Have you seen a UFO?

4:30pm Tuesday 19th August 2008 in News

Karen's photo, which has only been digitally enhanced by our photographer to show the image clearly Karen's photo, which has only been digitally enhanced by our photographer to show the image clearly

Update - AN Urmston family were shocked to see a formation of mysterious orange lights flying past their home.

The first of five bright orbs, described as balls of flame, were spotted by Karen and Nick McCartney, aged 44, of Clevedon Avenue and daughter Alex, aged 15, at around 10.50pm on Wednesday, August 13.

From their back garden the family saw a further four bright objects fly over head in the space of 25 minutes.

Karen, who has another daughter, Rachel, 11, took pictures of the strange lights and said: “They all came from the same direction and just looked like massive balls of fire. There was no noise or smoke and they were flying lower than a plane would. “I’d never seen anything like it before. I don’t particularly believe in UFOs, I just want someone to explain what they were.”

Karen explained how the bright spheres eventually faded out of sight towards Stretford.

Steve Mera, of the Manchester Association of Paranormal Investigation and Training, confirmed there was a rational explanation for the orbs. He said: “The spheres turned out to be Chinese lanterns that were let off by a group of youngsters on Bradfield Road.

“The lanterns were travelling in the same direction as the wind and at the same speed, which was a giveaway.” Steve added that candles lit inside the paper lanterns, which are cheap and readily available, caused them to lift off the ground like a hot air balloon would.

He said UFO sightings have increased by 40 per cent this year with 150 reports in the past three months and added: “There are often rational explanations like exotic aircraft, birds and meteorological phenomena. "Still, about 10 per cent of sightings remain unexplained."

Comments(12)

smudgerbloke says...
12:33pm Fri 15 Aug 08

Thank you my fellow reader... my misses thought I was going mad. I let the dog out and as you do looked up and as per you picture there was a bright orange glow in the sky, I thought this was very unusual as there was a very low cloud base so a star was out of the question, I viewed this for about 5mins and then it suddenly went, I told her in doors but she looked at me as to say I was barking, well at least I know someone else out there seen this, thank you.

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jaston says...
12:50pm Fri 15 Aug 08

Yes, we saw it. It was moving quite slowly towards Sale direction, we knew it wasnt a plane. We eventually lost it in the clouds.
From where we were it seemed to come from over Trafford Park, then seemed to change direction towards Chorlton. We thought we were seeing things. I hope someone can enlighten us.

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MattSleight says...
2:18pm Fri 15 Aug 08

This sounds like a blimp. These are a slow moving balloon that is often mistaken for a UFO, especially as it is quiet.

Without being able to see more evidence this seems the most logical conclusion.

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BOC says...
7:49pm Fri 15 Aug 08

The light seen on Wednesday last, was in all probability sunlight shining off a communications satellite called Iridium 70.
This satellite appeared in a NNE direction at an altitude of 24 degrees around 11.11pm on 13 August.
The brightness of the reflected sunlight was around a magnitude of -3 (very bright). The low altitude of the satellite would show an orangy glow as the earth's atmosphere interferes. When the satellite is higher in the sky the colour is nearer white. The duration of the glow would only have been a few seconds.
This is a common occurence - The web site Heavens Above gives details of this and other events such as the visibility of the International Space Station which could be confused with an aeroplane.

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jaston says...
9:15am Sat 16 Aug 08

BOC wrote:
The light seen on Wednesday last, was in all probability sunlight shining off a communications satellite called Iridium 70.This satellite appeared in a NNE direction at an altitude of 24 degrees around 11.11pm on 13 August.The brightness of the reflected sunlight was around a magnitude of -3 (very bright). The low altitude of the satellite would show an orangy glow as the earth's atmosphere interferes. When the satellite is higher in the sky the colour is nearer white. The duration of the glow would only have been a few seconds. This is a common occurence - The web site Heavens Above gives details of this and other events such as the visibility of the International Space Station which could be confused with an aeroplane.
Sorry, dont believe that one.
Bet you didnt see it. It was nothing like you describe. If it is as common as you say then why have we not seen them before.
Has anyone else got ideas, I wouldnt even like to guess what they were. I would love to see them again and have a telescope handy.

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smudgerbloke says...
3:03pm Sat 16 Aug 08

This was for more than a few seconds, i was stood outside for at least5 5mins ad it was orange not white... we could have little green men in sale.

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BOC says...
6:04pm Sat 16 Aug 08

To the disbelievers - Firstly I said that the colour was orange as the satellite was at a low angle in the sky. These satellites do exist and sightings are very common. You won't see them very often if you don't know where and at what time to look. The next sighting is 16 August at around 9.28pm. Bright at -2, look to the north at an angle of 24 degrees. This is not as high as you may think. If the sky is clear tonight go outside at about 9.25 and look to the north a little above the horizon, and a few minutes later you should see a bright light lasting some seconds.

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jaston says...
10:26am Sun 17 Aug 08

Has anyone seen the explanation give to another paper. Kids with candles in bin bags, what a load of cods.

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talking sense says...
1:05pm Mon 18 Aug 08

I've heard its being flown by the benefits agency to find out who's out and about!

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pantsqueen says...
12:17am Thu 21 Aug 08

Could they be Chinese lanterns? I have seen a group of them flying over my house and I must admit they do look alien.

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smudgerbloke says...
5:34pm Sat 23 Aug 08

Terry not on your nelly... this was way too far away and too bright to be a candle thingy ma'bobby... well im sure it could be arranged for one of you experts to prove us all wrong and make one to take flight through the cloudy smog... we then all can see this great flight..... of the lanterns... mmm it was defo aliens...

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danmax says...
1:19am Sun 21 Sep 08

They are sky lanterns, a friend of mine bought some recently from canihave.co.uk he took a pic in flight and it looks like a ufo, they are really cool was at a wedding a while back where they set off about 100 it was amazing

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