US: Video: Georgia witness captures bright light changing colors in night sky

www.examiner.com...

Quote from source:
A Georgia witness grabbed his video camera as soon as lights in the sky appeared to be anomalous on April 4, 2010, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

"This was easily 10 times as bright as Sirius," the witness reported. "There were no aircraft lights that we could see... just lots of 'twinkling' that you'd see in a star."

The entire sighting lasted approximately 45 minutes. The object appeared to be west of Kingsland, GA.

"The twinkling turned out to be pulsating lights that changed from blue to red. Towards the end of the video the light is a solid red and blinks on and off."

Kingsland is in Camden County, GA, population 10,506.

Georgia, April 4, 2010 - Bright light in the night sky that changed colors and seemed stationary. MUFON Case # 22650.

I was outside in my front yard talking on the phone with my Dad when I noticed a 'star' over the Western horizon near Saint Marys, Georgia. I called my brother out to take a look at it and he thought it might be a star.

I know Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and pointed it out to him. This was easily 10 times as bright as Sirius. There were no aircraft lights that we could see... just lots of 'twinkling' that you'd see in a star.

I went inside and grabbed my video camera. The twinkling turned out to be pulsating lights that changed from blue to red. Towards the end of the video the light is a solid red and blinks on and off.

I would say from the time I noticed it until the time it escaped my view finder at a separate location was about 45 minutes total. If I had to guess the approx. location it would've been right on the Florida/Georgia border to the west of Kingsland.

It appeared to move steadily to the west, but at a very slow rate of speed. So much so that when we were watching it we thought it was stationary.

Also, shortly after spotting it, there were many aircrafts in the sky all at once which we thought was odd. I have no idea what this might have been but I'd like to know if anyone else had a better look at it, or what JAX international airport (25 miles south on I-95) had on their radar.

Interesting to say the least. I don't think this is a star but I am no expert.

Cool video but it does not appear to be moving fast so it hovering I guess. If he put his video down you can see it moving to fast to be a star, but it could possibly be the ISS.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I saw this same exact thing here just outside San Diego, California.

Venus? Hard to get too excited about a stationary pinpoint of light.

Orkojoker beat me to it.

Yoursky confirms Venus was setting due west that evening, thus moving "west". And it is "much brighter than Sirius" so that matches as well.

Guys, this is sad.

Here you are calling this Venus when you didn't watch the video at all.

Especially the last 1 minute of the video.

The object turns red, then blinks on, and off, on and off.

It is pretty freaking crazy man.

The video looks genuine to me. I like it.

See , I was so ready to say Venus too. Haha! But then when I saw the BLINKING, I knew that can't be the right answer.

Let's come up with something that fits.

Originally posted by eaglewingz
Orkojoker beat me to it.

Yoursky confirms Venus was setting due west that evening, thus moving "west". And it is "much brighter than Sirius" so that matches as well.

Oh? And you ever seen Venus blink? Or change colors? Nice try, but I don't think so.

Originally posted by warpcrafter

Originally posted by eaglewingz
Orkojoker beat me to it.

Yoursky confirms Venus was setting due west that evening, thus moving "west". And it is "much brighter than Sirius" so that matches as well.

Oh? And you ever seen Venus blink? Or change colors? Nice try, but I don't think so.

On second thought, maybe they are referring to a spaceship named Venus?

Ok, I'll stop with the jokes. I am pretty sure they didn't mean that.

But if they did, they would be closer to a good answer.

Someone I know also saw it, so we went to go and have a looksee.

We sat outside watching it for a couple of hours. When I got home, I pulled up a star chart and checked it's relation to Orion.

Turns out what they were seeing is Sirius, the Dog Star. Sits low on the horizon, doesn't rise far, and sets very quickly.

The twinkling and color changing that we did see was due to atmospeheric conditions, pollution, etc., but there is no doubt that what we saw, at least, was indeed Sirius.

I would expect since it is the brightest object in the night sky right now, it gets a lot of attention.

