Ufo sighted!!!

[Nath2099]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7xW0H8XL1DdalFzOXdzVVQ1Tz Q

Hi folks, wondering what we may have seen on Saturday night, visible with the naked eye, at around the point of Orinids on the attached screen capture. It looked much like a normal star, but there was a distinct red flashing in the bottom left quadrant (Apparently visible to the naked eye although I couldn't make it out without binos). It was almost as if a plane was flying directly away from us, a long long way away, with it's nav lights flashing.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Nate.

[astroron]

Good to see you got out the bino's:)
Usual questions I ask with this type of sighting,
Time of sighting,altitude,length of time the object was visible.
Sky quality, how many people saw it.:question:
One possibility is a meteor,either going directly away from your line of sight,or conversely coming directly towards.
Again,I like your aircraft diagnosis .
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Nath2099]

We actually had the scope out as well, but I was knackered from work and couldn't be arsed setting it up properly. Having a lot of trouble trying to find Octans through the polar scope, but that's a story for another time.

So this thing was low in the ENE, maybe 10 deg above the horizon, at about 9 or 10pm, 7-8 beers...

It was seen by 5 or 6 people (2 completely sober!), one guy actually said it was a plane, then we watched it for a bit and it didn't seem to go anywhere, at least no further than any other stars, so he changed his mind. That's how bright the red flashing was...

From memory, the red flashing was quite random, not a set rate as you'd expect from a plane.

[Nath2099]

Sry should add it was visible for the probably 20 minutes we spent wondering about it, then conversation went in other directions, no idea how long after that. I could also add that we couldn't get a focus on it with the scope, it was within the range of the focus mech, as we could go either side, but it still looked out of focus.

[Nath2099]

Clear skies, maybe a few high clouds, as for 'seeing' conditions... I have no idea. My first thought was atmospheric conditions messing with the light from a star.

[astroron]

Possibly a Blimp or helecopter?
I would be more in favour of the blimp though which could
possibly explain why you could not obtain focus.
I have seen blimps operating at night in the past
Where are you located.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[astroron]

I don't know if you have seen or read this thread,:question:
If not give it a go it will give you some good directions.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=150146
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Nath2099]

This was in Picton... So ENE would put it around the Cronulla area maybe...

[Atmos]

Depending on height it could have been a 2-4kg quad copter thing, it has several flashing lights and there are a lot of people playing around with them these days.

[Nath2099]

Nah it was in the same spot for way to long. I'm thinking maybe a blimp, anyone from the Shire area see anything?!

[julianh72]

That low makes me wonder - any chance it was the aircraft warning lights on a distant antenna tower or chimney?

Is this a regular viewing spot? Any chance you can take another look tonight?

[gaseous]

Was it moving very slowly? I just scrolled through Stellarium for Saturday night just past - between 9.20pm and 10.20pm (Brisbane time), an artificial satellite playfully named RBSP-A was moving through the area you mention.

[Nath2099]

Could have been an antenna tower I guess, maybe from the airport which is in that direction, but a long way over the horizon I'd suspect... it would be a tall one! My mates going to have another look tonight to see if it's still there. It was in basically the same spot for 20 minutes, so I don't think it was a satellite.

We did however see a satellite screaming over the sky heading in that direction at about the same time. I assume it was spinning as it would flash super bright every couple of seconds. That was cool!

[Nath2099]

Sorry, it was actually Friday night...

[xelasnave]

Hi Nath
I sure would appreciate you contributing with a short note in the thread Ron referred to above.
Just your observation and conclusion if you dont have much time but if you can give us all you have.
Thank you if you can help I sure would appreciate it.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Check out iridium flares.
There is a site that you can identify if you saw one and where youcan see the next one.

Heavens above is the site from recollection but if I am wrong someone will kindly correct my mistake.
Alex