UFO or Sattelite?

About a month ago me and couple friends were out stargazing, or at least trying to due to chemtrails blocking most of the sky, and had seen something moving along the sky quite fast.
My buddies dad has been in air force for as long as ive known him (15 years) he test flys predator spy planes and other top notch stuff, so my buddy has a pretty good knowledge of planes and such.

The object, viewed through binoculars was a bright orange looking star which to me said sattelite and him to, but we thought about how big and close it appeared and also how just about every other bright star in the sky could barely be seen through the chemtrails and watched it cut directions a few times and were quick to question our sattelite theory.
Has anybody else ever seen anything like this or can anyone maybe tell me what they might think it was?

unfortunately i did not have camera at the time so could not get picture or video.

you mean the damn thing was not traveling on a stright path?
If it was it would propably be a sat. Give some more detail like duratiion characteristics etc

reply to post by seangkt


It's not uncommon, that when people observe satellites pass overhead, that the satellite can appear to deviate from it's straight course or even zig-zag. It's simply because when we look up, and there are very few visual cues, our brains fail to compensate for the motion of our body.

Perhaps this was not a satellite though. If it stayed orange for a long time, then I think that would rule out satellites, since they would soon move out from the area where the sun was shining orange light (a very small part of the sky). A Chinese Lantern perhaps?

What time did the observation occur at? How long was it visible for? What direction did it move in? Where in the sky was it? Did you notice the direction of the wind at the time?

Alright I wanna say it was around 12-2 am during a weekday night.
I'm aware of the visual effects the sky and atmosphere can have on the eyes and such as i have tricked myself many times and realized it, but i dont believe these were tricks cause it was zig zags or anything it was actual turns liek it was flying around which made us think twice about the sattelite thing. it started coming straight from behind us over our heads. After passing over our heads it turned right but only for maybe i wanna say 3 seconds and then cut a left at a slant and then almost did a triangle and was then was on it original course almost and was out of our sight.
my friend says hes watched a lot of sattelites all around the country being a truckdriver and he says youll usually see the same sattelite again within a few minutes but we never saw this thing again and it was pretty damn big which is what still makes me kinda iffy on the sattelite thing.



that right there is something like the flight pattern.
i mean ive never seen a sattelite do something like it but im no sattelite expert.

also i believe it was either later that week or the next week my girlfriend had seen something at around 8am like a bright light in the morning sky and shortly after two planes following it.
theres been some weird stuff around where we live (victorville, ca).

also on the chinese lantern theory i seriously doubt it this isnt the type of place for someone to do that haha.
its rare you see someone let a balloon go in the sky let alone put time into a chinese lantern haha.
also it didnt fly perfect straight lines like that but it was that same pattern.
my girlfriend is buying another lens for her camera within the next few days as we ive now gotten her into the who ufo and conspiracy thing and she is a photographer so she wants to get something that will be able to catch the stars at night now so if it happens again ill have pictrues but i havent seen something like it since.

Thanks for providing those details/the drawing seangkt.

I think chinese lanterns have to remain a distinct possibility as anyone can get hold of them now, even if they may seem unlikely. We can rule out satellites since the sun is a long way below the horizon between 12-2am in January, and satellites can only be seen when the sun is not far below the horizon.

I'll be honest, we don't have much to go on here, and it could have been almost anything, although I think the suggestion above is the most likely candidate. This sighting is like a million others in that respect. Even for those with pictures/footage it's usually impossible to say with 100% certainty what it was, especially if it's a randomly moving and fairly indescript object.

A light at night, in the dark with no other objects for reference, is virtually impossible to gather any useful data about. It could be a small light relatively close by, or a large light a long way away. There is no way to tell even with a photograph or video, unless the UFO interacts with objects that are at a known distance.

