UFO sighting, Dublin, June 20, 2010

phalaris

It was around 7-8 AM on Sunday, June 20, 2010. Four of us were sitting on a roof near Merrion Park, Dublin. It was nice and warm, there was no wind and there was not a single cloud in the sky.

That was when one of my friends pointed out something unusual in the sky. It took me a while to see it, but it was indeed a UFO. (I use the term in its precise definition of a flying object which was, during its duration in the sky, unidentified by us, in part so that people like me who may now be searching "dublin ufo" might see this thread and post here. I will reserve making any connotations with aliens until I have been conclusively labeled as a deranged hillbilly by the all the skeptics here.)

The object was located almost directly overhead, possibly a quarter of a radian to the south when first sighted. It was fairly small, perhaps the relative size of a 10 cent coin held out at arm's length. My friend's first thought was that it looked like one airplane refuelling another one in mid-air, which would have been weird enough, except I'm pretty sure that doesn't actually happen in any civilian context over the skies of Dublin. The other problem with that theory was that the object was moving very erratically across the sky, sometimes making acute turns the like of which only a helicopter could make. Although the sun was pretty far away (in the east obviously), the sky was very bright and it was hard to pick out any precise details. Looking at it for longer we noticed that it was giving off some kind of fire or sparks. The sparks were red-orange coloured and were flying off the object in all directions, in a random pattern, like a Bengal fire sparkler. It sort of looked like a helicopter that was on fire, except there was no smoke coming from it and it was not leaving any trail in the sky (again, there was not a single cloud in the sky so even the smallest trail would have been visible). We looked at this object for about 20 minutes and could not figure out what it was. Eventually we got bored and stopped looking at it. Some time later it was gone.

I know it is a pretty unlikely time for most people to be awake, but I would like to know if anyone saw this, or anything similar last on the Sunday morning.

Here are a few possible explanations I can think of:
1) Balloon -- would possibly explain the fire, but it looked completely different to the streamlined blowtorch-like flame that would come from a balloon. Also, the fire/sparks took up most of the object, and ther was no balloon part. Probably too small. Slso there was no wind and it was moving too erratically.
2) Satellite -- probably too big. Too bright to been seen during the daytime. Also a satellite would not be moving erratically, it probably would have looked still.
3) Helicopter -- no sound coming from the sky. Probably too small for a helicopter at normal height. Also if helicopters are on fire, they usually make the headlines that day.
4) The sun reflecting or refracting -- no clear candidate for what the object could have been. There were no clouds whatsoever. It sort of looked like if someone had suspended a drop of water above our heads and the sun's rays refracted through it. Maybe it could have been reflecting off something else of a similar relative size, but the object would have had to be made of glass or something.

I should also mention that we had been taking a load of drugs for some twelve hours. I know that fact may detract from my credibility right now, but whatever, it's the truth. If only I saw it, I would not be posting this, but there were four of us and we all saw it and agreed on the description of it, as I posted it. None of us experienced any hallucinations before or after the sighting, and anyway I don't think group tripping like this is possible.

Any questions you have or any theories about what this could have been are welcome.

wonderfulname

chinese lanterns, 99.9% sure of this from your description, they are very popular for weddings these days, and many other events.

jonbravo

you should report this at: http://www.ufoi.org/forum/

Pot Noodle =

What Drugs

wonderfulname

Pot wrote:

What Drugs

LOL +1

steddyeddy

wonderfulname wrote: »

LOL +1

great contribution and people wonder why the word skeptical has a negative connotation.

wonderfulname

steddyeddy wrote: »

great contribution and people wonder why the word skeptical has a negative connotation.

Oh get over yourself I also notice I'm the only one to actually give an earthly explanation for this UFO? The reason the word skeptical has a negative connotation is because largely people who describe themselves as skeptics are actually just stubborn and set in their ways, nowhere in the definition of skeptic do I see the phrase "Inability to be amused by someone else's inability to see beyond one fact within a given text", In fact said inability is actually skepticisms downfall in my opinion.

steddyeddy

wonderfulname wrote: »

Oh get over yourself I also notice I'm the only one to actually give an earthly explanation for this UFO? The reason the word skeptical has a negative connotation is because largely people who describe themselves as skeptics are actually just stubborn and set in their ways, nowhere in the definition of skeptic do I see the phrase "Inability to be amused by someone else's inability to see beyond one fact within a given text", In fact said inability is actually skepticisms downfall in my opinion.

yes i agree it was most likely chinese lanterns, well skeptics have a bad name from my point of view because they have held back many scientific discoverys because they were stubborn and hadnt got the balls to part from accepted scientific dogma.

As regards the humour i have no problem with it i over reacted with it here because i often see it used as a means to deride a theory they havent got the ability to counter.

Pot Noodle =

They consumed large amount of Drugs Ahem

wonderfulname

Pot wrote:

They consumed large amount of Drugs Ahem

They did indeed, but from both my own experience and the specifics of what they saw I have to say its highly unlikely the drugs would be the sole contributer to this UFO sighting.

steddyeddy

Pot wrote:

They consumed large amount of Drugs Ahem

Now that makes more sense a small amount of drugs wouldnt produce the hallucinogenic affects necessary to account for a ufo sighting, i would suggest ketamine or lcd.

phalaris

Interesting suggestions, I have never heard of Chinese lanterns. It is probably the most reasonable explanation. However, what I describe did not look a lot like any of the photos of Chinese lanterns. The object was a lot smaller, so either the lantern was up very high and directly overhead or it was something else.

