Need your input.....something strange in the sky over Saigon this evening.

Greets,

I just witnessed something weird in the sky over Saigon this evening and managed to get a couple of pictures before my battery died on me. By the time I finally dug up my backup battery for my Cannon D60 whatever it was was gone. It's actually several objects, I saw two at first but then I saw a third in my last photos.

I'm not immediately saying UFO but I can tell you for sure, not birds, not planes, not balloons, etc., no way. These were photographed off my 20th floor balcony looking to the northwest I think, just before sunset here (12 hours opposite west coast US time). They were not moving, at least not as far as I could tell. Sorry that I could not zoom in any better and my damn camera kept trying to continually focus so I could not even take as many pics as I wanted. I'm an admittedly crappy photographer but I did my best. I did manage to luck into getting one picture with an airplane in the shot for scale but it's pretty blurry.

Again, sorry for the quality but I was kind of freaked out and shaky as I've been here for two years and never seen anything like this in the sky; not any large balloons, hang gliders, etc., ever, only commercial planes.

I uploaded them to Photobucket and am (hopefully) linking the original, unedited photos. Hoping you can download and see in full detail. Scratch that, I can only seem to figure out how to link to the folder.

Love to hear your opinions, I'm certainly no expert but I'm at a loss here.

Thanks!

s293.beta.photobucket.com...

If they were not moving what happened to them? Did they simply vanish? Did they fall? Knowing that would go some way to identifying what the objects were.

The pictures aren't going to tell us anything as they are too blurry, so unless you have more details about the way they acted and where they went, or unless someone else saw them, all we can do is shrug.

It's hard to tell because they are so far away , the color looks metallic. Were they stationary when you photograph them ?

reply to post by buskey


Looks like planes in a line or holding pattern, there is an airport nearby as the fist photo shows.

pic 2 is aircraft .. the rest too blurred looked like normal evening skies ... am up in the vietnam... laos.. cambodia border area was quite nice sunset here this evening didnt see anything unusual when was out taking tea watching the sunset ...

Sorry, I know crappy pics but the best I could get. Definitely stationary, I went to find my backup battery but it took me several minutes. When I came back they weren't there any longer.

Yes, that area is an approach/take off for the airport but all planes go left to right/right to left, no exceptions. Never saw any going toward or away from our balcony in two years of watching the skies.

I know not the best pics but it was really crazy, they were hanging there when I went to the balcony, then gone within the ten minutes or so it took me to to first get my camera, take the pics, then go search for another battery.

Hoping someone can download and zoom in better than I can to get more detail.

And yes, they did look metallic and about at the same distance as the jet.

reply to post by buskey


You're in Saigon? What district? I stay near Bui Vien in District 1

I'm in Tao Dien, District 2. Watcha do here mate?

reply to post by buskey

Hello!
Interesting pictures, thanks for sharing!

For a better global view, I've done a composition using the three best photos and slightly resizing these using the distant buildings that can be seen in the landscape.
The horizontality is remarkably equal in the three photos, I only had to rotate n°24 by -0.5° to perfectly aligned it with the two other:



I have to say that they don't exactly kept their relative distances to each other between shoots, while they still remain globally at the same place:



Close-up of the most visible one:



My first guess would be kites. There's 11s. between shoot n°20 and n°25 and they kept exactly the same relative size, so they stayed at the same distance, with just a swaying move, just like kites do.

Could it be possible?

Originally posted by elevenaugust
reply to post by buskey

 

Hello!

Interesting pictures, thanks for sharing!

For a better global view, I've done a composition using the three best photos and slightly resizing these using the distant buildings that can be seen in the landscape.
The horizontality is remarkably equal in the three photos, I only had to rotate n°24 by -0.5° to perfectly aligned it with the two other:

I have to say that they don't exactly kept their relative distances to each other, while they still remain globally at the same place:

My first guess would be kites.

Wow, thanks! Exactly the kind of analysis I was hoping for. Definitely could be kites I guess, just not sure as I've never seen them here before and they are so damn high in the sky.

I guess that when the most obvious should be considered, kites would be a great explanation. Strange though that all were gone in a matter of minutes but it was approaching sunset so makes sense I suppose.

Thanks again.

At first glance I would have said birds, but since you seem to sure that there wasn't any wing movement and the position remained more or less stationary, I go for kites as well. Swallow shaped kites sort of.

reply to post by H1ght3chHippie


Well if they are kites you will probably see them flying again at some point in the future. My first thought was bird too but the uniform spacing seems to say it all. Thanks for sharing

Hmm looks interesting, not sure if it's real though.