Strange Sighting

Alright, time for me to share a strange experience...

Last night I took the dog in the back yard for his nightly business. I looked up at the stars, as I usually do. It was a clear sky and the stars were bright. After a few seconds, I realized one of the stars was moving.

My first thought was that it was a satellite since the light was the same size as the surrounding stars, but I realized it was moving too slow. (I think. I had seen a couple satellites before and remembered they move fairly quickly across the sky.)

Then I decided it must be a plane. It had about the right pace to it and no erratic movement, but in all the time I have lived there (13 years) I have never seen a plane on that route. It flew along the handle of the Little Dipper across to the next grouping of stars and when it was very close to a bright star...it just winked out. I though "ok, the plane must have flown into a cloud" so I waited and waited. Nothing.

It was about 5 minutes before I realized that if there were clouds, I could not have seen the stars since they were right beside it when it happened.

So, I still believe it was a plane but I am curious because I have honestly never thought of it before. Do planes fly at such height that their light looks like a star? Could that light at that level be so bright to a viewer on the ground? Do planes routinely fly with lights on and if so, do they switch them off at their discretion?

I guess I am more curious about flight habits because I really think that is what it was, but it was very stange. I have a lot of observing experience and can identify most craft and manufacturers...but this was just too high, too dark. Higher than I have ever seen a commercial jet, even at night. Hope someone could answer some of those for me.

Anyone?
"Bueller, Bueller, Bueller...."

It could have been a military plane. I live pretty close to MacDill AFB here in FL, and I see extremely high flying military planes all the time...

I saw a sweet view of an F16, very low altitude, head towards St. Pete Clearwater Airport, then bank sharply left and head back...just on my lunch break today. Very nice.

Again though, probably just a military plane, and at such altitudes, you rarely hear any kind of jet noise of course, on the ground.

Right, my thoughts too. It was the lights going and the altitude that kind of got me. Being looking skyward for many, many years and that was a first.

Very high
Light for a bit and then...winked out
No sound
Constant speed
Straight flight path

Thanks for some thoughts on it anyway Gaz. I knew YOU would save the day.

Sheesh, some conspiracy site. Maybe I should have posted that my dog was abducted. I would get a hundred answers.

Ask some legit questions......not a peep.

Sheesh, some conspiracy site. Maybe I should have posted that my dog was abducted. I would get a hundred answers

Sad part is, you're absolutely correct.

One can produce a post with facts, figures, evidence tantamount to borderline proof, and get only a page or so of replies, but a completely speculative, what if? post will generate pages and pages...

Originally posted by Gazrok
One can produce a post with facts, figures, evidence tantamount to borderline proof, and get only a page or so of replies, but a completely speculative, what if? post will generate pages and pages...

Yeah, I know.

I said I think it was a plane, give a precise description of the event and asked questions about the flight habits of commercial flights (or military I guess).

I should have asked about the flight habits of reptilians.

Anyway, guess I will just chalk it up to a plane and do some flight research myself. I was just thinking someone here knew if they fly that high with lights on or off. Maybe they only do that over cities or when they are in a possible flight path of another craft. Dunno...

The damn thing was way high though. Single white (star-like) light.

I should mention, I've seen them that high with lights on...
My guess is high clouds causing the light to fade.

Doubt it was commercial, but sometimes at night (especially if clouds are obscuring stars), it's hard to find a good reference for altitude...so could be that also.

Originally posted by Gazrok
I should mention, I've seen them that high with lights on...
My guess is high clouds causing the light to fade.

Doubt it was commercial, but sometimes at night (especially if clouds are obscuring stars), it's hard to find a good reference for altitude...so could be that also.

No clouds though...

The light winked out while it was very close to bright stars. I was thinking it flew into a cloud too. Took me a bit to realize there was no way there were clouds. I could see the whole sky and stars everywhere. Also I watched for 5 mins at least and it never came back.

I get jets fly over all the time fairly high, but I can usually see the wing lights. This was so high that...well, you know when you look at something so small your eyes bug for a second? Like they get blurry due to the concentration? It was like that.

Just like you are looking at a medium-bright star. Except it was moving.

HA! I love it...I guess I missed when this was first posted, but I love the dialogue!

