So, you are out one night and you see an object in the sky that you can’t quite explain. You have never seen anything quite like it in your life before. Could it be an alien spacecraft? Have you had a Close Encounter of the Third Kind?
An alien visitation would be a truly outstanding occurrence if it were validated scientifically. It would possibly rank as the greatest discovery ever since science began. For centuries however, astronomers, both professional and amateur, have been looking into the skies without ever finding good evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial beings. Given our knowledge of the Universe, this is not surprising. Although there are many billions of stars around us, the distances involved are stupendously large. The practical difficulties involved for alien spacecraft traveling to Earth beggar belief. This is not to say it is impossible; just very unlikely. When you see a strange light in the sky, you should not jump to the conclusion that you have seen a UFO. Other, more mundane explanations are possible in the majority of cases.
Here’s a quick guide to some strange lights in the night sky, and what they might be.
- Steady moving lights, flashing each second, possibly green or red; sometimes very bright white lights.
It’s likely to be an aircraft. This is probably a trivial case as most people are aware of what planes look like at night. Near airports, planes can have very bright landing lights turned on that can drown out any flashing beacons.
- Steady moving light with no flashing. Moving slowly. Seen after sunset or before sunrise. Can be very bright, but usually quite dim objects. May disappear almost instantaneously.
You may have seen an artificial satellite. There are hundreds of satellites in the sky, normally only visible in the night sky after sun-down, when the light is still shining on them. The sudden disappearance happens when it moves into the Earth’s shadow. If the light is very bright, it is likely that you have just seen the International Space Station, quite a common sight in our skies these days.
- Orange flickering light, floating around 50 to 100 metres above the ground. May dim slowly after a few minutes.
You have possibly seen a Chinese Lantern, a small, inexpensive hot-air balloon made out of paper and wire. Chinese Lanterns have become very common around the country at celebrations, Halloween and New Year’s Eve.
- Steady bright light. No apparent movement. May be close to horizon or visible in the southern sky. Much brighter than surrounding stars.
It’s possible you have seen Jupiter or Venus, two surprisingly bright planets at certain times of the year. After the Moon, these two objects are the brightest objects in the night sky.
- A very bright point of light in the sky. It lasts momentarily, then disappears again. Object may move slowly. So bright you might even see it during the day.
You may have seen an Iridium Flare, essentially the reflection of a low-orbit Iridium satellite, originally used to provide satellite mobile communications. The reflections can be surprisingly bright.
- Very bright green or red light in the sky, about 200 metres above ground. Appears to move slowly.
You may have seen an emergency flare. This is a very bright firework, shot up in the sky as a distress signal to nearby shipping. In Ireland, flares are often sent up during celebrations like the New Year.
- Fast moving bright object. May travel a large distance across the sky in a split second. Possibly a greenish colour associated with the event.
You may have seen a fireball. This is a rocky object from space that has collided with the Earth’s atmosphere, heating up and exploding on impact. It may also be a satellite re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Such an event is worth noting! You should make a note of your observation with the International Meteor Organisation.
- Strange diffuse lights, illuminating clouds. Moving rapidly, possibly rhythmically. There may be more than one light in the sky.
You may have seen the effect of searchlights shining up on clouds. Local festivals and event organisers sometimes use searchlights to attract attention to their shows at night.
Other sightings may have arisen from light reflections, optical illusions or mistaken identity. It may be that the witnesses were very tired at the time or under the influence of drugs or medication, or they may have been the subject or originator of a deliberate hoax. The key thing is to always discount the more mundane answers before ever jumping to improbable conclusions.
You did of course miss out Noctilucent clouds and Aurorae. Harder to spot in UK or Ireland but possible all the same.
Me and my family were driving through north Carolina and we saw a blinking blie light come out of the trees going of in a distance leaving a white trail mark that disappeard in secconds with the object. If you could give me a awnser to what that was that would be great.
‘my family and I’ Bob
Thanks Phil. Yes, good ones – I have seen both but I never thought they might be misconstrued as UFO’s, but when you think about it it’s quite possible.
