Rochester NY, CRAZY UFO's all over the sky

Interesting natural explainations for the phenomenon reported (heat lightning + meteor shower). However, these fail to account the very specific description of the formation - 2 isosceles triangles - along with relative size of the formation.

To me, the natural phenomenon could explain the lightning but not the formation. Would the folks who put forth these, care to elaborate on these points?

Thanks.

Originally posted by jbondo
I also saw a "light" in the sky.

Headed to work about 3 weeks ago going east in Northbrook, IL. The sky was brilliant blue with the sun facing me.

I looked slightly to the northeast and saw a a light just appear at the 10:00 position. It grew in intensity and size until it was very bright. It then just blinked out.

What amazed me was that it was visible at all fighting the sunrise in a cloudless eastern sky.

I didn't post it because, well, if I had I just don't think there would have been enough interest. The reason I am posting it now is because of the OP's story.

Hello JBondo,
I live near you and often see jets coming into Ohare at dawn. The
ones coming in from areas west of Illinois left their airport when it was
dark outside and have their lights on. When banking for a landing at
Ohare, you'll see the bright light (just like you do at night) against
the blue sky for awhile until the jet turns away from you. Could this
have been what you saw? -CareWeMust

Heat Lightning, never heard of that before, well me living in the UK would tell you why lol.

I was wondering though if you can see this heat lightning without any clouds been seemingly visible, then mebbe the OP might have seen sprite lightning.

I know sprite lightning goes up a fair way but the OP might have seen the base of the sprites going off over his field of view, just a thought.



[edit on 3/8/07 by Wolfie_UK]

Originally posted by Chorlton
That added to some early meteorites from the Perseids ???

The OP said:

I was looking at this ‘star’ all of a sudden it shot across the sky

That doesn't sound anything like a meteor to me, and I've seen lots.

Also, Perseids are still quite few and far between - you'd be lucky to see more than 2 or 3 in an hour this long before the peak, and from the sound of it the OP was watching constant activity for 10 minutes.

The vast majority of meteors last less than 1 second, and I think most people would be able to differentiate between that and something more unusual. The OP should be able to clear this up I think ?

A few questions that might help:

Firstly - what time was it the sighting occurred?

Secondly - did all the "lights" seem to originate from one particular part of the sky? If so, what part of the sky? (meteors can fan out all over the sky, but if you trace back from where they first appeared, meteors that belong to the same shower will trace back to a small area of sky)

Thirdly - did they leave behind any trains/trails/wakes ?

The very fact there was a forecast which predicted storms for the region gives an amazing amount of credibility to the heat lightning theory. If you read up on what it actually is, you'll understand that if the storm was close by and was producing lightning at a distance you could very well be seeing flashes of light in areas distant from the actual storm. It's a a sort of "echo" when it comes to light.

You're just seeing something we up here in the northeast aren't very accustomed to seeing. It's just another case of "A mystery! No clue what it could be, it must be something supernatural and explainable with 3 letters: UFO" While in reality it's a very well known natural occurrence.

Try to get some video of it if you can, it's going to be a really hot day today too. They look pretty cool.

Edit: To the U.K chap. It's called "summer lightning" there which might be why you've never heard of "heat lightning" used.


[edit on 3-8-2007 by Donoso]

Now that someone has kindly broken down the first post into paragraphs, I finally got some courage to read it all.

These are the key points of the sighting, rest is either heat-lightnings or normal planes. (I didn't know its called heat-lightning, thanks to smart guys here on ATS, I've learnt a new thing)

Originally posted by penroc3
I noticed a really bright light directly over head. As I was looking at this ‘star’ all of a sudden it shot across the sky so fast that I almost peeded on my self.
>>snip
So me my girlfriend, mom sister and myself were looking at this thing and it shot across the sky again,
>>snip
when the object moved it would get really bright and blue and move really fast and stop instantly

I have no idea, how to explain that. These are the telltale signs of a real ET ship and if he has really seen this, its cool.
The only major problem I find in his story is that he went outside to relieve himself. Normally we all go inside the house to do that, when we are near the house. Only a drunk person not completely in his senses dares to do it outside.

[edit on 3/8/2007 by rocksolidbrain]

The meteors could possibly explain the "moving lights", though perhaps an analysis with all of the above in mind, by the original observer, would help to clarify if there is a remaining sighting issue to analyze...?

Now that someone has kindly broken down the first post into paragraphs, I finally got some courage to read it all.

That's exactly why it was done, hehe...

Thanks to whoever beat me to it....in the UK, the term is usually "summer lightning", though I doubt many see it. Seriously though, come down to Florida in the summer, and you'll see more than your share of it, it's actually rather beautiful, and I can't count the number of times I've stood on the beach and watched it out over the bay....

Rocksolidbrain the reason I was going to the bathroom outside was, me and my gf were at my moms for dinner and I was cooking some food on the grill on the back deck and it was allot closer to walk down the stairs to the yard then go into the house and take off my sandals and go the the bathroom and put the footwear back on. Pretty much im just really lazy.

Carewemust iv seen allot of airliners in my day and these were so high the other lights in the skys looked like they were a few 1000feet off the ground, the blended right into the stars till the moved.

Donoso I have seen heat lightning before and the flashes may have been just that, but it’s strange timing if you ask me



And as for the perseids that’s what my mom was saying till she saw them move and stop and then just hang there in the sky. Ill be out thre tonight armed with some cameras so i can hopefuly grab something intresting and worth while. and if someone could get back to me on the podcast thing. my sister,mom,and girlfriend as well as my self are very willing to tell what we saw when we saw it, i just need to know how to post it


[edit on 3-8-2007 by penroc3]

I live in Rochester NY and was at a beach on Lake Ontario until 11:30 pm and saw alot of flashes. Unfortuantley what I saw up untill that time was alot of fog and heat lightning. No ufos, but there was one plane that flew over the head that was abnormallly low going out towards the lake. It was not a normal flight path and looked like a military transportation plane of some sort. (it was brown or green) Again if we were looking at the same thing those flashes were heat lightning!

