moving from north to south,  looks like a small star, moving to fast to be a plane, it will sort of fade out as it passes into the earth's shadow because what you're actually seeing is the sunlight reflected off the satellite

[CheezeFlixz]

If I'm outside at around 11 or 12 CDT or so there are 4 satellites that move south to north in a lazy L pattern. I've had friends over and if we're outside I'll keep an eye out for them ... then point at them and go OH MY GOD UFO'S!!! So far I've only got to do it once but it was fun as for a minute they bought it. I don't see them every night but a ever so often I'll spot them. I guess there mapping satellites.

[RCMerchant]

Whatever they are...they sure are fun,and it makes for  a good break in the monotony of life. To dream....!

[Dennis]

If I'm outside at around 11 or 12 CDT or so there are 4 satellites that move south to north in a lazy L pattern. I've had friends over and if we're outside I'll keep an eye out for them ... then point at them and go OH MY GOD UFO'S!!! So far I've only got to do it once but it was fun as for a minute they bought it. I don't see them every night but a ever so often I'll spot them. I guess there mapping satellites.

The wife and I do our stargazing in our driveway, once in a while some of the neighbors walk by, ask what we're looking at, is it interesting etc. One of these nights I'm going jump back from the telescope and shout "GOOD LORD THIS ONE WILL HIT US!"
Don't know how they'll react, hope they have a sense of humor.

Whatever they are...they sure are fun,and it makes for  a good break in the monotony of life. To dream....!

You are right about that RC, I would really like to meet an extraterrestrial, it would be an interesting experience.   

[Mr. DS]

Those lights were my relatives en route coming to visit me from another galaxy. 

In all seriousness, I've seen so many odd things in the sky but I always end up chucking them off as a plane.  Maybe I shouldn't from now on. 

[Dennis]

You don't need much to get started, just a good pair of binoculars and a blanket, spread the blanket out in a spot that has a good view of the night sky, lay down on your back and look up.The binoculars will allow you to see a whole lot more than the naked eye. There are books available that will help you figure out what you're seeing, they will have starcharts of the night sky and are very helpful. You can then decide how far to pursue this as a hobby because while it's a lot of fun to look into the craters of the Moon or Saturn's rings it can get pretty expensive.
Poogie and I are just dabblers in this, not as serious as some amateur astronomers, and we've got about $1200.00 invested in telescopes, binoculars and tripods. It can be addictive, the more you see, the more you want to see so you upgrade your equipment. Astronomy is a very pleasant and fun way to spend the night time hours, and if you don't get carried away it doesn't have to be all that expensive.

[CheezeFlixz]

A book you can buy? That's those things with paper in them right?

Here's a FREE FREE FREE program you can get that does star charts ...

http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/


I live way out in the country so I don't have to worry about city lights polluting the night sky, we have a lot of humidity so I don't get the views that SW getting but I can still see the Milky Way pretty good with the naked eye. I've got a small telescope and some binos, there are times I think of getting something bigger buy I don't want to let go of the cash.

[Dennis]

I sometimes forget exactly how much is available to people with an internet connection, there are lots of great sites for astronomy out there, if you're interested in photographs NASA has a great site.
I know what you mean about parting with the cash, once you start it's hard to stop. One down side to this hobby is that the best time for it is usually in the fall and winter on cold nights, however you can rig up a video connection to your motorised telescope and watch on your TV from inside your house in comfort, all it takes is $$$$$$$$$, which why it's not going to happen for me.