If your girlfriend is looking to try and photograph UFOs at night, then she would probably have much better results using a camcorder than a still camera. DSLRs/SLRs are great for photographing the stars and other celestial objects, but when it comes to relatively dim, and fast moving objects, even with fast lenses and high ISO you'll just get streaks/motion blur. For that reason, a tripod is also advised (with whatever you are using). A tripod (or any suitable support) is essential for any type of low-light photography, if you want good results

I've been trying to photograph meteors/stars for the last 10 years or so, so feel free to ask/u2u if you have any questions regarding this type of photography (photographing luminous objects at night, whatever they be, as the principals are more or less the same no matter what the object is) or the equipment used.

Again I'll be honest and say, I have also seen strange things in the sky, and although not everything can always be identified or 100% confirmed, even the strangest things that people see are probably either natural phenomena or man made phenomena.

I don't want to discourage you or your girlfriend from trying to photograph UFOs, but if you do decide to try, then be warned that unless you take time to make sure you go about it in the correct way, any photos/footage you collect will be of very little value, and will end up in a pile along with thousands of other photos/clips.


By the way, your friend is mistaken in saying that the same satellite can often be seen again minutes afterward, although he can be forgiven for thinking that since there is a steady procession of satellites, and in some cases following similar orbits.

Check out the times of Iridium satellite flares for your location at heavens-above.com for instance. See how the predictions in a few months time (when the sun no longer ventures so low below the horizon in the summer months) compare with now. There should be more visible, and so more chance of seeing two (or more) in a row.

Here's what a typical satellite orbit looks like, and as you can see, it would be seen in a very different part of the sky the next time round (if it was visible at all):

Thank you for your response and idea.
I'm like 50/50 on the chinese lantern thing to me it seemed way to high to be somehting of that sort and ive seen videos and pictures im there's no real way i could be sure but im still iffy on what it was mostly due to the pattern it moved the wind pattern pushing it in a triangular pattern kinda is whats holding me back the most.

Well i had planned on buying a nice telescope here within the next month or so that you can attach her camera to for pictures of all things astronomical and ufo related.

Are you familiar with using anything like that at all and if so could you give any advice?

And if i remember correctly, which im not sure if it was that time or another recent sighting but the object in question appeared to hover for a while too at a certain point when we first viewed cause i remember fighting about it being still or moving then it became clear it was moving.
im almost positive it was that time but like I said I'm not to sure.
I've been out just about every night this year looking and haven't been organized enough to write down the dates and details of when these things happen, which i am goin g to start doing for times like these.
But thank you again for answering and giving your thoughts.
Cheers!

It's understandable. Until you see one, it's hard to grasp how they can appear, and how high they can climb in the right conditions. I suspect the pattern you saw it make was more due to swaying back and forth, and not realizing it. Was this when it was close to or directly overhead? That is when you would expect the effect to be at it's strongest.

Either way, the wind can catch it, and it can easily make loops etc.

The apparently hovering description you gave is also quite common when observing lanterns. I saw one through the branches of a tree I was standing under, and it appeared to hover briefly at times.

Re scopes - I know only the bare basics when it comes to them as I use camera lenses only right now, although I may change that in the future. Many of the same principals apply though, and there are a few basic tips I can give you.

First of all, do your home work and look into it before investing. Don't be tempted to buy a scope that advertises high magnification as a main feature - most of these are not very good. Good scopes are all about aperture (light gathering ability) and quality of optics/construction, and there is a bewildering array, each suited for specific tasks.

Don't be tempted to skimp on the mount/tripod either, as this will also have a significant impact on the quality of the images produced by the system. Be prepared to spend as much if not more on support for your scope and a sky-tracking mount, depending on how serious you are about image quality.

There were a couple of telescope related questions recently over on the space exploration forum which could be a good place to get some initial ideas, and we have some members here that can offer better scope advice than I can, but I would also check some astronomy forums elsewhere for advice

A couple of suggestions, although there are many others if you look:
www.cloudynights.com...
groups.yahoo.com...
astro.umsystem.edu...


Oh, and this is a great site (click on the "Astrophotography Techniques" section and have a browse!):
www.astropix.com...

Enjoy, good luck, and let me know if I can help any further

If I'm right the telescope question was from me as I will be shopping around for one over the next week or two but pretty much have my heart set on one which i named in that post.
Thank you for all your information on the photography issue though very much and the lantern issue as well.