High Wycombe, Bucks, 23 05
2009
10:15pm 23/5/09.
Weather:
Cloudless sky, numerous
stars visible. No wind
whatever
detectable at ground
level.
Confirmed by the BBC CFAX
forecast,
as 2 mph SSE. A
possibility of frost
overnight
due
to the stillness and cloudlessness. With the wind at
9:00am
24/5/09, anticipated to be NNE at 4
mph.
Went outside to place rubbish in the
bin. Turned south, to see what I can best describe as a
very bright but
tremulous, ragged
sheriff’s star of orange
light. With
the hint of a smaller
red
light
somewhere
within it.
Bearing 225
degrees at 50 degrees elevation. This
light
moved at a rapid and steady speed in a very slight
arc
toward a bearing of
65 degrees.
While
maintaining the existing angle of elevation relative
to
me. As it passed, at it’s nearest
point to my position, the orange light
faded (as I would
expect the main
white landing headlights
on an aircraft to
do).
While I stood there, a second light
repeated the display. And within a few moments of that
disappearing, a third
light did the
same. I obtained the
interactive TV
weather reports
mentioned
above.
Still
curious, I returned
outside at about 10:30pm, to see a pair
of these lights
pass over while perfectly maintaining a
set separation
line
astern
formation. I would
assume that
all these items were
Chinese fire
lanterns/some type of
aircraft, except for the following. If launched at
the
nearest non-visible point to me, at an absolute
minimum,
they would have had to
travel a quarter of a mile
(measured
at ground level), in
thirty seconds. That
equates to
a speed of 30 mph or more (depending on actual
height).
Yet there was
absolutely no evidence of any wind.
Their passing was silent, monitored
in a period of
perfect silence, with
hands cupped behind the ears. Although,
interspersed with
these two sets of
events I did
experience the standard
illumination pattern of a couple
of
aircraft, passing in an almost opposite
direction at a
similar apparent
speed. These were airliners cleared off
the
Bovingdon stack into Heathrow. On route to Woodley
VOR,
before turning left onto
Heathrow ILS Runway 09. Which
exhibit a distinctive distant rumbling roar, which
lags
behind them. If Chinese fire
lanterns, I would not have expected these
items all to
fade in exactly the
same spot, directly in
front of me.
But rather
some to fade as they
approached,
with others fading some moments after they had
passed.
If launched close at
hand, wouldn’t they have burnt for more
that thirty
seconds to a minute? In
addition, and
strangest of all.
With
the
last two, and because I was
staring more intently with hand-shielded eyes. I
could
still follow their trajectory
after the orange light was obscured. They
were visible as
two feint pale
blue/white star-like dots.
Apparently
continuing at the
same speed,
height,
and direction. If this was a
reflection
off some metal
surface,
it was not caused by the
street lighting hereabouts. As
this is orange
Sodium, and not white SON.
Furthermore, on going to
the
rear of
the house, I saw what
appeared to be one of these same dim
“star-lights”
travelling from
SE to NNW at 80
degrees elevation on a
meandering
path.
