UFO Portsmouth UK 2355 travelling South West to North East, Fast

I have seen/tracked what I can only presume were USO's come UFO'f on RADAR before now during my time in the navy but I believe that I have just visually seen a UFO travelling at a fair rate of knots over Portsmouth in the UK.
at 2355 (literally minutes ago) I was locking the house up getting ready to go to bed when I went to check the back door. It's a nice clear night out there so I stepped out for a second to admire the stars when out of nowhere and with no sound whatsoever a long dimly lit tube shaped object travelled across the sky from South West to North East at tremendous speed. My first thought was that it was an aircraft, but then my senses kicked in and I realised that as it moved away there was no sound whatso ever. Also From my days of working on board Aircraft Carriers as a RADAR operator and Bridge lookout I am more than familiar with aircraft lighting patterns and this was no aircraft. There were no flashing navigation lights or port and starboard lights. The lights were dim and almost a dull blue/orange colour, almost merging into one continous light (not like seperate windows you would see on an airliner). The object was not so high that I couldn't make out it's shape. I could just make out that it was a long tube shape but could not see any wings or protruding parts from the fuselage. I could not get an exact height reference due to the darkness and speed of travel, however it couldn't have been too hugh for me to make out its shape (Unless it was huge).
One thing is for sure, i will not question why somebody never got a picture of a UFO that they have seen ever again. I am a keen amature photographer and always have a camera nearby, but even if my camera was in my hand I wouldn't have been able to take a picture because it was moving so fast and by the time that I had registered what I was seeing it was almost gone.

Look to the skys if your on the south coast of the UK.

Nice post, right there along with a few other ones from a few locations around the U.K.

Is there something in the works that these people are witnessing?...

My father was a chief petty officer in the navy and told me stories of ufo's he'd seen in active service. He took me many times up Portsdown hill to look at the skies on a clear night. Being in radar, he knew his stuff.

I felt compelled to post in this thread. I think its my first post on ATS, im more of a lurker. Ill cut to the chase. I was travelling home from work tonight, & around 23:40 ( not exact time ) I spotted an orange light travel through the sky. It definitely was not an airplane. It was a constant orange light. I have seen chinese lantrans before and this did not fit the bill. Its hard to tell what speed it was doing but it was fast. I wish the traffic was not so busy & I could have pulled over and had a good look. I just checked google maps and the flight path does not match the OP location. I was travelling from Dublin to Galway ( Ireland ) and the object approached from the left and passed by me to the right. Anyway Happy independence day

So many UFO sightings in one week.Wow!
Most of these UFOs are generally in that area.

Nice thread.

Nice one! Sounds bona-fide - yes these things are out there, I've witnessed them twice, possibly three times. They can move from horizon to horizon in less than 10 seconds, as you say, making them impossible to photograph. I refer to them as high speed flying dimmed strip lights:



Mind you, I've only ever seen them in one colour, and that's the usual whitey colour of a strip light. They are quite a sight, because of their speed. It's unlikely they would ever be noticed by anyone, unless they happened to be looking up at exactly the right moment. Like I said, it's as if they could circle the Earth in a couple of minutes. Whatever they are, I want to ride in one

PS. Shame the B'ham TV clip is getting the exposure - your sighting is far more genuine, but I guess people always want photos. Too bad they will probably never see a video clip or photo of one of these objects. Consider yourself lucky for seeing it! And out of interest, had you watched anything new or had any new thoughts on UFO culture today (prior to your sighting)? Just curious.

Further note: I estimate the ones I saw at least to be from 30,000 to 50,000 ft. We must remember various jet liners over the years reporting objects zooming past the cabin at extreme speeds - so I'd guess what you've seen (and me) are possibly related to what pilots sometimes experience. Do these things bend time and space to reach such great speeds, and to avoid other air traffic? If one contacted a plane could it have disastrous consequence (Flight 447)?

Thanx for the OP> Give me one of these type of sightings over a hundred iffy videos any day of the week. If you like coincidences, it bares a remarkable similarity to the description of a UFO seen by a guy from the F D R Aircraft carrier.. He described it as, blue turning to orange as it vanished at a rate of knots.

reply to post by markymint


Markymint I do have a passing interest in UFO's but am no means fanatical about it, so yes I have had exposure to modern ideas on UFO's. However I hadn't been watching anything on TV or reading anything on the subject directly prior to this sighting.

Interesting how you would describe the tubes as flying strip lights. My friend asked me today how I would describe the lighting/glow and after some thought I said it was like a glowstick that was almost spent. It wasn't glowing brightly but rather had a soft dull glow to it.

Thanks to everybody else for the replies (and for not pointing out my spelling mistakes as I excitedly and hurriedly tried to tell my story). I was thinking about the possibility of it being military (which seems unlikely but not something to be ruled out) and I remembered that up on Portsdown hill overlooking the Solent and Portsmouth there is a Quinetic defence research RADAR station. They have a whole array of different types of RADAR up there for different testing purposes. That would make it an ideal sight to test the stealth capabilities of any new aircraft out at sea. Just a passing thought.

