UFOs

[beeline]

So I'm outside having a cigarette this morning, looking at the predawn night sky. It's absolutely crystal clear and I see another one of these white flashes of light. I wasn't looking directly at it, but unless I'm hallucinating [a possibility] there was a small white flash of light. These flashes of light are roughly the brightness of a planet and appear to be at high altitude. It's kind of hard to tell, but they definitely do not seem to be very close to the earth at all. I looked and looked but never saw another flash of light. Just one flash of white light and that's it. What the hell are these flashes of light I was thinking when I see another one out of the corner of my eye in an entirely different area of the sky. So I stare in that area for awhile. Nothing. Now I really am wondering what these flashes of light are. I don't recall ever having seen them before.

That sounds like a large satellite, spinning on its axis, reflecting sunlight.

[RocketMan]

I don't think the majority of the people visiting this board are positing that even a majority of the alleged UFO cases are legitimate paranormal experiences. But there always remains a hard core of experiences that defy rational explanations/explanations that are within the current scientific paradigm.

[beeline]

I don't think the majority of the people visiting this board are positing that even a majority of the alleged UFO cases are legitimate paranormal experiences. But there always remains a hard core of experiences that defy rational explanations/explanations that are within the current scientific paradigm.

I'm not saying there aren't any legitimate UFO experiences, rather, that, as someone who has watched the night sky quite a bit in the past, you can easily spot sats, and when you see them, they look just like that: a little twinkle as they spin. You can follw them, actually, if you can guess their heading, and see the same reflection a few seconds later. Of course, conditions have to be right for this, clear sky, little or no mooon, far away from any city lights. Hell, I can spot the ISS from downtown Philly, that's Mag 1 now.

[Sepka]

I'm not saying there aren't any legitimate UFO experiences, rather, that, as someone who has watched the night sky quite a bit in the past, you can easily spot sats, and when you see them, they look just like that: a little twinkle as they spin. You can follw them, actually, if you can guess their heading, and see the same reflection a few seconds later.

On the other paw, without identifying the object through an ephemeris, how can you be sure that what you're seeing isn't a UFO in orbit? In the late 50s/early 60s, when satellites were objects of universal fascination, and there were only a few objects in orbit to keep track of, people still saw such things at times and places where they should not have. Admittedly, I think satellite or debris (used booster, piece of shrouding, etc) is the most likely answer here myself, but the same argument applies as applies to navigation lights - if you look like something people expect to see, they'll dismiss you as that familiar object, and move on.

[beeline]

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True enough. I was really only referring to the account BPH had posted, that sounds exactly like a sat, and there are hundreds of them up there visible to the naked eye.

[IanEye]

If you buy into the idea that the vibrational rates translate into matter; and then if you understand the concept of vibrational rates above perception and below perception combining to create a reality, that opens up the door to some pretty science fiction possibilities.

If you can create an audible reality by a sine wave above the range of what your ear can hear and another one from below, and you put them together and suddenly it creates something that your ear can detect:
Is it not possible that solid matter of an unknown origin could manifest periodically because of the frequencies of some unknown nature above and below which, for short duration, manifest solid objects?

It could explain a lot of strange things that people see.
- Frank Zappa

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[justdrew]

If you buy into the idea that the vibrational rates translate into matter; and then if you understand the concept of vibrational rates above perception and below perception combining to create a reality, that opens up the door to some pretty science fiction possibilities.

If you can create an audible reality by a sine wave above the range of what your ear can hear and another one from below, and you put them together and suddenly it creates something that your ear can detect:
Is it not possible that solid matter of an unknown origin could manifest periodically because of the frequencies of some unknown nature above and below which, for short duration, manifest solid objects?

It could explain a lot of strange things that people see.
- Frank Zappa

.

... but what's vibrating in the first place?

[IanEye]

... but what's vibrating in the first place?

ask Ruth

[Iamwhomiam]

Ian's right... Ruth knows. And once long ago shared her secret with me and it accounts for a lot:

[Nordic]

Why is it that people who figure things out seem to die young of cancer?

[Simulist]

It isn't accidental.

[brainpanhandler]

So I'm outside having a cigarette this morning, looking at the predawn night sky. It's absolutely crystal clear and I see another one of these white flashes of light. I wasn't looking directly at it, but unless I'm hallucinating [a possibility] there was a small white flash of light. These flashes of light are roughly the brightness of a planet and appear to be at high altitude. It's kind of hard to tell, but they definitely do not seem to be very close to the earth at all. I looked and looked but never saw another flash of light. Just one flash of white light and that's it. What the hell are these flashes of light I was thinking when I see another one out of the corner of my eye in an entirely different area of the sky. So I stare in that area for awhile. Nothing. Now I really am wondering what these flashes of light are. I don't recall ever having seen them before.

That sounds like a large satellite, spinning on its axis, reflecting sunlight.

That does seem to fit I guess, but i have seen satellites and the ones I have seen that I could pretty well positively identify as such were very small but visible and in motion. Basically looking like a very faint moving star. Somehow or another I've never seen these bright white flashes, ever, in my whole life, at least that I can recall. I don't know how that could be. They look exactly like a camera flash from a great distance.

Does the fact that I am seeing these flashes in the period a couple of hours before dawn make your theory more likely?

[justdrew]

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-an-Iridium-Flare

that how-to provides links to several services that help you spot various orbital things, not just iridium sats.

[Cosmic Cowbell]

Here you go...

[beeline]

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-an-Iridium-Flare

that how-to provides links to several services that help you spot various orbital things, not just iridium sats.

Cool, thanks for that JD.

On edit, that's a really cool site. BPH, if you plug in your coordinates, you can go back 48 hours to crosscheck to see if what you saw was a sat or not, it gives you time of day and position in the sky data.