Big bright orange "balls" flying over Drumcondra just now---who saw them???

headmaster

slade_x wrote: »

could you post it

Not with the state of the Irish postal system is in and you wouldn't get it until next tuesday. If you send me a stamp, i'll post it, but i'm not paying for it. Ok?

slade_x

headmaster wrote: »

Not with the state of the Irish postal system is in and you wouldn't get it until next tuesday. If you send me a stamp, i'll post it, but i'm not paying for it. Ok?

Oh no i wouldnt send you a stamp you wouldn't get it until next week, then i wouldnt get what i want to receive until the week after, if i get it at all, (plus its costs the price of a stamp to post a stamp, imagine that), i also couldnt trust a third party as the last time i trusted a third party to deliver a parcel it ended up getting delivery to my address just in a different county, apparently dublin have some of the same addresses as down here.

To add insult to injury last year i applied for a new credit card, you wouldnt believe the state my pin and particluars arrived in :


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Above is the actual photo, it came with a little disclaimer basically saying "yeah sorry about that, woops"

headmaster

slade_x wrote: »

Oh no i wouldnt send you a stamp you wouldn't get it until next week, then i wouldnt get what i want to receive until the week after, if i get it at all, (plus its costs the price of a stamp to post a stamp, imagine that), i also couldnt trust a third party as the last time i trusted a third party to deliver a parcel it ended up getting delivery to my address just in a different county, apparently dublin have some of the same addresses as down here.

To add insult to injury last year i applied for a new credit card, you wouldnt believe the state my pin and particluars arrived in :


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Above is the actual photo, it came with a little disclaimer basically saying "yeah sorry about that, woops"

Sorry Slade,
that looks like a bloody raw chicken. Somehow I think you're taking the mickey. You're not going to be given the link now, so buzz off and stop annoying good honest people, just because they're a bit innocent.

slade_x

headmaster wrote: »

Sorry Slade,
that looks like a bloody raw chicken. Somehow I think you're taking the mickey. You're not going to be given the link now, so buzz off and stop annoying good honest people, just because they're a bit innocent.

i must apologise, it was not my intent to cause harm. it seems perfectly rational to identify an unidentified object as an identified one on the premise of, "i know what i saw", which may stem from the undesired realisation that the vast majority of people dont like the idea that their perception can fail them quite easily.

Its good that when the moon is so close to the horizon that it still appears very similar to what the moon actually looks like, otherwise we would have some very fanciful claims. To date i have yet to meet or have an encounter with someone who can escape that obvious flaw in all of our perceptions. Even when we know what is happening it still affects us

I'll never understand the lack of rational behaviour when it comes to such things. Unfortunately when some can't identify something, they ask others to identify it only to then contradict the advise or speculation they get saying "they know what they saw and that wasnt it" which defeats the purpose of asking in the first place. And dont respond positively until they come across the suggestion that it may be what they hope it is.

The hope for some strange reason seems to be aliens that have traversed great distances to reach an agreement with governments that their existance remain a secret yet all the while piloting (very badly i might add) incredibly bright/ sometimes flashing and hard to miss vehicles that basically seem to have the only purpose of gaining attention than the opposite, i guess in their very strange language stealth means something entirely different to them than us.

Ruthie-Roux

namloc1980 wrote: »

The point is that the object was in the sky and you had no point of reference to estimate it's distance from you let alone it's speed. You had no idea how big or small the object was so your perception of it's distance and speed is flawed. Look at this video of what are clearly Chinese lanterns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLgwcMxFscQ

The people in the video are convinced the objects are massive and travelling at great speed. Human perception is not as good as you think.

The above was not anything like what I saw the other night. The objects in the video are as you say, clearly chinese lanterns. What I was looking at the other night have nothing more in common with the above than that they were orange.

Ruthie-Roux

slade_x wrote: »

I'll never understand the lack of rational behaviour when it comes to such things. Unfortunately when some can't identify something, they ask others to identify it only to then contradict the advise or speculation they get saying "they know what they saw and that wasnt it" which defeats the purpose of asking in the first place. And dont respond positively until they come across the suggestion that it may be what they hope it is.