Your testament genuinely intrigues me as your post seems genuine and very interesting seeing that you have had extensive experience in Military/Navy and are trained in RADAR.

Hopefully an amateur astronomer or passer by was quick enough to snap a photo of this event for further analysis but as it stands an eye witness account by someone who can differentiate between a genuine sighting or something conventional is worth more in my opinion than a badly blurred photo which proves nothing.

I am willing to bet that you saw a solar balloon. These are long tubes that when filled with air and placed in the sun will rise up and float off.They can come in different colours black ,white, pink, yellow etc. You can make your own from bin liners taped together or buy them from gadget shops.

reply to post by tarifa37


I'm not ruling anything out but it was five minutes to midnight when I saw the object and it was travelling at a very fast speed. Also there is the lightin to account for and the length and width of the object would mean that it would have to have been a huge solar balloon.

reply to post by avriel


Probably not a solar balloon if it was dark then. My mistake didn't read your post properly.

Thanks Avriel. I was toying with a notion when I asked about whether you'd watched anything, but it seems irrelevant. You're actually one of the first people I've read to experience the tube thing since I joined this forum. What I couldn't understand personally is how the second time I saw one, I literally chose one second out of an entire walk to work to look up into the sky, and it was that second I witnessed it.

What's interesting is that you're also in the UK, and I'm yet to read of someone outside the UK experience one of them. None the less I'm 90% convinced they're the same thing(s). So you know, the first time I saw one was in 2006. Would you agree or disagree the 'glow' looks electrical?

Seriously though, there is no logical explanation (yet) as far as I'm concerned. And I think it's important for others to get an idea of the speed. Again, would you agree or disagree with my diagram? But thanks again for the clarification.

Excellent witness report, OP

Always nice to know that UFOs are still a common occurrence here in the UK!

I would indeed rule out the Solar Balloons, simply not large enough nor have the capability for lighting.

I feel a bit silly asking you this as you claim to have worked on RADAR but did you consider the possibility of it being the ISS?

We may as well get all the usual questions debunked early on!

reply to post by markymint


I think you have the speed about right there, however the glow or lighting was not really a bright electric as in flourescant tubing or long life lamps. Like I say it reminded me of a glow tube that had been left lying around after a party and found the next day having expended most of its glow. If I was going to describe it as any kind of electrical lighting I would choose very dull neon lighting to equate it too.

reply to post by TrixXxtaR


Hi I did consider the ISS, but it was moving faster than I have seen the ISS move across the sky previously and it was bigger in size than the ISS (when viewed from the earth obviously). Also acording to this link there were no passes of the ISS over Portsmouth last night.

reply to post by Mark_Frost


When he says fast..............................................he means fast, not just fast but SUPER FAST - So fast, it's impossible to snap.

I have really good peripheral vision and in the mid 60's saw one, a little bigger than this period . (like a star) go from one end of my vision left to right and back again within not even a second - If I had blinked I would have missed it.

We are talking fast and we are talking too fast to actually get a good video or photo of (thank god this one was really far up there, I don't want a "close encounter".

It zig zagged like it was showing off or looking for something and then just popped out.

Now, my nephew in law, who is a pilot saw one bigger than a football stadium.............so did his 200+ passagengers, but not a word, not a report.

My nephew in law makes over 100K a year, he was told if he valued his nice paycheck to not file a report.

And surprisingly, not one of the passengers alerted the press???? Or maybe the press just didn't print it????

Starred and flagged this post.

Nice to see ATS not having so many trolls on the loose.

This is what usually happens, when you see something different you tend to observe it and you don't think about doing anything because you don't want to miss it or you know it going to fast to get anything.

Many ships travel our skies they usually just move way to fast but I must say even they do like to bring the young up from the depth's to see all the pretty lights exploding in color during the 4th of July weekend.

Living so near to Portsmouth I feel quite cheated. The one night I decided to have an early night and a UFO goes dancing past.

As there are several military experts here I wondered if any of you had read a book by Ivan T Sanderson called Invisible Residents. Its a peach for its research and the number of military incidents recorded. Sanderson covers a very interesting angle in that he looks also at UFOs that arise out of the water or disappear into it. If you get a chance its well worth a read. He died in 1973 so much of his research is obviously before that date, but I think people were freer to speak in those days and considerably more open about their experiences.

FYI:

Like I say it reminded me of a glow tube that had been left lying around after a party and found the next day having expended most of its glow.

I totally agree. I would describe the ones I've seen as strip lights looking like they're about to go kaput, meaning - particularly dim. Thanks again for the interesting info! I can't really explain the difference in the color you may have seen compared to myself, but either way - I think the objects are related.

That said, it is quite pertinent that you as a radar operator have finally seen in person one of these whizzing about objects.