I just saw 5 red objects flying in the night sky as bright as ever. I thought they were helicopters but I heard absolutely nothing. They disappeared one by one. No one can tell me different.
Flares
ok guys can you help me out? 2 green and 1 red solid bright lights first very still then moving in all different directions..up, down. side to side, every direction! And at varying speeds??? Hubby and I are looking for an explanation..Would love you to have an answer.
Could very well be someone with a drone. They make sudden shifts in direction like that
Mine was different. It look like a star then went left and right and up and down. Then made a z pattern faster than anything manmade. Watched for 5 mins!! At the end it did not disappear. It shot off like thousands of miles per hour, the light got smaller and smaller as it left. No sound ever, no flashing, just a solid light that moved at inhuman speeds. Over a cow field, this is nothing man made? What about the elongated skulls that man has found? Man better wake up! They are to fast for us to shoot down! There are millions of witnesses! Not on drugs, hallucinations or crazy. I own a business with 5,000 customers. It will be proven one day when they crash. If they come down now maybe humans can hurt them. They are being careful. One day it will be proven, life is everywhere. Open your mind, we are only beginning to advance technology. They are here and they have been coming here for a long time. You will believe when they crash land and it is proven! Or a full fledged assault comes or way!
Ok totally werided out…. was watching the canada day fireworks with my son an daughter when i noticed this guy looking in the other direction just stareing so i looked over an saw a red light in the sky figured it was a satelite. The guy kept looking at it so i looked again an it moved at this time i seen a solid red light with a flashing green light just huvering then it moved again way to fast for a helicopter or aircraft. It was moving up down left right closer to the fireworks then back. Its like it was watching. i watched it for a good 5-10mins.. then it went back an it was gone. Anyone have any answers to what this could be???
At night it is very difficult to judge perspective. The fact that it has standard green and red lights indicates an aircraft of some kind. It could possibly have been a small drone, so it might have been closer to you than it seemed. There are plenty of videos of drones on YouTube that you might check out.
I saw over 20 objects in the sky. Most of them had red lights and were flashing white. When lights flashed it looked like a triangle or a square. One passed right over us and I couldn’t hear a thing. Less than 1,000 feet above me. Then they all disappeared one by one. Not one more to be found.
I just saw a very very bright white light object in the sky near my house. It was raining a few minutes back and the clouds were there so there was no chance of it being a star. It was reallllyyyy bright white and i looked through m binoculars and it seemed a bit U shaped/a bit spherical ball. It was moving like side to side and up and down but within a small area and then suddenly it flickered for a few seconds and disappeared. No sign of it whatsoever! I’m not sure whether it was a UFO or not, but as far as I think, it might have been a UFO. I have never encountered anything like that before!
This happened to me once,i was at the beach at night and saw the same thing,it was on the ground at first (doing the moviments you said)and then it was very up in the sky doing the same thing.
And I just wanted to add something to my previous comment, that it’s night time over here and I saw that at night!
Me and my family were driving through north carolina when out of no where a blue light came out of the tree line heading off in the distance leaving a white trail mark that disappeared with it in less then a few secconds. If you could tell me what that was that would be great.
The object i saw isnt described in the mundane answers, almost convinced myself it was a weatherballon that was low to the ground getting cought in updrafts untill it shot into the sky so fast it left a tale of light behind it. So dont think its alien as we have a miletary base nearby, it could have been a drone but it seemed way to eratic like someone was learning how to drive could be a new type of craft that hasnt been released to the public yet….but makes no sense to test it around the busy time of year here where mote people could see it. (Mind you iy was 4 am) it does sound like some other ufo sightings i wonder if we will ever find out. (In my mind it is now a very fast drone that has insane movment capabilities in360 direction )
I live in Morgan Hill and almost every night, I see these strange yellow lights that hover in the same spot for 20 minutes to an hour, then slowly they start moving in my direction. As they get closer, the yellow light becomes white, red and blue lights appear flashing on each of the sides and by the time they fly over me, they have become airplanes… Could these be aliens disguising themselves as planes?