You're right Zed, you really need to work on your sightings stories. You need to begin with the fact that you were with a bunch of friends, but they were all drunk so you were the only one who could see the ufo. Then you need to leave out all the actual details, like what time it was, the location, the distance of the ufo to you. Then you need to get real pissed off when people ask you questions, and scream at them, "Look, I'm not here to PROVE anything!"

Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it

Hard to tell a satellite from the speed it's moving, as they vary somewhat. I've seen a satellite move at a speed so close to an aircraft's that it seemed to be tailing the plane. Looked just like a UFO until I looked it up.

Just in case you haven't seen it, Heavens Above can tell you what satellites are visible from where you are at a certain time. Maybe it was a satellite that moved out of the sun or something.

It could have been a military flight. I've seen many flying around here from Moody AFB in Valdosta, GA. It could have been on afterburner and then powered down. It looks just like that. You have a steady light and then blink it's gone. And if it was high enough you probably would not get a lot of sound. They dogfight in the skies all around my house all the time. Pretty cool when they start dumping flares.

It could have been on afterburner and then powered down. It looks just like that. You have a steady light and then blink it's gone. And if it was high enough you probably would not get a lot of sound. They dogfight in the skies all around my house all the time. Pretty cool when they start dumping flares.

That's a point I hadn't considered... They do that around here too, but usually in daylight (or at least that's when I notice)...

As far as I know, commercial planes don't turn on their landing lights unless they're actually landing. I live right under the flight path into Orlando airport and can watch 50 or more planes every night switch on their landing lights, and I can also hear them decelerating (I live about 50 miles from the airport). Other planes cross the same path going to Tampa and they don't have their landing lights on yet.

Originally posted by mpeake
HA!

I love it...I guess I missed when this was first posted, but I love the dialogue!

You're right Zed, you really need to work on your sightings stories.

I think you are right.

[Extreme Sarcasm]
Ok. I was drunk outside with 6 friends and my dog. We were all playing cards. Even the dog. I don't know the time or the weather that this happened. I saw a light in the sky. I watched it for 5+ minutes. Then I looked around and my dog was gone!

Nobody else saw a thing and they all thought I was drunk. But I swear. I called and called for over and hour and he never came back. Do you think he was abducted? Do they use probes on dogs?
[/Extreme Sarcasm]

Disclaimer: For the REAL and truthful story, read the above posts and ignore this humor attempt.

All excellent points!

Gave me many other ideas to consider....

I checked the Heavens Above website, but I think I am an idiot.

Ok, bit east of Seattle Washington, 10pm-ish (PST). Anybody confirm a satellite crossed there last night? It was my first though, but like I said...was slower than I remember for a satellite. maybe I can find out if there were any other sightings and or strange radar contacts during that time.

EDIT: Oh and I get approach to SeaTac coming over my house a couple times a night, but they are still high since it's quite a ways in. They usually have lights on, no gear out and if you are in the house...you can't hear them. One came in 5-10 mins after my sighting and I could clearly see the plane and all lights. The sighting was just a light so high nothiung else was visible.

[edit on 6-5-2005 by ZeddicusZulZorander]

If you can see the whole plane at night it's probably not as high as you think, I'd guess they've already started their landing approach. When you can see a satellite it's reflected light, so it might have passed out of the sunlight.

Zed,
Going by the timing that you gave, I would have to agree that it was probably either a high flying military aircraft with afterburners on or the satelite theory. The satelite bit though would depend on the inclination, and direction. In this case, if the direction of the flight was west to east, then it could be a satelite reflecting the sun's rays and the point where you saw the light disappear, the satellite, could have passed into the earth's shadow.

Originally posted by kenshiro2012
...if the direction of the flight was west to east, then it could be a satelite reflecting the sun's rays and the point where you saw the light disappear

North-South roughly.
(actually NorthWest-SouthEast...but barely it seemed)

Originally posted by Gazrok

Sheesh, some conspiracy site. Maybe I should have posted that my dog was abducted. I would get a hundred answers

Sad part is, you're absolutely correct.

One can produce a post with facts, figures, evidence tantamount to borderline proof, and get only a page or so of replies, but a completely speculative, what if? post will generate pages and pages...

I think this is because once you show all the facts, figures, and evidence, what really is there left to say? "My God, man! Good show." People like to speculate.

sat. moving out of the sun makes the most sence to me, once you get the lights making sharp, angled turns, or changing speed without acceleration, then we're talkin.

But it's more fun to go the fantastic route i agree. I say it was mulder's sister out for a joy ride.