Strange objects hanging in night sky over Iraq

Originally posted by Bspiracy

The light pillars don't match this

Uhh, yes they do. Maybe not the ones you've seen, but it definitely makes a lot more sense than some mystery machine in the sky.

Hi all....very good thread. Interesting video. Ive worked in optics for over a decade. Having studied and been degreed in the optics field I thought Id cast a very well educated guess. What you are seeing really isnt all that unusual or strange. Light pillars are what you are seeing. A bit of reflection and ALOT of refraction. Notice how many there are in the video. There are a couple of very obvious ground sources for them in the video. Now many of you wish the video was not in NV. Actually if it wasnt for the NV itd be surprising if you could see half of what is seen in the video.

The only real mystery here to me is where and what are these huge light sources on the ground? Since the NV works by amplifying photons the ground sources are absoloutely drowned in their own light pollution hence making them unrecognizable.

Im not a meteorologist but the conditions look about perfect for this kind of thing. The troops sound relatively fresh to the desert aside from their "Chief". "Hey Chief you ever seen something like that?....Chief?".

Now, get some video NV or otherwise of tiny patches of star patterns moving around at night out in the sandbox or anywhere really and then youre looking at something to be concerned about...or not. I remember hearing alot about this phenomenon from several close friends that are Marines and that have spent time over there. They tell me alot of incredible things about the Middle East. The whole tiny star pattern moving around thing are actually US recon and intel. They have told me this was pretty well accepted by most and is usually seen right before a major offensive.

But of course we dont have anything like this...do we? Keep moving people..keep moving....

Ice crystals..in IRAQ!! LOL I didn't know Iraq was so well known for its low temps..hmmm not.

Originally posted by Umbra Sideralis
They are Light pillars:They can provide quite a show in the colld nights.

Colorful Light Pillars

Explanation: How can an aurora appear so near the ground? Pictured above are not aurora but nearby light pillars, a local phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. In the above picture, the colorful lights causing the light pillars surround a ice-skating rink in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"Credit & Copyright: Walter Tape (Alaska Fairbanks), Figure 8-1, Atmospheric Halos "




[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

Originally posted by atsguy_106
Ice crystals..in IRAQ!! LOL I didn't know Iraq was so well known for its low temps..hmmm not.

then you are ignorant , certain parts of iraq do experience freezing temps @ night - people have died of hypothermia

also - plase consider if sand / dust can serve as a reflective media for such a phenomemon , you are aware iraq has sand storms ...........right ?

reply to post by atsguy_106


Shows what you know, not!

The weather and climate of Iraq
The climate is mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience low temperature during the winter with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq

Source | Weather forecast for Iraq


Temperature forecast for Baghdad this week:

Saturday
Max: 10°C
Min: 1°C

Sunday
Max: 10°C
Min: -2°C

Monday
Max: 11°C
Min: 3°C

Tuesday
Max: 12°C
Min: -1°C

Wednesday
Max: 12°C
Min: 1°C

Source | Weather forecast Baghdad

Keep in mind., those temps are for ground level, it's much colder than that up in the atmo, in fact, cold enough for ice crystals to form and create conditions suitable for light pillars to form.

BTW, -2°C equals 28.4°F

Imagine that!

reply to post by atsguy_106


It's normal my friend...you are a victim of a "urban legend" as many others.
Many people when think about desert areas never realize that hot deserts at night could reach negative temperatures.

It's like the huge amount of people that when think in Africa , they can just imagine a place with black guys, lots of straw shacks and some palms... When there are many modern cities, in many African countrys!
That image is a result of "Urban legend", caused by bad information

[edit on 6/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

I saw a video on YouTube of a similar object over Phoenix, AZ which ejected a spiral object that then unfolded. I think they were speculating on that video that this was a stargate/wormhole. I have heard that there is another active wormhole in Northern Michigan. Anyone else heard of this?

Originally posted by Umbra Sideralis
reply to post by atsguy_106


It's like the huge amount of people that when think in Africa , they can just imagine a place with black guys, lots of straw shacks and some palms... When there are many modern cities, in many African countrys!
That image is a result of "Urban legend", caused by bad information

Very true, not only that, but you dont have to be black to be African, there are also Arabs etc. There are so many different countries, it's a HUGE place.

reply to post by Jeaniebob


Welcome to ATS, Jeaniebob!

Um, you don't happen to remember the name of the video you referenced do you?

Please, tell me more, or better yet, find it and post it here!

It's easy, if you need help, don't hesitate to ask, there's always someone willing to pitch in and lend a hand.

I'd say u2u me, but that was your first post and you need to make 19 more before you can u2u out.

But the offer stands, anytime...

Have seen the same thing here in West Texas on a cloudy night when there was an oilwell fire shooting flames into the air 20 miles away from my home. The cloud cover revealed the mysterious same glows and all around it was a red haze. The flames shooting up from the ground into the cloud coverage caused eerie, pillar like lights that glowed. An amazing sight.

reply to post by alaskan


I thought I've looked at all the light pillars shown here and googled more and while I admit "light pillars" are similar, still not a match. Many things "look" the same.
Now if you know of a set of light pillars that originate at cloud height in a sporadic formation, please link as I truly haven't seen any.