Firstly, Never at any point did I say "I know what I saw" although I would like to point out that plenty of others seem to think they "know" what I saw, despite not having been there.
I asked if anyone else had SEEN these, which clearly noone else on this discussion has, so its a moot point. I was looking for opinions not a definate identification. From the outset I mentioned that my first thought was chinese lanterns but they looked dissimilar so looking for other ideas. As for not taking it positively......I do not take positively to massive childlike fonts and confrontational, pathetic attempts at slag-offs when I was asking for an opinion. (other, I repeat OTHER than chinese lanterns). I also do not take positivly to being spoken to/about like an idiot because my opinion on these differs from your/others. Most people wouldn`t.

slade_x wrote: »

The hope for some strange reason seems to be aliens that have traversed great distances to reach an agreement with governments that their existance remain a secret yet all the while piloting (very badly i might add) incredibly bright/ sometimes flashing and hard to miss vehicles that basically seem to have the only purpose of gaining attention than the opposite, i guess in their very strange language stealth means something entirely different to them than us.

You have a colourful imagination because I never suggested or alluded to any such thing. I simply asked for opinions on some lights I saw which in my opinion did not look like chinese lanterns.
In any case I give up on this thread as I take it that the general assumption is that any bright orange light in the sky is by default a chinese lantern and no other possibility is worth discussing. :pac: Bye now

slade_x

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

The above was not anything like what I saw the other night. The objects in the video are as you say, clearly chinese lanterns. What I was looking at the other night have nothing more in common with the above than that they were orange.

From your initial description

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

I spotted two large orange balls of fire "flying" through the night sky.
They were lower down than a plane but not by much. They were large enough that I could see their glowing orange colour.
My first thought was chinese lanterns but they were definatly flying in a fast steady course rather than floating and were far too high and big anyway.

You describe the behaviour of a lantern, balls of fire, glowing, fast steady course. They have many different behaviours depending on a variety of conditions, hence most peoples confusion with what they usually associate them with before they lose interest.
I have even been in the presence of people who have launched lanterns many times only to later have to endure when they see what they dont think is a lantern. Carrying a dslr camera or pair of bino's(as i am prone to do) quickly corrects them in their misidentification.

Flying and not floating?, you seem adamant on the fact that it was flying? how do you differentiate between the two? Flying equalling intelligent control; aircraft, birds, controlled kites. What about manned balloons/ blimps which also float through bouyancy but that which are flying. Are you stating it was intelligently controlled just because it had a fast steady course (a behaviour i have witnessed from lanterns many times)

lanterns floating in the right weather conditions can follow a fast/slow steady/erratic course, the behaviour you describe is most common when initialy rising before they hit other air currents that could affect their trajectory or exhibit random or percieved controlled flight, but its also possible for them to exhibit this behaviour at a much higher altitude also. The dynamics of our atmosphere continue to be a difficult area of study, dont believe me? catch the next weather forecast, there may be a chance of rain, cloud cover even sunshine, theres also a chance it'll be completely wrong. A lantern at different altitudes can really go a long way in allowing us to observe the erratic and unpredictable nature of our atmosphere in an easy visual way, even when it seems relatively calm (their unpredictability is one of the exciting factors in launching them in the first place)

I just saw one lantern being set off not more than 2 hours ago and if i had to describe it as it rose into the atmosphere it looked like an orange ball of fire (the very reason it lifts) on a steady trajectory moving away from me across the sky. As for estimating its speed, i dont have a reference point to go on as much as i dont have reference for an aircraft other than having a general knowledge of how fast the most popular aircrafts can travel at. No more so than i can judge the speed or even the coverage of the edge of a cloud, i could go outside right now and look at any edge of even a seemingly stationary cloud and i can say that i could not even offer a prediction of where exactly that point of the cloud is directly over in relation to land. It would be nothing more than a guess and considering the complete lack of reference on my part it would be completely wrong.

What other type of suspended flame would you associate with a ball of fire?

slade_x

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

Firstly, Never at any point did I say "I know what I saw" although I would like to point out that plenty of others seem to think they "know" what I saw, despite not having been there.

You were adamant at the fact that there was no way they were chinese lanterns yet what you described describes exactly that. And some posters need not be present at the initial sighting to help identify what a user is trying to describe as the most commonly misidentified objects are well known.

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

I asked if anyone else had SEEN these, which clearly noone else on this discussion has, so its a moot point. I was looking for opinions not a definate identification. From the outset I mentioned that my first thought was chinese lanterns but they looked dissimilar so looking for other ideas.



You have a colourful imagination because I never suggested or alluded to any such thing. I simply asked for opinions on some lights I saw which in my opinion did not look like chinese lanterns.