I completely forgot to suggest that it could have been a meteor or something similar. Actually, this was probably what it looked like most, and meteor sightings are quite common, though not during the day. It also doesn't explain the weird trajectory.

Pot wrote:

They consumed large amount of Drugs Ahem

Seriously, that had pretty much nothign to do with it. I am just trying to put into context why I was on a roof on Sunday at 7am.

argosy2006

chinese lattern ,, thats always what it is lol
no matter what you discribe someone always says chinese lantern ,
if there was a crashed ufo on the ground with aliens lying about dead some guy would wall up and say ,'' look people its a chinese lantern'' :rolleyes:

wonderfulname

argosy2006 wrote: »

chinese lattern ,, thats always what it is lol
no matter what you discribe someone always says chinese lantern ,
if there was a crashed ufo on the ground with aliens lying about dead some guy would wall up and say ,'' look people its a chinese lantern'' :rolleyes:

Actually if you read the description it does sound very much like a Chinese lantern, I very much doubt aliens are enroute to earth astride "Bengal fire sparklers".

phalaris wrote:

The object was a lot smaller

These lanterns are actually quite small! the picture I linked you to would be one which hadn't yet reached any decent height, and they do climb to an altitude where they appear the size you suggest.

phalaris wrote:

I completely forgot to suggest that it could have been a meteor or something similar.

This i am dismissing for two reasons:
1) you said it yourself, tragectory
2) sheer size, if it appeared to the naked eye to be "the relative size of a 10 cent coin held out at arm's length" we would have heard about it! Far too large in my opinion.

jonbravo

I dont think i want to know the extraterrestrial visitors who ride into town at 7am on a sunday morning or even the reason they came on the back of a large Balloon shining off the rising sun from the east.dare i say it ,or even in a chinese lattern.... But the fact is.. ,doesnt matter if i think its a balloon or someone else thinks ,its a chinese lattern.. its a ufo full stop.

until we discover

Dave!

argosy2006 wrote: »

chinese lattern ,, thats always what it is lol
no matter what you discribe someone always says chinese lantern ,
if there was a crashed ufo on the ground with aliens lying about dead some guy would wall up and say ,'' look people its a chinese lantern'' :rolleyes:

Made me chuckle

maninasia

Almost certainly a Chinese lantern, of which I have seen many in my time in Asia. They appear as orange specks in the distance at night, often stop and change direction according to wind direction at different altitudes and they can easily stay in the air for 10-20 mins. Your sighting is of an object too far away to be easily identified.

darkstar06

argosy2006 wrote: »

chinese lattern ,, thats always what it is lol
no matter what you discribe someone always says chinese lantern ,
if there was a crashed ufo on the ground with aliens lying about dead some guy would wall up and say ,'' look people its a chinese lantern'' :rolleyes:

To a degree, you are right. But It is important to understand that things are not ''mysterious'' just because we want them to be.

I have to smile when people talk about ''Believing in UFO's'' its not a matter of belief, it is a matter of fact. Any object which cannot be readily identified by an observer, is by definition, and unidentified flying object.

Does this mean, its a flying saucer with little green guys at the helm shouting "Dont Run... We are your friends", while powering their phase plasmatron ... ?? Er No .....

Does it mean, it is automatically debunked as a weather baloon, chinese lantern, or some other equally ridiculous explanation ... Also NO!

It is important to understand, that as a skeptic, the object is not to debunk the " large silent triangular craft that was seen by 1200 people, hovering silently, and accelerating from 0 to mach 3" as a weather balloon, because people are not stupid, and they know what they saw. This kind of rediculous debunking has been going on for years.

It is the job of the skeptic to maintain a non bias position, and examine all of the facts, and offer what could be plausible explanations.

To this end, the object seen "may have been" a helicopter, or a commercial aircraft with the early morning sun reflecting off of the fuselage, causing the appearance of "sparks". this is a common misconception. Often aircraft are seen as "puslating", or "throwing off red sparks" where often the case is early morning, or evening, where the sun is low in the sky, and reflecting from the fuselage.

As the aircraft is turning, there can often be a perception of "sparking"
Also The fact that no noise was heard could have meant the aircraft was at a higher altitude than those on an approach to lad at Dublin airport, perhaps one of the early morning flights arriving from the atlantic corridor, and transiting over Dublin to another European destination.

These may or may not leave a trail, depending on altitude and air temperature.

However, there are many strange things seen on our skies, some of which defy immediate explanation. The great thing is, as true skeptics we should not feel threatened by this, but embrace the fact, and look for sensible, logical conclusions, and not spout out stock answer#143 = weather baloon.


Thanks for the good report. I think the fact that you have noted you were taking drugs does not detract from the report. it is easy to attribute anything to hallucination, but this is not always the case.

Hello to all btw,

DS.