Ps. I don’t know if this is important, but every time I see these lights, they are hovering over the areas of homes that my loved ones live in….
If anyone has any idea what this could be, please help me. It makes me extremely anxious… I don’t want anything bad to happen to the ones I love.
This night I’ve just seen something VERY bright in the east sky, it isn’t possible to be ISS or some satellite because more than 4 hours passed since sunset, and it was in the east sky. There was no big flashing (meteorites and comets leave long trails and flash, this didn’t), and the object went high when I spotted it, then started descending to the mountain nearby and LANDED ON IT!!! How I knew it landed? Because it was moving so fast like I’ve seen the videos of robots landing on Mars, then it slowed down and I saw two small rockets firing while the object was in retrograde position (speeding to the opposite direction of movement). The flash slowly became red, then it disappeared after a couple of seconds (just like a fire going down, when the last parts of it become black and cool down). I think that IS a spacecraft since the Moon light made the shadow of the mountain and the object landed right on it. I’ve been searching and learning a lot about space and objects in it, landing, launching, etc.
Also, I saw both Mars and Venus shining so much, Mars in the south and Venus in the west sky!!!
Margaret me and my husband have witnessed something similar…. For the past 6-7 months I have noticed the lights hovering over my own home. These lights eventually started to follow out as me and or my husband would leave the house for example to work…. The lights followed to work and then again all the way back home. We both work an hour away from home and we would watch the night sky from beginning to end and sure enough the lights were always there….usually about 10-15 ahead in the sky. They would sit still if he or i would stop for gas..like to be waiting on us. I thought to be drones for the longest but as they fly over lately they end up to be a complete air plane more looking like a two passenger plane and have noticed some during day…they are jets…one larger and one smaller….we are so confused…. And surely can’t figure why do they sit and watch and wait on us….the past three – four months I have also noticed my car acting very strange. It seems almost to be some kind of magnetic electric current…. I make every dog In the neighborhood bark crazily… Birds squak and chirp the moment I pass….alot of birds have flew almost into.my windshield… Like deer in headlights…. Like they are memorized by the lights. And random street lights go out the moment I pass them….the same lights every night… Note they are completely lit until I drive past…..anyway if there is anyone out there experiencing the same or similar….. Give me advice or would love to swap and share experiences. We are about to go crazy…. We feel like our privacy has been invaded to the maximum limit.
how about a circular shape bright orange light that moves abot fast and it’s light fades off then back on again as it moves, probably mili 1 second in between each fadings
In lbi nj tonight 230 am with my wife and seen a white light up in the sky and made a loop and off it went no sound and to fast for a plane!!! July 6 2016
I think I just saw my first Iridium flare today. It was clear skies here in Ireland today and at about 3pm I was outside taking a break from work. I always watch for planes when it’s clear skies. Today however I spotted an extremely high altitude point of light which was slowly moving across the sky. You could tell it was very high because a jet flew under it at one stage and this point was far far smaller. Anyway, I watched it for a minute or two, turned around to tell someone about it, looked back and it was gone. It did seem to fade a little before I looked away so I thought it was moving further up and disappearing. In hindsight it may just have been the solar arrays slowly moving the reflection that caused it to fade. Far as I could tell there were no rocket launches moving over Ireland today, so my guess is it was a satellite. Would be nice to think it was ET on the way home, but that would be to good to be true 🙂
Thank you, fast moving bright orange light in sky over St Mellon’s Cardiff tonight would be a Chinese lantern as above 🙂
I too once saw a Red & blue & green light way back in 1998 / 1999 in England in Kettering . I know what I saw no one on earth is going to tell me it was lights from Alaska or a sudden change in the earths atoms ephier or light reflected off the side off a plane etc etc . I saw what can only be described as an , don’t want to use the phrase aliens but a aircraft that way way out off this world . Round in shape with three clear lights underneath it red green & blue . Lights where shaped in a triangle figure like layout , and there was a bizarre humming noise coming from the craft . Must off only been 500 meters or so above the park .
