Interesting sighting over Hobart. Any ideas?

[el_draco (Rom)]

Just lying on the trampoline and noticed what appeared to be mag 1 object glowing slightly red/orange slowly moving East to West at about1000m alt. Watched it visually for 10 mins then dashed in side and grabbed some 10X70's for a closer look.

Alt slowly increasing. Object appeared to have a black section above, shaped a bit like the head of a squid and a very bright base, like a cigarette end. Wierd. Not under propulsion. Seemed to be oscilating a bit like a childs spinning top, Not really big either; maybe a couple of meters high.

Tracked it for 20 minutes in bino's. Called wife over and she saw it as well. Last sighted at about 2000m still headed West. Gut instinct is that it was some kind of balloon but no envelope sighted, Maybe a radar target was reflecting setting sunlight.

Can anyone shed any light on it?

Rom

N.B. All bottles in wine rack firmly corked!!!

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

What time was it? Day, Night? Sounds like a firelighter balloon..... similar to this http://www.sparklingadventures.com/index.php?id=1198 ?

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Yes, it sounds very much like a firelighter suspended under a garbage bag, as per demonstrated in the link above. I remember the first time I saw one, a pair of them, actually, and was quite puzzled until someone else piped up. The do tend to drift slowly with the prevailing winds.

[andyc (Andy)]

Perhaps a Chinese lantern? They're getting quite popular in places, if a little controversial (apparently a distraction/hazard for planes near airports), also would've thought a big bushfire hazard in Aus?

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Maybe you SHOULD have uncorked one of those bottles in the wine rack..

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by Astroman

What time was it? Day, Night? Sounds like a firelighter balloon..... similar to this http://www.sparklingadventures.com/index.php?id=1198 ?

It was at about 7:50pm, sun on the horizon which made me think the glow may be a reflection. There was no obvious fire associated with the glowing but the thing was pretty close to the zenith so it may have been obscured. About 2m high and black could very well have been a big garbage bag... and I'll call this mystery solved on the basis that it fits the observation quite well.

Couple of thoughts:
1/ What kind of a dumb bum would send up an incediary over Tassie forests at this time of year..? Hmmm I can think of a few....
2/ My eyesight isn't anywhere near as buggered as I thought
3/ There are some pretty clever folks on this forum
4/ I'll crack a Chardy now