What did I see?

[NZAmoeba]

There was a thread about this a few weeks ago about other peoples claims of UFO's, and I thought I would start a thread based on my own (but somewhat boring) experience.

about 6 years ago, my sister who was outside called out our family to look at something odd in the sky.

What we all saw was a red star, identical to all the other stars.... except it was moving, and quite erratically.

We watched it for several minutes, it would move up, down, left, right, loop, and stay still. All within the confines of a rectangle made by four other stars... a rectangle about the same size as if you made one with your thumb and index finger on both hands, and pointed it up towards the night sky. (the motion photographers make)

So, any ideas what this might be?

Other geographical info: we were in New Zealand, looking roughly southwards, at maybe 50 degrees up or so.

[sentinel00]

If nobody knows what this is, does it necessarily mean it was a flying saucer?

[NZAmoeba]

Of course not, just that it was an Unidentified Flying Object...

provided noone here can offer a decent explination...

[markfiend]

So, any ideas what this might be?

A suggestion based on a fleet of 3 "UFOs" I once saw -- a bird with city-lights reflecting off it? (I would never have figured this out if they hadn't come close enough to tell what they really were :D)

Or possibly just the lights of a distant aircraft?

Or even some meteorological phenomenon like ball-lightning?

[NZAmoeba]

Bird? no way, as i said, this was exactly like any STAR, except red and moving... it was a tiny dot in the sky.

Aircraft? they don't tend to move in such irratic patterns, and the pulsing lights of aircraft are often a lot brighter and well... pulse... this remained a steady red, zooming around a small area of space.

ball lightning... i know jack about that stuff so maybe... it was a clear night from what i remember though... and if it was it would have been bloody high up.

[PTT]

Speculation:
You saw the left hand side of a helicopter in high-hover manouever at about 500-1000ft. It had its navigation lights on and its strobe lights either out or set to IR. You were upwind of the aircraft, hence no sound, and the navigation lights of an aircraft are steady, not pulsing or flashing. The left light on an aircraft is red, the rear being white and the left green.
The erratic pattern was caused by the aircraft moving in both the vertical and horiziontal planes (no pun intended). It is impossible to keep a helicopter hovering perfectly, but the size of the motion suggests both the heights I have suggested and that the movement was intentional.

Possible?

[BrotherMan]

Originally posted by NZAmoeba
...about 6 years ago, my sister who was outside called out our family to look at something odd in the sky.

Leave it to your sister to spot something weird in the sky.

Maybe it was Planet X (http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/index.html) finally showing itself.

[NZAmoeba]

PTT: I guess thats possible... still would have had to have been pretty high up though... I've seen choppers in the night sky before and they've never been light that.

Brotherman: :-Þ

[PTT]

NZAmoeba

It's entirely possible that it was higher. I fly helicopters and have hovered at up to ten thousand feet for hours on end (and I bet you thought flying was exciting!).
If the red light was dim it may have been caused by a weather condition known as an inversion. This can cause reduced slant visibility, meaning that the stars above would be clear and bright in comparison to anything not seen in the 30(ish) degree cone above you.

PTT

[NZAmoeba]

Actually, that brings up another question...

why, during all the manovuring that this chopper was doing... why was the right side always facing us without fail? It wasn't just tiny twitches of movement... it was almost like someone had gotten a laser pointer onto the sky dome and was writing his name on it.

[PTT]

I would have been the left side facing you throughout (the red light is on the left). The reason for this constant heading would be that the pilot wants to stay facing in to wind when in the hover. This reduces power requirements, increases endurance, improves stability and generally makes the whole exercise easier. The heading would remain constant through what is called manouevering in the hover for the above reasons. Sideways and backwards flight such as that you may have seen is not the easiest thing in the world, especially at height and at night, but it is certainly possible.

Since the wind changes with height you may still have been upwind from him, but even if you were cross- or downwind you would be unlikely to hear a helicopter hovering at anything above 2000'.

Ta muchly

PTT