Also, I think it was Mars that just a week or so ago was at it's closest point to the Earth, and a great competition for attention in the night skies a couple of nights.

Saturn, I think, will be next to be it's closest.

So, depending on what night it was, it could be any one of these things, and without any direction or correlation to constellations, it's impossible to give a real answer.

Occam's Razor, however.

Here is an excellent star map complete with a calendar of events for April, 2010. It's free.

www.skymaps.com... Meh this link is broken when using the direct link, so go to the main site and click on the first April 2010 pdf English link (if you prefer it in English)

Here is the main site:

www.skymaps.com...


ETA - clarification on link

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Libertygal]

This is actually one of the better videos I've seen.

The guy even sets the camera up stationary for us. Which is obvious if you watch.

The object then moves from the center of the screen pixels, down to the right side slowly.

Then near the end it turns Red. And starts blinking on and off. And the cameraman obviously starts shaking a bit in his "freaking out moment".

I honestly wish most UFO vids were this good.

It could be hoaxed, I admit, but it is a very very good hoax you must concede.

reply to post by Libertygal


No trust me, go watch the video till the end.

The blinking is not star like.

There is a long pause in between the light going on and off.

This is clearly an anomoly.

We need better explanations.

The blinking does not fit with stars, planets, meteors, comets, or supernovae.

Nor does it fit with helicopters, planes, uavs, lanterns, etc.

In theory a blimp could be capable of such a light show, but I have never personally seen one configured in this manner. Blimps probably have to follow FAA regulations though, so that will throw the blimp out due to lack of FAA approved blinking lights.

Come on someone throw us a good explanation lol.

It cant be a kite, thats too weird.

I don't see it being a bug or a bird either.

Maybe some sort of remote control hovering very bright flying device? (With changing and blinking colors).

Still seems so unlikely and maybe even illegal.

I don't know what it is.

But I have definately never seen a star turn that red and start blinking like that.

Pretty cool video...but have no idea what it is. I don't know if it is really a UFO...because it doesn't really seem to be flying

So maybe just a UO

It's in the right location to be Venus. Venus was very low in the west after sunset. The color change can be attributable to scintillation (twinkling as the youtube poster calls it) which is more pronounced the closer to the horizon a star or planet is. The blinking off and on seems to be a focus effect.

I wonder what this means.

I would say from the time I noticed it until the time it escaped my view finder at a separate location was about 45 minutes total.

Separate location?

My take from watching the video is that the original light is probably Venus and looks like it is pulsating from the focus going in and out. I believe the red flashing light was caused by the camera being moved towards a red flashing radio tower light. The flashing pattern fits some that I have seen before.

At around 7:10 in the video when you see the red light towards the top of the screen, there are street or house lights visible. When you get to around 7:48 in the video the light goes back to the original color and when it is more towards the top of the screen the house/street lights are not there.

If it was pretty much stationary or moving real slow the house/street lights should still be there at 7:48 when the object is more towards the top of the screen I would think.

reply to post by muzzleflash


I did watch the video to the end. I still offer that weather and atmosphere could well have been an obstruction in the view. When stars set, a lot of factors come in to play, and we really can only guess because there is nothing for location determination, size comparison, etc.

The video would be excellent if there was something included for comparisons sake. Keep in mind also, that Sirius is a binary star, and at certain times, the second star does have effects on it's visual impact.

When I was younger, I "discovered" Sirius exactly because of it's anomolous appearance. I saw both of the stars at once, and they flashed a brilliant red just prior to setting. It was beautiful to see. I was also a bit freaked out about it, which led to my research at that time, as it kept "re-appearing" night after night. It was also this exact time of year, too.

Without being able to view the horizon and it's relationship to the object in the video, however, it's just guesses. Clouds, pollen, smokestacks, pollution, it all becomes a factor on any setting object, not to mention trees and buildings which may not be able to be seen unless the video is manipulated a bit to see if those details can be pulled out and made visible.