Mystery machines.. yeah, I know it's far out but I'm grasping for something in answer I haven't seen one for. If it's light pillars in the desert, wouldn't you think that the average "chief" would have seen these before? the average tour of duty is mighty long and it doesn't make sense for a group to be so surprised. The "red haze" is odd as well.

Maybe I missed something in this thread..

b

Sporadic as in right above obvious sources of light? I see them at least twice a week, and I've seen plenty that are just little blooms of light waaay above their source, no beam whatsoever.
You can guess however much you want and say that these 'don't match' light pillars, but from what I frequently see with my own eyes I can say they are.


You were the one that mentioned some sort of machine, and you're still the one grasping at some sort of conspiracy...

[edit on 6-1-2008 by alaskan]

Hello all.

I am the Soldier that recorded the video, and I have been invited here by one of the persons who posted in the thread.

I've read through the thread and I'll try to answer some questions. I have limited time, as everyone here in Iraq is allotted a certain amount of time to use the MWR computers for entertainment.

The phenomena could be seen with the naked eye, but just barely. it appearead as a faint red spot with a dark red haze around it. It was somewhere between 45-60 degrees above the horizon, so the color was puzzling to me.

The lights on the ground are purely coincidental. Because of the limitations of a night vision device, you can't tell that the object in question and the ground light source are actually at much different ranges. They only appear to be at the same spot in the video, and about 80 - 90 percent of the rest of the lights (there were about 30 in all) had no corresponding ground light at any range.

For those of you who thought we weren't doing our job and not reporting it: don't pretend to know everything about what we did from a 2 minute clip. I assure you we took all precautions that we are trained to do. Also, don't presume that those few Soldiers speaking were the only ones present.

I have seen all types of aircraft, aircraft exhaust, flares, missles, and all types of things of that sort in my military career, in the day and the night. The objects in question do not fit my pattern of experiences when it comes to military equipment.

Most of us who witnessed it (if not all) do not believe it is an aircraft-manmade or otherwise-because we have seen many strange things with simple explanations before.

It does get cold here in Iraq, especially in the north. However, I couldn't see any kind of icy haze through my night vision.

The camera and the NV were separate devices. The camera couldn't see in the night without it, even though the object was visible to the naked eye.

I assure you the video is not a hoax, and all my devices and optics were in perfect working order. My skills as a cameraman may be suspect, however.

I did take much more video, but this is the only segment that doesn't compromise our identities, our unit, or our mission.

If there are any other questions, feel free to ask.

FordGuy.

Impressive. Most impressive!

Welcome fordguyinny and hello. Thanks for your reply and sharing the video. This must have been a really strange moment for you and your buddies. Just a question: does any of the other parts of the video that you have show any better shots of the objects ?
I am sure there will be other questions from the other members.

reply to post by fordguyinny


Indeed!

Welcome, fordguyinny!

Thanks for devoting some of your valuable MWR time to help satisfy the curiosity of our forum members.

Questions:

Do you know the approximate temp on the night you recorded this event?

Could you determine the actual distance to the anomalies?

Is it possible there were ground light sources over the horizon, or out of range?

Were the objects all around your location or grouped towards one direction?

Thanks in advance for your help in this investigation.

And a big heartfelt and sincere thanks for getting the job done over there.

Here's hoping you and yours all come home safely and in all due haste.

reply to post by fordguyinny


Hey man, stay safe,

What do YOU think the lights were? I mean yeah I agree, not manmade, not an aircraft, so basically WTF do you think they are?

was 24y old and just made captain in the iraqi airforce, i was part of a 4 ship MIG-25RB interceptor team protectinng the border with the northern fly zone based at al-taqadumm air base IOC, scrambled on a clear summer night to a low flying target heading south/south east towards baghdad, target was at 4000 feet doing 180 knots, i came in at 1500 feet at 400knots, i thought it was an american drone, i identify it it was flashing bright orange and green light nothing i ever saw,,, i was oerderd to engage it, my mig-25rg was armed with 2 R-60/AA 8 AND 2 R-23/AA-7 i fired 2 at the target which made a 90 degree turn nothing i have seen before and ther was bright flash that blinded me, i was low so i went to full afterburn and pulled up,, the target was not seen on my rader or the controler in baghdad...my government then claimed a kill on a US done,,the US said nothing has been shot down,,it was over water no wreckage found,,,,any US radar or pilot out there who may have seen anything? that was contact

reply to post by fordguyinny

It was a total of about 20-30 objects, stretching from the west to the northeast. two of them were visible, just barely, with the naked eye. there was a red vertical haze, but no bright object visible until we used the NV. The camera and the NVD were separate devices, and that's why in the video the aperture closes. The object could not be taped without it.

FGINY.

thanks for your reply,sir; Godspeed to you and your men and a safe and healthy return home. your time and your sacrifices for your country and fellow men are truly appreciated.

Originally posted by fordguyinny
had no corresponding ground light at any range.

For a light pillar to form, you dont need to have a source "directly" below, but there needs to be ice/ water vapour in the air (not always visible). It could be that a light source in the vicinity is reflecting of descending ice crystals from high level clouds, causing you to see the light pillar from your vantage point. Check out sun pillars which are similar things to light pillars, that happen naturally using the reflection of sunlight on ice crystals.
The only thing that seems strange is the red colouring that you saw, although I suppose it could be from a red light beam