Noticed transforming stars & zig-zagging lights

Thanks for sharing the information guys, I love reading about different peoples experiences with this unexplainable stuff. You guys are also explaining things that I have noticed but not stated (as I can't possibly remember every detail of my experience), and so I do trust everyone to be speaking the truth in this thread.

Right now I am sat in my garden, observing the sky, i'll be sure to announce any sightings I come across tonight. I do really want to spend some time in a area without light pollution, so I can have a real good look.

reply to post by TellEmRye


I recently found a site where people can report meteor sightings. I see a lot because I just happen to like looking up when I'm outside at night/cant sleep or whatnot so it was exciting to find a site where people can share what they have seen. The site is thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.com... if you'd like to see it.

Anyways, I went to Cancun for a business conference as a guest with my boyfriends company back in August. One night, I couldn't sleep and my boyfriend had an early morning meeting. I didn't want to bother him so I decided to go check out the stars from our balcony. The sky was completely clear and our room had an extremely clear view of the ocean. At about 3am, I saw something very similar to what you reported in the first portion of your post. I saw a very slow moving, semi-bright object that moved right, left, then right again before disappearing. I just stood there in awe and looked around to see if anyone was on the surrounding balconies...no one was around. I stood there for a few minutes more, wanting to see it again. After about 3 minutes, it happened again....there was no sound coming from whatever it was and it didn't have a tail. It seemed more like a plane of some sort but no plane (at least that I know of) could move in this manor.

The thing is, I don't remember what date I saw it. I know I got to Cancun on the 7th and we stayed till the night of the 13th. I'm pretty sure the dates line up but I'm not sure if the times do! I'm bad with time zone conversions...

SO that link I posted earlier to that meteor reporting site...
I looked to see if anyone saw anything similar on/around that date. There was a hit from Middlesbrough, England at 22:40 on August 11, 2012.


Some of his observations were:
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Duration (sec)
"20 to 25 seconds. It was quite long and that is my worry."

Brightness? Same as the sun? moon? Venus?
"Mars but more glowing. Like a plane at first but about ten times brighter and it clearly burned out above me. It spluttered but generally dimmed as its track petered out half way across the sky."

Comments or other observations?
"Move straight for about 15 seconds and was quite slow, then it dimmed but zig zagged almost at right angles 4 or 5 times and then petered out. My fear is it was much slower than other meteors I have observed. Slowness is a concern here. The burning out got me much more interested. The last 5 seconds made me think it was a meteor or indeed meteorite."
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You can view his whole report on that website by searching for the location or date. His name is Neil. Oh, he mentioned that it was orange and red but that doesnt really match what I saw. The time I think is off from mine as well but I still thought it was a biggg coincidence that multiple people actually reported this "sighting" of sorts.

Anyways, I just wanted to share my experience and tell you how happy I am that you also saw this on/around the same date and time as me. I dont even know if it's possible that we saw the exact same object due to our individual locations but maybe it was the same object at a different time/location. Who knows. Also, the second part of your post is crazy! I wish I stayed outside long enough...maybe I would have seen something similar -.-

Thanks again!
Till next time,

-TheCuriousOne
Virginia, USA

Originally posted by TellEmRye
I love reading about different peoples experiences with this unexplainable stuff.

I've skimmed through this thread, and there is nothing posted in it that is not explainable, unless you don't bother looking for an explanation.

Some of the descriptions posted are consistent with aircraft in the distance (eg TheCuriousOne's description above my post), whilst others could easily be satellites, and even possibly meteors in some cases.

Someone mentioned "speeding up and slowing down", and "zigzagging" motion was mentioned a few times, but it's actually not uncommon for an object to appear to do these things even if it's not, which is due to the way our brains interpret what we are seeing - under certain circumstances information from our eyes can be misinterpreted. The result is an optical illusion.

The main problem is that when we look up at an object/light in the sky, there are usually very few visual cues, and without visual cues the likely-hood of an optical illusion being experienced increases dramatically.

For example, when a bright satellite (or it could be any light/object - the effect is the same) is seen in a reasonably light polluted sky (ie the vast majority of stars are not visible), because there are few (if any) reference stars (visual cues) visible close to the satellite, an observers brain will struggle to accurately judge the speed of the satellite, which can result in the satellite appearing to speed up or slow down.

This same set of circumstances is also responsible for the apparent "zigzagging" motion that many people (including myself) sometimes observe with satellites (and other lights in the sky), and the resulting illusion is known as the "autokinetic effect".

The only way to tell for sure if an object in the sky is moving erratically, is to capture footage of it or photograph it, and then analyze the footage/photograph to determine if there is any erratic motion.

See the thread I recently posted which covers most of the descriptions mentioned here: Flashes and Star-like objects that move strangely in the sky explained


To sum up, yes people see things that look strange in the sky, but there is much more evidence that this is due to people making bad witnesses (due to our flawed perception) rather than it being due to "unexplainable" phenomena.

To put it bluntly - get some proof (footage) before claiming that something unexplainable is going on rather than just your eyes playing tricks on you, which is the most likely explanation in cases where erratic motion is observed. Otherwise it's just contaminating a forum that is supposed to be reserved for truly inexplicable phenomena.

reply to post by dayve

It's nuts dude, people must be blind to not see these things

Originally posted by zonetripper2065
It's nuts dude, people must be blind to not see these things

No. Most people just don't spend enough time looking up.

Assuming other people don't see these things is just that - an assumption.

Other people do see these things (when they look), but not everyone assumes what they are seeing is unusual.

reply to post by FireballStorm


Some are too dumb to notice the others just deny it.

do a search on the forums, many posts on moving stars. i posted my story a few times, basically i was sitting outside had a clear view of the sky had three stars over head and as i sat there the center star broke formation and flew off

i stood up.. gawked though omg should i run get a camera or binoculars.. but i stayed and watched it fly over the tree line.

reply to post by TellEmRye


s+f

i always saw these when i was up late
and on the 19th and 20th of sept (this month)
i woke up at 4 am and saw a star that seemed to wobble
on both nights it also dimmed and went brighter

and in the past i too have seen them playing tick in the sky
and a light that i thought was a star shoot off suddenly

reply to post by TellEmRye

I am so glad I found this site today, though I was searching for people with similar experiences to mine, I would not have believed I was going to find a site where all of my experiences are logged by others.

The zigzagging, I have seen this quite often in spring and summer for the last 2 years. It is much lower than what you describe though, like at the level small planes fly, not jets. It is not JUST zig zagging, it is exactly like the look of light in those static electricity balls when a hand touches them, but with what also looks like zig zagging too. I have seen this in different parts of the sky in multiple places in one night, several nights in a seaon. On the nights it happens it seems to happen a lot.

UFOs Disguising As Stars!
Skeptical Ed (me in a previous ATS incarnation)
posted on 11-10-2009 @ 10:07 PM
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I see fake stars and fake planes every day. You are not alone.