It is intriguing, but I am guessing Sirius. I am not expert though, just giving an opinion.

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star.

(snip)

What the naked eye perceives as a single star is actually a binary star system, consisting of a white main sequence star of spectral type A1V, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B.

(snip)

It was originally composed of two bright bluish stars. The more massive of these, Sirius B, consumed its resources and became a red giant before shedding its outer layers and collapsing into its current state as a white dwarf around 120 million years ago.[8]

(snip)

During the era of the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, namely the day it becomes visible just before sunrise after moving far enough away from the glare of the sun. This occurred just before the annual flooding of the Nile and the summer solstice.

(snip)

Sir William Huggins examined the spectrum of this star and observed a noticeable red shift.

(snip)

In 150 AD, the astronomer Ptolemy described Sirius as reddish, along with five other stars, Betelgeuse, Antares, Aldebaran, Arcturus and Pollux, all of which are clearly of orange or red hue.[44] The discrepancy was first noted by amateur astronomer Thomas Barker, squire of Lyndon Hall in Rutland, who prepared a paper and spoke at a meeting of the Royal Society in London in 1760.[45]

(snip)

However, it does not rise very high when viewed from some northern cities, reaching only 13° above the horizon from Saint Petersburg.[62]

(snip)

en.wikipedia.org...

ETA - I also concur that the flashing at the end may well have been a refocus on something else, after watching it several times, it did appear they focused on something else. If it is reproduceable, then that would answer the questions. Anyone have a camera that wishes to try and reproduce it?


[edit on 8-4-2010 by Libertygal]

He even had the camera stationary and the object moved a noticeable amount.

This is too fast isn't it?

The video does not look sped up, the guys were talking during it and you could hear all of the sounds of them moving objects around.

I just don't think a star or planet will move that much that fast. Then change colors and blink with such a fashion.

Call me skeptical.

reply to post by predator0187


Predator0187.....

I agree with Phage.

It's Venus.....the blinking at the end of the video is a camera effect.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

Also, why are there not any other "stars" or planets visible? This light is obviously very bright.

At around 6:40 the odd stuff happens.

It's not a focusing effect, surely. Look at the intensity ranges. They alter too drastically.

It is not a weather effect either, or we would be seeing this phenomena far more often.

And I, have never seen a dot of light turn red and blink like that.

The first time the light turns off, it lasts so LONG that it is truly spectacular.

That is why I said this is a really good hoax, or, it's totally real.

[edit on 8-4-2010 by muzzleflash]

Originally posted by muzzleflash
He even had the camera stationary and the object moved a noticeable amount.

This is too fast isn't it?

The video does not look sped up, the guys were talking during it and you could hear all of the sounds of them moving objects around.

I just don't think a star or planet will move that much that fast. Then change colors and blink with such a fashion.

Call me skeptical.

I was shocked at how fast Sirius moved. It is very low on the horizon and only comes up enough to get some attention before it sets. From when we got there to when it totally disappeared was just over about 2 hours.

We also had trees and other objects from atop a hill so we could guage it's movement, and yes, it moved really fast, relationally to the moon and other stars. But, it was obviously in the Canis constellation, to the left of Orion's foot. The night was watched it, it was more blues and slightly red, but I have seen it in the past flash a lot of pretty reds and blues.

It doesn't make it any less exciting really. Well, we didn't see a UFO, but finding out more about the star was pretty interesting, to me at least. When I found the Wiki page about it, and it confirmed the red flsahing and such, I was happy to know I wasn't crazy.

It is still enjoyable to go outside and locate it and watch it.

I do agree about the blinking/flashing, that doesn't look natural, and I am skeptical about the camera re-adjustment, too. The real red flashing is more impressive, IMO. That looks more and more like some sort of tower or something.

I wish someone could do a negative effect or something on the images and see if they can pull anything out of it from the horizon.

:uedit for typos >< sleepy

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Libertygal]

Yep, I will have to with Venus too.

Easily reproduceable, again, if someone wishes to try!