UFO'S on Sunshine Coast?

[astroron]

I have just had a very long phone call from a lady from Maroochydore giving me a very graphic account of an armada of UFO's flying in front of the Moon and Diving down towards the sea over the area.
She said she was once a member and secretary of the Albury astronomical society so she knew about astronomy.
I got the feeling she is a dedicated UFO buff.
Did anyone else on the SUNSHINE COAST hear or see anything:question:

[Octane]

Pics or it never happened.

H

[bam]

Yes I did , that is my wife you that rang you Ron. When I first saw the these lights I immediatly knocked on some neighbours doors so they could see it to and they were very amazed . Oneneighbour said I can say only two words " they're here " I added maybe "what the" . groups of 7 -10 red lights lights below the cloud very easy to see in a sort of formation traveling towards Brisbane way. bam

[astroron]

Thanks Bam,:welcome: to iceinspace.
With the amount of astronomers out there taking photo's and observing the Eclipse of the Moon,I thought there would be a lot of reports :question:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Check with the nearest RAAF base and see if they were running any night exercises in the area. Anti-collision lights can be seen from a long way off and are easily reflected off low cloud, while modern jet engines are designed to be relatively quiet, hence a lack of noise.
Its not QUITE as sexy as aliens in UFOs, but high speed formation flying is still pretty fab!

[astroron]

Bam could you give us a more comprehensive report of what you saw:question:

[pgc hunter]

But military jets are extremely loud.

[bam]

:thanx:The groups of lights kept on coming non stop for a long time maybe close to an hour with very short spaces between the groups. Must have been easily 60 or more - we lost count so absorbed in trying to work out in what we were seeing as these objects were soundless all the same very bright red - orange diamond shape . W e noticed one of these going faster than the others it passed other lights then stopped and then dived straight down towards ground or ocean .They all were lower than the moon except for one which actually crossed in front of the moon . these lights were coming fromthe north Coolum area towards Alex Headlands then south towards Brisbane . We thought it was finally over and we all went back to our houses and my wife decided 5 mins later to have another look and called out to me "there is another one coming". I raced outside to see a larger one traveling much slower than the others and it stopped directly accross from our house and stayed stationary for 5 min or more. My wife phoned lady next door who had not seen any of the others she came out and saw this also before it moved slowly towards ocean - not south where the others had gone , after that we don't know as we retired shortly after . No reasonable expanation comes to mind , the Maroochydore police station also received numerous calls re same Bam

[MikeyB]

Sunshine Coast Daily: UFO Sighting - Bright Orange Lights (http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/06/27/ufo-sighting-bright-orange-lights/)

Rather than, "No reasonable explanation comes to mind", this sounds to me very like an atmospheric mirage effect reflecting distant vehicle lights. Unfortunately, witness reports so far say nothing about weather conditions at the time.

The possibility of pranksters with lasers, spotlights or pyrotechnics cannot be discounted either, particularly on a night when a large potential audience would be outside gazing at the moon.

[astroron]

:shrug:
Can you give us details , such as size of lights, brightness,
It seems strange that there is nothing on the internet,RADIO,TV :question:
I did not see the post above, I must have been typing as it was posted.
I had previously checked the Sunshine Coast Daily site and there was nothing there:shrug:

[hotspur]

Don't waste your time Ron,I am rather tiresome of all this UFO rot,recently we had the same thing here,Around Kingaroy,when Venus was low it the West a couple of months ago,there was some grass burning off,so Venus 'appeared' to move.-lots of smoke low in the west-so 'mirage' effect,quite common responsible for many UFO sightings around the world ,at different times

I explained all this to the local news paper who featured the UFO,they printed my interview,but no mention of what I explained,all they were interested in was if I believed in life in outer space or not.

I find it very difficult to believe all these stories,why is it so many astronomers and like minded people on such a site as this,have never seen these machines etc.considering we speed a quite a bit of time in the night,Why is it people who hardly ever look at the night sky seeing all these weird and wonderful things.

Simple,they cannot reason or understand what they are seeing-so its a UFO,and then ........so it goes on.

Like Humayan says -pictures,and what they say over on the fishing forum "a story without pictures-is just that-a story!"

So don't waste your time Ron.