That was a general response on my part to this type of event, i wasnt singling you out or putting suggestions in your mouth, it just tends to be the general reaction. The "i dont know what i saw but i know for a fact it wasnt that mentality". For the record i know many people, friends and family included that can say they can identify a lantern, are very aware of them and have also launched them many times but there have been other times where they were mistaken. I have also, i could be happy to conclude it was a lantern without really knowing for sure as thats the most likely culprit given the sighting but a run for my bino's always gives me a satisfying conclusion.

In all seriousness you came here for the opinions of others who share an interest much like your own as they may be able to shed a little more light on the subject to reach a general consensus of something you are unsure of. For the type of sighting u witnessed its hard not to conclude it was a lantern.

As said before the speed of an aircraft far away can be easily mistaken for the speed of another slower object much closer by anyone, and given the physical size of a lantern and apparent luminosity (at the time of the sighting - as its fuel diminishes over time) at different distances it makes it incredibly difficult to get the accurate speed of an object at altitude from one you cant readily identify and dont know exactly how far away it really is, as the same is true for judging speed as it is for judging luminosity and distance; A brighter larger object further away can appear just as close or as bright as a smaller dimmer closer one.

The only way to be sure is to identify the object, gets its true brightness(at a point in time/ or the rate of its loss of brightness) and then from there you can ascertain its distance. Something which is impossible to do with a chinese lantern as it does not burn consistently over any period of time. unlike the stars we use as standard candles. The measure of how far distant stars are uses this technique. And it is a well known practice. you cant judge the distance of a star just by its size or luminosity

You can not say what it wasnt unless you can know what it was, and you are convinced it wasnt by vast majority the most likely thing it was.

Cú Giobach

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

Anyone else see these?
Any idea what they were?

Ruthie-Roux wrote: »

I asked if anyone else had SEEN these, which clearly noone else on this discussion has, so its a moot point. I was looking for opinions not a definate identification.

You asked a question, people answered this question, you dismiss the answers and then deny asking the question.

I take it that the general assumption is that any bright orange light in the sky is by default a chinese lantern and no other possibility is worth discussing.

But you are not discussing anything, only dismissing the possibility of them being lanterns out of hand, with no analysis whatsoever.
You haven't actually engaged anyone on the subject of difficulties of perception (which is central to this whole thread) or offered any other explanation for what you saw.

People aren't saying they are lanterns just because they were orange, they are saying it because you perfectly described Chinese lanterns in your OP.

Rubecula

Come on guys it is plainly obvious that these were not Chinese Lanterns (ridiculous idea that) These were certainly mega-huge technically advanced craft crewed by Martians from Venus and launched from a secret base in deepest darkest Dublin. ( I know the base is there cos my mate's cousin's sister in the Kremlin has the photos.)

Please can we have a sticky to put POSSIBLE Chinese Lantern posts in?

Cú Giobach

Rubecula wrote: »

Please can we have a sticky to put POSSIBLE Chinese Lantern posts in?

Won't work, because if people thought they saw a CL they won't post here, others will see the CL thread and think "well what I saw wasn't a CL so no point in putting it in the CL thread" (eg this thread).

Best to just bear it, be nice and help those that come here looking for help.
In real life I've been answering the same questions over and over again for years regarding what's up there, no doubt same for lots of people here, I doubt many of them answer with "FFS not this again" and instead love being asked things and being given a chance to discuss the many topics that can come out of such questioning, for example this thread could have become a discussion on the frailties of human perception in judging the altitude and velocity of objects, instead the OP was practically castigated for having the audacity to ask "what did I see in the night sky" in an astronomy forum.

Rubecula

Yes, on second thoughts about it I do agree.

Actually it is a way to get folks interested I suppose. Maybe we should send up a few ourselves? :pac:

And of course it allows us to post a bit of humour and gentle leg pulling.

Cú Giobach

Rubecula wrote: »

Yes, on second thoughts about it I do agree.

Actually it is a way to get folks interested I suppose. Maybe we should send up a few ourselves? :pac:

And of course it allows us to post a bit of humour and gentle leg pulling.

If we could find some in a variety of shapes or send up bunches tied together in rings it could be interesting.

eimear10

you two need to stop bicaring. its making for a very boring read

eimear10

Also can anyone tell me where i can buy a chinese lanturn ?

slade_x

eimear10 wrote: »

Also can anyone tell me where i can buy a chinese lanturn ?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055172423

Googling buy sky lanterns may be useful

search results

First result: http://www.partyworld.ie/department/51/Sky-Lanterns/?gclid=CPPk-9WwrKsCFcQm3godVA506g

Also best asked in the Gift & Festivity & Party Ideas Section

argosy2006

Naked Ompa Lompa shot from a cannon?

