Strange light over London, RIGHT NOW!

Directly south of Central London, a non moving brightly glowing white light, been there about 10 minutes. Definitely not a star/the moon / plane etc etc

Anyone else see this? If I had to put a location I would say directly over the Balham area......

Could be a police helicopter with a search light.

Have you phoned it in??

wow intresting!!!

i live in herts southeast london and i saw a simular thing a couple of night ago!!

it just stayed there for about 30 mins

not called anything else in, but it is definitely not a chopper. there must be literally millions of people who could see this now.....

Have you got a camera handy Benjj ?

unfortunately not, I'm stuck in the office and saw it on a fag break! going out again now to check again.....

keep an eye out for any choppers ?

or militery aircraft!

Can you guess what altitude it's at ?

It could be the kind of searchlights they use on parties and such, hitting the clouds. I saw that once a couple of years ago, I would never have guessed it was a searchlight, it was just a non moving glowing blue light.

Originally posted by benjj
unfortunately not, I'm stuck in the office and saw it on a fag break! going out again now to check again.....

A what break? lol. Being American it sounds funny DESPITE knowing what you English mean by fag

lol whats a fag break?

Seriously, I do not know what fag is for english people

lol whats a fag break?

Seriously, I do not know what fag is for english people

Hehe. lilblam's post give some clues. ...the picture.

A smoke, or a cigarette.

[Edited on 7-1-2004 by AntiSystem]

Well, my work cable went down as I was having another look so have not been able to post until now. The light stayed in its original position, at around 1-2000 feet, for another 25 minutes. As far as I could tell it made no noise and could not have been anything reflected on clouds as there were none in the sky! The only possible 'non-ufo' theory I have come up with would be some kind of light from a star/planet that had somehow been amplified through a weird condition in space. I'm no astronomer (as that last comment shows!) so god only knows if this is possible.

Anyway, no reports on it in the press. My gut reaction was that it was something 'watching' London.

B

Did you watch it until it left? If you did, how did it go away? Did it fly away? Blink out like a light?

I watched it almost constantly for 25 minutes, than either blinked or looked away and it was gone. No noise, jet trails etc. Nothing, just gone.

Hi Benjj!!

Did the object have a discernable diameter or was it "simply" a "point of light", like a star? If it had a diameter, how large do you think it was, relative, say, to the Moon??

I'm *not* located near London so can't/ couldn't look for this (besides, it's 100% cloudy here at presnet!) but, in the past, I've witnessed bright points of light in the (day time) sky which - when looked at with optical aid (then a 150mm reflector) - proved to be a weather balloon.

Any other info would be valuable benjj - enjoy your fag!!

At a guess I would say that the size of the 'thing' would be a sphere of around 100 feet in diameter. Much larger than your average weather baloon.

When I first saw it was around dusk, and it was the only think visible in the night sky as it was far too light still for stars.

B

Originally posted by benjj
At a guess I would say that the size of the 'thing' would be a sphere of around 100 feet in diameter. Much larger than your average weather baloon.

When I first saw it was around dusk, and it was the only think visible in the night sky as it was far too light still for stars.

B

Hi benjj - thanx for your reply!!

Firstly, just to establish some "common ground" (and apologies for my slow thinking here )

* When did this event take place ie from the first post as of 6th Jan, I presume this was *last* night UK time (especially as you say it was "dusk" rather than dawn??)

* Where were you looking ie in what compass direction please? I say this because the planet Venus is *very* bright in the south-western sky at the moment and it would be good to eliminate it as a potential candidate.

* Size: always a problem to estimate, that's why I suggested in terms of the Moons diameter. Size, quoted as - say feet - means that we also have to take into account an apparent altitude of an object, as you'll know. So, if we're not sure of the altitude, it is difficult to assign a diameter and vice versa. By using "angular" diameters, such as relative size to the Moon (about half a degree or 30 minutes of arc in the sky) it doesn't matter whether the altitude or diameter of the object is known - simply the "amount" of sky that the object apears to cover. (Sorry if this sems patronising - it is not my intention benjj!!)

* So, could you give the *time* - in GMT - when you saw this object and an estimation of the objects size. As a comparison, the Moons angular diameter is about the size of a garden pea held at arms length (try it when the Moon is visible if you don't belive me!! )

Thanx again benjj!!

Genya,

No problem, never had to describe something like this before, I can use the help!

The time was approx 16.40 yesterday when I first saw it, and around 17.15 when it disappeared. I first spotted it at about 16.40, stayed watching for a while, came to my desk and wrote this topic, then returned to watch at about 16.55 until it disappeared.

The object was directly south of central london (imaging drawing a straight line out from charing cross south, about 3-5 miles is where the object would have been at 1-2000 feet.

As for size in the sky, I would say it was about 5-10 times larger than your average star (pin prick in the sky), and around 5-10 times brighter than the same.

Really kicking myself I didn't have a camera.

[Edited on 7-1-2004 by benjj]

Originally posted by benjj
Genya,

No problem, never had to describe something like this before, I can use the help!....Really kicking myself I didn't have a camera.

[Edited on 7-1-2004 by benjj]

Cheers benjj!!

Well, the sighting *sounds* like it could have been Venus - I'm *not* rubbishing your sighting, please understand, but Venus *is* in that area of the sky at the moment. What I suggest is to look in the same direction over the next few days (if it is clear of course!! ) and see if a bright object is there then. Venus has often been confused with "alien" craft etc becuase of it's apparent brilliance in the sky. Good luck - and clear skies benjj!!