Cheers Chris

[hotspur]

MikeyB is right on the money.all yesterday I obsevered 'mackeral clouds' traveling from North-west to east-south east,all day-this usually means a good sunset (and it was check out my 'winter sunset pics' in terestrial photography).also put a pic on this thread,note the speckled nature of the cloud away from the west,my son did a time lapse video of these yesterday-they were moving fast.

These mackeral cloud formations continued into the night,I have'nt observed these types of clouds for a long time.

According to the kiddies UFO book,various types of cloud formations are responsibe for many UFO sightings world wide,geuss which type of cloud formation was in the top 3?

Anyhow,Ron-sounds like you have a dedicated 'UFOologist' and the many resonable explanations will not suffice.:shrug:

Good luck Ron.

regards Chris

[MrB]

I'm rather tired of people that read the letters UFO and assume the OP means 'aliens'

Do I believe aliens are buzzing around up there? Nope.
But I do believe people see things and those things are called UFO's.... that is, UNIDENTIFIED flying object, be it cloud or whatever, it's an unidentified flying object until it is identified, not aliens.

Chill out.

[Suzy]

Chris, whilst it is true that so many of us looking through our telescopes on any given night never come across this stuff, I find your response rather harsh. You sound like you are personally attacking these people, when all they seek to do is get some answers. The media is a different pool and you can’t compare them to the everyday person.

Many people out there that see strange occurrences are scared and just want an explanation. They don’t have the knowledge to interpret what it could be. We are curious people, when see strange things, we seek to find answers at the risk of being called looney. Let’s not forget, the term UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Objects, not necessarily, the aliens are coming. I for one don’t believe in UFO’s (with an alien attachment; not to say they aren’t out there), but If I saw something really crazy in the sky, I, like many others would be on this forum asking questions.


Humayan said what he thought very tactfully in 5 words which didn't come across as a personal attack and instead directed towards fact. You need to learn some tact and tolerance, go make a cuppa and chillout.
By the way, nice piccy of clouds.

[MikeyB]

The problem I have with the term 'UFO' is its implicit assumption that an unidentified light in the sky must represent some form of physical flying object. Of the possibilities that I suggested above, only prankster pyrotechnics (such as fireworks, flares, candle-powered hot air balloons or homemade rockets), actually fall into this category.

My other suggested possibilities were examples of light projected into the sky either deliberately or through natural causes, in which case there is no actual 'flying object' at all. Hence, in my opinion, use of the term UFO can have the unfortunate effect of limiting people's perception of what they saw, thereby closing their minds to a range of other possible, non-mysterious causes.

[hotspur]

Certainly not a personal attack,as others have said my replies were,I simply put forward some resonable suggestions as to what the people saw.

I am suprised that it was taken in that maner.As the owner of a observatory,like Ron-I have people ring up all the time beleiving they have seen all sorts of weird things,and no amount of carefully explaining things in the sky can get through to them,that UFOs are just that,unexplained sky occurences -without the alein attachment.

I notice Ron did'nt get the same brick bats as I got.

[astroron]

I started this thread to see if anyone else had observed this apparition,not to discuss the view of weither there is visitors from out of space.
In my conversation with this lady I was at pains to make it plain that I did not doubt what she saw, I only tried to get as much information as I could.
As to what the lights where I don't know:question: I was hoping someone who was observing the eclipse on the coast might have seen something:shrug:
I to have been guilty in the past of belittleling UFO sighting,mainly because of of the interpretations people put on what they see.
People, as Chris said ring up with all sorts of fancy claims, and even though you give them good information still do not believe you. :rolleyes:
We are all entitled to our view, it is how we express it is the sticking point:rolleyes:
So far I have not had any observers say they observed the lights

[Octane]

My reply of "pics or it never happened" is a (sarcastic) Internet meme. It's used to denote unbelief of atypical incidents or occurrences. Ron's original post seemed to fit the bill and hence I said it. :P

To use Chris' fishing example. "I caught a 150kg tuna." "Pics or it never happened."

"I met xyz!" "Pics or it never happened."

:P

To the people in question: I hope you find an answer to what you saw.

H

[hotspur]

I feel many have not read my post,and to be told to "go and have a cuppa tea" very condersending and rude.

Seems some people on this forum can say anything and not have any problems,particularly if you are female.

This forum has a lot to learn in moderation,I participate on many forums and never see the unbalanced moderation that goes on here.If you are a member of the, and I quote "The Who's who of Ice in Space" you can say anything you want and never have any issues.

