We are nearing July 4th and some are starting early sending things up in the sky. I've seen from quite a distance, some sort of parachute type firework actually fail, catch afire very white and drift in different directions. It looked awful distant as it was a small ball of white fire drifting rather fast. I was concerned as the thing has to come down to earth and its all homes and trees below.

I recall that we perceive movement when darkness limits our frame of reference. That we are not aware of minor head motions. When we see a light in the sky there is no framework that we can lock on to. The light doesn’t move but our head does and creates movement.

Two apologies. I cannot find a reference to this. Second, this may only explain only part of the movement you report.

This 32 minute video is the absolute best I have ever seen on the UFO phenomenon. It describes a UFO encounter off the west coast by a carrier battle group (USS Nimitz) that involved multiple sightings by multiple witnesses. The obvious credibility of the witnesses is the strongest part of the video. This is not an Uncle Clyde fishing in the swamp with a couple six packs abduction story. This documentary is an excellent recollection of facts, without any embellishments whatsoever. It doesn’t say what to believe in, it just brings facts and observational descriptions by the experts that are trained to identify threats. It left me absolutely fascinated. Definitely first rate and worth your time. It was just released last week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRgoisHRmUE

Years back my wife and I were driving at night when we saw lights just hanging in the air ahead and off to the side. The lights did not match any aircraft configuration I was familiar with and as we made some turns and got closer it was obvious that it was not moving and was low in the sky.

As we got close to being under it the lights showed a very faint reflection of a silver round disk. Stupidly we stopped under it and got out to look up and we could hear a humming sound from it as it hung in the air abouve us. We both knew we were looking at an alien spacecraft.

It was about then that the blimp turned on its landing light and continued to make the approch to the regional airport behind us. It was in town to cover the PGA players tournament. Yea, we both felt really stupid. Its really amazing how the brain will interpret what the eye sees.

(We still believe that they are out there.)

My first thought was you saw a satellite flare. Maybe even the Starlink satellites in trail and the sun bouncing off their solar panels etc.

https://www.satflare.com/track...=starlink&sck=1#PASS

Fascinating none the less. Hope you figure it out.

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing it.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

Hate to rain on your parade, but that should be "...it was we."

flashguy
(Resident Grammar NAZI)

Swamp gas and ball lightning reflecting Venus off a weather balloon. It's common.

Appreciate the serious comments. As for the others, it's easy to see why people are sometimes hesitant to come forward with something unusual they have seen.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
As for the others, it's easy to see why people are sometimes hesitant to come forward with something unusual they have seen.

As well they should be, when they're publicly spouting fantasies and expecting to be taken seriously.

We're once again moving through a phase of popular culture wherein these silly ideas get discussed, and then people latch onto them as if it's suddenly acceptable to throw this stuff around so casually. It's been a long time, though, so I guess we're due. Seems like people want to get wrapped up in fantasy because real life is just not pleasant right now. The last really big UFO trend was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I witnessed it first hand.
You're offended that I'm ridiculing your claim? I'm offended that you're insulting our collective intelligence with this nonsense. That's right- nonsense.

I can no more take you seriously when you claim to have seen a space craft full of little green men than I could if you claimed to have seen a ghost, and make no mistake- when you say you may have "seen a UFO", you mean aliens from outer space. You don't mean the Air Force testing some new technology. You don't mean the air force of foreign governments, you don't mean experimental air craft from private industry, and you don't mean naturally-occurring phenomena. When you say "UFO", you mean visitors from another world, and that is flat-out ridiculous, in the textbook sense of the word.

Did you see something? Probably. Does everything you witness and everything that occurs have an immediate and apparent explanation? Of course not. Does something being mysterious or unexplained mean that you are experiencing something not of this world? No. Everything you experience is of this world. We are a tiny island in the incomprehensibly vast Universe, and even if they could reach us (which they cannot), just why in the heck do you think for a single second that a civilization that advanced would be interested in visiting us? And, if they could and did, why would they go wandering around the countryside to anally probe a bunch of yokels?

You can believe whatever you wish, convince yourself of whatever you want, but I have little patience for this childish nonsense, so you may want to keep it out of this forum. I have no doubt that you can find entire forums full of whack jobs who would be willing to enthusiastically discuss your sighting.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

Hate to rain on your parade, but that should be "...it was we."

flashguy
(Resident Grammar NAZI)

I think the Aliens only did Engish 101, so you gotta cut them some slack.

If it was flying and you couldn’t identify it, it’s a UFO.

It could have easily been a drone. The light size might have made it look much farther away than it was which would have also made it look like it was much faster than it was.

quote:

Originally posted by Phantom229:
If it was flying and you couldn’t identify it, it’s a UFO.

Correct. By definition it was a UFO. I don't recall assigning any extraterrestrial qualities to it as suggested by Parabellum. I merely asked if anyone had any ideas that I hadn't considered. So far none of the suggestions seem to account for what I saw.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
I recall that we perceive movement when darkness limits our frame of reference. That we are not aware of minor head motions. When we see a light in the sky there is no framework that we can lock on to. The light doesn’t move but our head does and creates movement.

Two apologies. I cannot find a reference to this. Second, this may only explain only part of the movement you report.

Autokenisis. Stare at an object in the dark, and after a while it will appear to begin to move. The eye doesn't stay perfectly steady, and in the dark we don't have central vision; most don't know it, but we view off-center, and the brain compensates. The eye is moving subconsciously to capture the image and it appears to move.

--some researchers suggest it only occurs when there is no eye movement, but that's not correct.