Originally posted by penroc3
Rocksolidbrain the reason I was going to the bathroom outside was, me and my gf were at my moms for dinner .....

[edit on 3-8-2007 by penroc3]

your original post said :

Tonight Aug 2nd 2007 I was eating out side and I had to go to the bathroom and no-one was in my back yard ...

I am probably splitting hairs, but which was it - your backyard or your mom's?

Originally posted by penroc3
and if someone could get back to me on the podcast thing. my sister,mom,and girlfriend as well as my self are very willing to tell what we saw when we saw it, i just need to know how to post it

[edit on 3-8-2007 by penroc3]

Here is a link to creating podcasts.
radio.about.com...

Your member page also allows you to post

Originally posted by penroc3
and if someone could get back to me on the podcast thing. my sister,mom,and girlfriend as well as my self are very willing to tell what we saw when we saw it, i just need to know how to post it

[edit on 3-8-2007 by penroc3]

Here is a link to the podcast center:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
(Look at the Create a new podcast section on the right)
You will need to record your audio as MP3, and have some info ready for the podcast - description etc. Also review the rules for posting.

You can record using Windows Sound Recorder - found under Accessories > Entertainment and remember to change the encoding to MPEG Layer 3 when saving you file (hit the "change" button and select the MPEG format)

Looking forward to hearing from you

[edit on 3-8-2007 by 2believeor0]

[edit on 3-8-2007 by 2believeor0]

OMG! Its true what theyve been saying!!!

They're coming and we cant stop them!!!

All those stories said to be hoaxes are true!!!!!

What do we do??

(nervous laugh)

Seriously, what do we do???

Originally posted by 2believeor0
I am probably splitting hairs, but which was it - your backyard or your mom's?

If I may.......you're splitting hairs.

My mum's backyard is my backyard, home is where your mum is.

Originally posted by disownedsky
I'm not sure you can rule out a conventional aircraft. It sounds just like a landing light to me.

No, you are probably right, I can't rule out conventional aircraft .....entirely, but all the same I have.

I observed the area for sometime afterward, and am aware of flight paths in the Heathrow vicinity. I am also aware of the lights that should have become apparent had the object moved to a left or right trajectory, however it just disappeared in the manner I previously described.

What I wouldn't rule out, entirely, although I believe it to be highly unlikely, is a meteor on a trajectory heading straight toward me. This would explain it not appearing to move and the twinkling effect, what I'm not so sure of is the length of time a meteor would burn in the atmosphere. I suppose that would be dependent on its angle of decent. I observed it for a minute, I would have to assume it was there before I noticed it, a minute sounds like a long time.

What reference did you use to estimate the distance?

I used my internal guestimator..........it allows me to gauge depth of field and equate rough distances.

Sorry Penroc just answering disownedsky's questions, no hijacking of threads going on here...carry on.

[edit on 3-8-2007 by Koka]

Hey, I live in Rochester NY, Hilton to be more exact, and like 3-4 days ago I was out driving at like 11-12 at night, and there plenty of heat lighting. But as for ufos, I havent seen any yet. Ill keep an eye out tonite for them though.

Originally posted by Gazrok

Seriously though, come down to Florida in the summer, and you'll see more than your share of it, it's actually rather beautiful, and I can't count the number of times I've stood on the beach and watched it out over the bay....

Off Topic :
I used to night surf on the East coast of Fla. Heat lightning is indeed beautiful.

On Topic:
No pictures is incredibly bad, IMO.

Regards,
Lex

Some of you might want to check this out:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

My mom's house will always be my house(its were i grew up) me and my family are doing the pod cast in about 20 mins, just waiting for the sky to clear up alittle bit, and on a side not i never said it wasn't heat lightning just that it was strange seeing the two togeather and there may have been some bond thats all

Is "heat lightning" the same as "sheet lightning"? Basically lightning that keeps itself to clouds, without the "forks" extending to the ground? That sounds like a possible explanation for the flashes (though, without clouds?), but i'm not convinced about the meteor theory, from what the OP has stated. I've seen meteors before, they are obvious things. You know straight away what they are.

"...when the object moved it would get really bright and blue and move really fast and stop instantly, I could not believe my eyes."

"There were about 6 dots of lights and they all formed two isosceles triangles..."

"The flashes took on a purple hue."

I would not associate any of those statements with meteoric phenomena, unless there are forms of such a phenomenon that i'm unfamiliar with, which is entirely possible.

To quote a wiki article:

Heat lightning (or, in the UK, "summer lightning") is a misnomer for the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon or other clouds from distant thunderstorms.

There was no, I repeat, no weather at all last night in the Rochester-Syracuse area. I know because I kept my eyes glued to multiple web-based radar sites hoping for rain. Instead I was running sprinklers into the night.

Being born and raised on both Florida coasts; and chasing storms and hurricanes since I was sixteen, I would say that based on my experiences the OP's account does not sound at all like heat lightning, even if weather had made heat lightning a possibility. I have never seen shaped heat lightning. I am willing to be proved wrong however, with interesting images.

As the OP stated:

Miheavner: I would say around 11ish, and if you know where the penfield wegmans is, they were in the direct northern sky(looking straight up) and slowly moved to the eastern sky

The only weather on radar archives was well south of the Rochester area. That would place any source of heat lightning behind the OP. Even if it were heat lightning that would not explain the shapes described by penroc3.

Penroc3, I live north of Syracuse.

On an off-topic note, we were treated to two passes of the ISS tonight (SW to NE). Beautiful sight...