[bam]

Thanks Ron for putting it out there , we are waiting to see to if there is any further news of it through the media tomorrow and the police officer my wife phoned last night said they had received many calls re the same objects seen by others. This police oficer also saw several bright red lights while driving back from wises road to the police station .
Thanks for all the replies
Bam

[torana68]

[QUOTE=hotspur;608384]
particularly if you are female.....

This forum has a lot to learn in moderation,I participate on many forums

then you may have heard of the term "self moderation" its where you ban yourself from looking worse by saying more :D I only glossed over the posts, nothing there id loose sleep over but what you just said there is a blight on everyone here :(

"The Who's who of Ice in Space" you can say anything you want and never have any issues.

see above.
roger

P.S I like the "picks or it never happened" thing, use it all the time :)

[Blue Skies]

I don't get into many arguments on here but I'd like to back Chris up on this one - I don't think he was being rude. He was just expressing the frustration that many of us feel who have had to deal with enquiries like this. And there are people out there who don't want to listen to any explanation - they saw a ufo with aliens in it, and that's that! You can explain till you're blue in the face and they won't take it in or accept it. I've run into this myself a couple of times. You've can't do much except say "well, to me it sounds like it was ------, but without seeing it for myself I couldn't really say for sure," then back away and leave it.

I regards to the event in question, I'm surprised no photos have surfaced of it yet, seeing how so many people witnessed it and just about everything else that happens these days get recorded by a mobile phone or the like.

[Octane]

One thing to remember is that Bam/wife never claimed little green men. : )

H

[mozzie]

ive been watching this thread since ron posted it and find it interesting about ufo,s i hope i see one one day in all the years ive been out observing ive never seen a thing!!!!!!!!!!
lets not get a little hot under the hammer at each other :rolleyes::rolleyes:
ron it seems no one else had seen it i just wish i did,love to see something one day????

[astroron]

My reply of "pics or it never happened" is a (sarcastic) Internet meme. It's used to denote unbelief of atypical incidents or occurrences. Ron's original post seemed to fit the bill and hence I said it. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/tongue05.gif

My post was not made with the intention of disbelief as to what she saw, but to see if anyone else with astronomical knowledge had seen anything:) Maybe I shouldn't have put in the bit about her being a UFO Buff:rolleyes:

[astroron]

regards to the event in question, I'm surprised no photos have surfaced of it yet, seeing how so many people witnessed it and just about everything else that happens these days get recorded by a mobile phone or the like.

Would mobile phones take pictures of lights in the sky in a moonlit sky:shrug:

I did ask the lady in question, I think she said they never thought of it:shrug:

I think we should be more tolerant of other peoples views:D

[PeterM]

I'm with Chris on this one, I don't see he has done anyone any injustice here. Hey and let's not forget the neighbour saying "they're here", no implying spaceships and aliens in that? Did I not read that right?
What's more in the event of no other credible explanation he has put forward a very credible explanation of what may have been seen with the Mackeral clouds, infact I saw these same high "strange looking" clouds from Brisbane and they were indeed spectacular and yes they did last long into the night, illuminated by the Full Moon.
Ron no issue with "UFO Buff" either, I get it all the time "Astro Buff" so no skin off anyones nose I'm sure. AND you hit the nail on the head, geez with all the cameras out there there should be an absolute flood of images, but no quite the reverse. Octanes words ring truer than ever.
Bam/Wife I think you have seen unusual phenomena of nature under just the right conditions and I guess that in itself is something to view in amazement. Sure looked spectacular to me. And yes with all the people imaging the eclipse I'm sure someone somewhere will have captured it.

PeterM.

[bam]

please google / look up sunshine coast daily home page ufo sightings you will see people are starting to send in reports of what we saw last night so expect it will be in the media tomorrow as well .
Some may not have seen the entire show depending on what time they were outside but very interesting. As for pics my camera was at work , my mobile does not take pictures it is a basic model nor was it on my mind . The first thing I thought of was other people in the street need to see this so it is not just us and when I got some of the neighbours outside they were amazed and thanked me later for letting them know . I am not surprised by the variation in comments at all this is normal , we are not ufo buffs and we have an open view again for reading .