My husband and I seen a blue aircraft last Thursday night while we were traveling. Went from tree line across the sky to tree line… Moved way too fast to be a plane, jet, or helicopter…
I live in Amsterdam, Netherlands and last night I was watching the sky for meteors at around 00.30 when I noticed in the distance 2 sets of red lights. I figured it was just a plane passing over. The red lights were going WAY to slow for a plane, as they got closer I seen that there was 4 red lights in a row and either 6 or 8 flashing white lights next to them. ( in a rectangle shape ). This was for both objects I seen. There was NO sound and one set of lights moved away from the other and then closed in again to the other set. As they past over my house i followed them to the front and they kept going but then I seen another 4 sets of lights each had the 4 red lights and 6-8 blinking lights and no sound but all going in different directions. It was like if they were scanning the area ? I am not sure if i seen a military aircraft or UFO either way it was very weird.
I could not see any shapes of the object going over.
As I live close to an airport I am use to seeing planes go over and usually I can see a plane shape but with these objects I could not see anything.. just lights.
This is not the first time I have seen something strange in the sky. It was the first time I had seen so many at one time. Has anyone else seen something similar ??
My sisters fiancee was outside and he saw a light so he got me and my sister. The light at first looked like it was blinking repeatedly in a triangle or circle pattern then after a few seconds turned into 1 light blinking. It went off in a direction and then there was another light that appeared blinking white. It looked as if it was following the red light, after a few seconds the red light vanished and then another white light appeared. The white lights flew around where the red light was seen, it made u-turns faster than any airplane or helicopter. So we think it was a jet trying to find the red light. After 10 minutes what we thought was a star started moving north-south or south-north. After that we got weirded out and went inside. If someone could explain this for me that would be great.
Ok, I’m not saying that I saw an UFO tonight, but what I saw was an object with bright blue colour moving from one place to another in norwester sky. It was seen for almost 7-8 minutes then it disappeared behind the cloud. No sound heard. What it could be?
I was waiting at a bus stop tonight when I saw this bright red object in the sky. If I squint, I could make out 3 separate red lights. It was just staying in one spot, but then it suddenly started moving in one direction. Then it stopped again, and after a few seconds it started moving in another direction. After I boarded the bus, I looked out the window and the red light was just moving rather quickly in one direction until I couldn’t see it anymore. What could it be?
Okay, just about every night that it is clear out, I can see an object in the night sky that flashes red, white and blue. The strangest thing of all is this object moves left, right, up and down is only visible between 2-5AM.
It’s almost as if it’s hovering in the sky. I live in BC Canada just along the border with Washington, has anyone else noticed this strange, moving and flashing object?
As it moves the light continuously flashes whether it seems to be moving further away or closer, or even left and right. It is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, any thoughts on what this could be?
I have trees in my yard that serve as a good point of reference and this object is definitely moving.
A slow bright light, not flashing and no sound whatsoever. Didn’t disappear until after at least a minute. Looked like a moving star.
Ideas?
This seems like the International Space Station, particularly if it was traveling roughly west to east. The ISS can be really bright at times.
15th october 2016 8.30pm uk time saw 10 silent orange lights equally spaced heading north then a final one approx one minute behind the others. below cloud, not lanterns, moving steadily. not white, red or green as you`d see on a plane.didn`t fade like lanterns , remained at steady height until disappearing from view.
It’s 1:24am in Sydney and my husband and I are trying to work out what we have been watching for the last half hour since we got home. There are two bright lights which look like a small and a large star or a however they are moving very erratically in the sky. At times they zig zag or they jump from one spot to another or they flicker and fly backwards and forwards.
I tried to take a video but couldn’t do it on my iPhone. Any ideas on what they could be? Initially I tried to persuade my husband they were satellites but they’re moving way too erratically to be that.
I know this is kind of an old post, but I was wondering if what I saw was a trick of the light reflecting off of a plane or not. It was a clear, sunny day, and in the sky a little ways off from the sun was what I believe was a plane. It was up very high, so much so that I could not distinguish any shape but that of a cigar, like a plane viewed from the side with no tail or wings. It was moving rather slowly away from the sun, and it suddenly appeared to shift to a single, tiny point of light. Its movement ceased, and it stayed still for about 15 seconds before suddenly vanishing. Any input is welcome.