Gator

Saw it earlier, what is the genreal path of a lantern? that is to say that from what I inderstand you would see it rising, slowley, but still rising, this looked to be very flat and at some point dipping, just curious

**and may I add quite fast...

Rubecula

Gator wrote: »

Saw it earlier, what is the genreal path of a lantern? that is to say that from what I inderstand you would see it rising, slowley, but still rising, this looked to be very flat and at some point dipping, just curious

**and may I add quite fast...

Think of the thing as a balloon, it will rise and dip in the air and even go fairly level with the wind. It's speed will also depend on the wind, and if you ever see clouds moving at different heights you can see how some movements look a lot faster than they are. Sometimes if an object is travelling roughly towards you it looks like it is rising when it may not be, it could even be dipping. (Obviously the opposite is also true) Sudden changes in direction can also be really slight but look more sever depending on the angle you are looking at it from. Dark skies can exagerate the effect greatly too as you don't have as many reference points to see. (Not that they always help anyway, and in some cases can make the effect look worse.)

I work on an airfield and you would not believe some of the visual effects you can get in a big open sky.

Hope this helps a bit, just look at things with these ideas in mind and you soon get used to it.

lord lucan

ZOMG!! Seen about 100 orange lights tonight,we're being invaded!!!!

















I welcome our new Chinese Lantern overlords:pac:

2 stroke

For the last time on this thread.............they were

CHINESE LANTERNS

Zubeneschamali

I launched 3 Chinese Lanterns last night, but the other flickery orange ball of light I saw was definitely an alien craft!

Tazz T

Fairly sophisticated Chinese lanterns. I threw a brick at one and it shot my dog with a death ray.

headmaster

All joking aside, i'm in the west of Ireland and last night at aprox 10ish there was a very, very, fast moving orangy something flying in directions, "south west" to "south east". It looked bigger than a plane and was very high up. The sky was very starry last night, so this thing really stood out. I know and am familiar with chinese lanterns, this was not a chinese lantern and was way too fast for an aeroplane.

The Hill Billy

100m-wide chinese lanters powered with scram-jets?

Jaden

headmaster wrote: »

All joking aside, i'm in the west of Ireland and last night at aprox 10ish there was a very, very, fast moving orangy something flying in directions, "south west" to "south east". It looked bigger than a plane and was very high up. The sky was very starry last night, so this thing really stood out. I know and am familiar with chinese lanterns, this was not a chinese lantern and was way too fast for an aeroplane.

I see IQs drop sharply as you cross the Shannon.

Let's have a look at the facts.

* It was HALLOWEEN last night.
* They sky was full of fireworks and Chinese laterns.
* It was a clear night with good visibility, so you could see further than usual.

You saw a lantern, I launched several myself last night from North Country Galway, and saw at least 50 more.

If they're UFOs, stay up tonight and see if they come back. They might.....

headmaster

Jaden,
when you say see will "they" come back, they won't, because there was only "1 thing", also, what in the name of bejaysus would they come back for? I'm really worried now and my grandmother is worried about me as well. Your answer was about as helpful as a pain in me arshe.

Rubecula

headmaster wrote: »

Jaden,
when you say see will "they" come back, they won't, because there was only "1 thing", also, what in the name of bejaysus would they come back for? I'm really worried now and my grandmother is worried about me as well. Your answer was about as helpful as a pain in me arshe.

Maybe my post above (#50) will help you Headmaster.

Above all do not be worried. If they are not going to come back then why come in the first place? So don't worry my friend it will not be little green men (or any other colour) coming to worry you. Write it off to experience and you will be fine. At least you now know how easily optical illusions can fool folks, even intelligent ones like yourself.

Jaden

Anyone who posts about strange lights in the sky on Halloween night is, I fear, beyond help.

headmaster

Rubelula,
thanks for your help. I was worried that granny would have to do something awful to control my urges. Also nice to see that you understand my intelligence quotient. Because of that, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt in trying to decipher whether you were being sarcastic or not. H'mm, not sure on that one, i'm watching you now, you could have been on that bloody orangey thing last night. Be careful out there people, be very careful.