[ManOnTheMoon]

I live in Maroochydore and me and my girlfriend saw 2 red lights in the sky but that was a few months back. They were heading north but then turned east and dissapear a short time later.

[Suzy]

Chris, I do believe you were exerting the above mentioned quote quite nicely yourself, which is why I stepped in.
I have a very high respect for this forum and abide by the rules accordingly. With this in mind, I asked that you practice tolerance and tact.

All Bam was seeking was some answers, instead in your first post you went on to call it “rot”, “tiresome”, "don’t waste your time", etc etc. I do feel you're response could have been handled more respectfully. I understand that you are frustrated by UFO calls, but surely everyone is entitled to ask questions without being berated for doing so. IIS encourages people to ask questions, no matter how silly they may seem. Everyone that posted up unto the time you did, posted constructively without an "alien" connotation. This thread wasn’t about ‘aliens’, (the link made reference to it, but Bam certainly did not.
However, I did find your second post much more constructive and conducive to the topic at hand.


It was not my intention to upset you so much. However, if you are going to say things that can be offensive to other people, you have to be prepared for a response which you may not like, that’s a forum and that’s life. If you chose to defend your post, so be it, but don’t expect me to apologise for what I said then.






You needn’t have made that remark…. that’s just plain sexist no matter how you put it and I don't think you would want to unleash that can of worms.

[MTB]

Check out todays Sunshine Coast Daily (28/6/10) big write up on page 5. The lights were 30 paper lanterns for a birthday.

[bam]

Have spoken to sunshine coast daily , they are not really satisfied yet with the lantern story . That is why they said mystery solved with a question mark . They said they will be following it up further and are expecting more phone calls. We did not see blob like lanterns as shown in photo and they said they are expecting more photos to come in today. As my wife explained to Ron we could not get the same image of objects on our night binoculars . Instead of coming closer and clearer the objects appeared as bright red and much further away, I would not expect this to happen if they were just lanterns.
bam

[DiamondDust]

I've just caught up with all this thread, correct me if I'm wrong, but at no time has anyone said at what time this occurred? If around 6pm, there were pyrotechnics in Woodford, could they have relected off those Mackerel clouds? :shrug: Just a thought.

[astroron]

I find your attack on the moderation on this site is uncalled for:(
I find that they seem fair across the board:)

[bam]

re time of sighted red lights , started aprox 9.40 p.m until around 10.30 pm . We did not actually make a note of it but think this time is fairly accurate . The clouds that night were very beautiful and unusual and the weather was very calm, but the lights were moving along at a reasonable speed and stable formation . More reports expected in tomorrows s c daily,
bam

[Kal]

link (http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/06/29/paper-lanterns-cause-a-stir/) of the article. It has pics. The lights were lanterns fullstop.

[bam]

if you have read earlier reply no 8 and 3 how do you explain if there were 30 lanterns how this number doubled when they got to the wrigley st area. I do not now see any point in continueing further I am satisfied that we saw bright red lights as per description from my earlier posts also that five of my neighbours from four different houses saw the same lights the same quantity as I got them outside so that we were not the only ones to witness the lights . I can count , I can see and I am as surprised as many others are that no one else reported the same on that night .
My wife spoke to a police officer on the night and she said she saw several of the bright red lights from wises road on her way back to the station . We also experienced difficulty when trying to phone our daughter in Brisbane that night around the same time as the lights were seen . we definitely know it was not lanterns, thank you all for your views especially Ron for putting it out here .
bam

[DavidTrap]

At times like this, I take solace from the words of Homer Simpson when Lisa created a perpetual motion machine, "In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics".

A plausible explanation has been offered (ie. lanterns) - if you choose to believe in something less plausible that is your prerogative.

DT

[Kal]

So you are basically saying that 30 lanterns were released that fit the description of what you saw, and nobody in the area mistakenly identified them as UFO's? :rofl: In fact, I ask how you DIDN'T see them considering you spotted them a stone's throw away from where they were released??!!!

A simple explanation of the doubled number is that you counted the same lanterns twice in your adrenaline rushed excitement ;)

:abduct::ship2:

[Dean]

For what its worth, last night while gazing I saw a rather large and bright meteor streak across the sky from north to south... Very yellow as it burnt up in the atmoshere and not overly fast. Bright as a flare, but was definitely something passing through the atmospehere at a good rate. It burnt up a second or two later and gone :)