I saw a light red and orange changing slowly but this thing wherever was it was going to fast and I fallow looking at and disappear it was like 10 pm I still thinking what is was.
I and my friend camped on a beach in the West of Ireland on the night of the 14th September 2009. It was a totally cloudless night and we could see all the stars including the Milky Way over the Atlantic Ocean. We saw many satellites, planes, shooting stars as well as one very strange light in the night sky. I noticed a very strange light behaving erratically. It would move very slowly and then dart rapidly to the left or right seemly to cover a huge distance; it also seemed to perform zig zag manoeuvres very rapidly. We watched it for about 20 minutes until it disappeared. It was very very high in the sky and seemed very distant. To this day we have no idea what it was.
Finally someone has described what i have seen as well, here in California while camping at Mono Hot Springs. I woke up and was staring at the sky around 2am and saw exactly what you described, only 2 of them, and it happened again the next night! They never disappeared, I finally fell back asleep after watching them for at least 1 hour.
That’s really interesting- thanks for sharing your story.
I saw a relatively bright light moving acrooss the night sky (the object was about as bright as a normal plane). However this is where the similarities end. The object was definitely moving faster than a normal plane. It was very steady, all of a sudden it accelerated rapidly upwards, and the object appeared to leave a orange/reddish color right behind it as it accelerated, possibly flames im guessing? Its acceleration upwards and the ‘trail of fire’ (not sure if it was fire however) left lasted about 1-2 seconds, the object literally disappeared into blackness. I am skeptical that it was a UFO, but i cant think of a meteor or satellite of any sort that would fly steadily at a relatively fast pace, and then accelerate upwards at such a rapid speed and disappear.
While your article was interesting, your stance that other worldly entities are not probobable disturbs me.As immense as this universe is there must be a possibility of much more intelligent, adaptable,creative, and technical beings.Evidence of them can be found in our skies and internet.
I saw a look like UFO it had a 2 yellow lines behind it and dissaperied in a second or 2 what is it I read all of your options I am not old I am a kid my brother saw a UFO to one day above Disney quest
I saw something in flying with green lights on the end of the wings and a red light in the center of the object. I did not hear a sound coming from it either. I am not sure how high it was because it was night time. I watched it for a couple of seconds and it dissapeared into some storm clouds.Just curious as to what this might be.
I saw a bright baby blue light over top of my mothers house while passing by very slow than it just disappeared within a blink of an eye but it seemed different than everything else that you have mentioned. I felt as if sothing was watching me and than just took off but all i saw was a speed of baby blue light and seemed like time stopped and than disappeared
I saw six white lights in a triangle pattern at night. No colors no blinking or flicking. It sounded like a jet engine but pretty quiet. It wasn’t but 300 feet up. It’s odd, why have an aircraft without navigation light but instead put large white ones?
I suffer from insomnia & quite regularly look up into the sky very late/ early in the morning! Very regularly I see lights – not bright, not resort green but lights I can see! They move very fast not in a straight line but backwards & forwards, up & down moving erratically very fast! No way are these lights airplanes or satellites! I live in Norwest Lancashire in the UK – I think there is more to this than the above explanation!
For several weeks, have noticed several solid white lights ((similar in appearance (size and brightness) to Sirius star)) traveling through ther sky at night. Just saw about 70 of these lights fly over North Cork in around 10 minutes. Equally spaced formation, constant velocity. Most heading ingeneral direction of England, some heading in other directions. Probably Military. Still occurring now. 21:00 Hrs – 29 Mar.
I think that might be the Starlink satellites they have launched recently. I haven’t seen them yet but I’m told it’s quite a sight to behold.
I live in Northern Tasmania, and I never see satellites here, but a few weeks ago, at around 5.30 AM, I watched around a dozen large, dullish lights traversing the sky. They were traveling north at the same height and speed in widely spaced groups of two and one group of three. One crossed their path, heading east. I have not seen them since.