Star like object travels in a zigzagging pattern relative to other stars

[lbiskupec]

I have a question that must have logical answer and I just cant find one online.

Yesterday, around 11 P.M. me and my wife was sitting on our porch talking and casually watching the sky.
Suddenly, our attention was caught by a star like object that was traveling towards east.
Speed was like any satellite would have but it was ZIGZAGGING.
Lateral motion was instant and had an amplitude of the width of my thumb with my arm fully extended. At some point its brightness increased drastically just before it faded out completely.

I found a lot of testimonies about similar sightings but not a single one clarification.

I can explain sudden increase in brightness (probably increased reflection due to change of position) and fading (traveling east object moved into a sun shadow - high altitude object) but i just cant explain zigzagging.
I've found some explanations that states it is an optical illusion caused by eye-tracking or atmospheric effects but there is a problem with this explanation. Object was zigzagging relative to other stars.
Only object that can zigzag would be a drone, but no drone can zigzag instantly like that. It looked like it was jumping.

 

[Drakkith]

There's no telling what this is. I've seen many similar phenomena that ended up being an optical illusion, reflections off of some object, fireworks, drones, balloons, floating debris, etc. We had one several years back that ended up being the reflections of chandeliers off of glass. For every observation there's a thousand possibilities.

 

[Baluncore]

How long did you watch it for?
How many times did it jump instantly sideways while you were watching?
Were the jumps random or regular, every how many seconds?
Were the jumps all the same step size?

Were you looking through a window or a screen?
Do you have fireflies in your area?
Are you in a war zone, or where an aircraft might have dropped flare decoys?

 

[Nik_2213]

I'm 'situate' under glide-path for local airport when prevailing wind is 'not the usual'.
Big aircraft have remarkably bright landing lights with very narrow beam. Their apparent source position will 'jump around' disproportionately as attitude shifts minutely. IIRC, is similar optical illusion to how quasars appear to be FTL.....

 

[Ken_S]

I have a question that must have logical answer and I just cant find one online.

Yesterday, around 11 P.M. me and my wife was sitting on our porch talking and casually watching the sky.
Suddenly, our attention was caught by a star like object that was traveling towards east.
Speed was like any satellite would have but it was ZIGZAGGING.
Lateral motion was instant and had an amplitude of the width of my thumb with my arm fully extended. At some point its brightness increased drastically just before it faded out completely.

I found a lot of testimonies about similar sightings but not a single one clarification.

I can explain sudden increase in brightness (probably increased reflection due to change of position) and fading (traveling east object moved into a sun shadow - high altitude object) but i just cant explain zigzagging.
I've found some explanations that states it is an optical illusion caused by eye-tracking or atmospheric effects but there is a problem with this explanation. Object was zigzagging relative to other stars.
Only object that can zigzag would be a drone, but no drone can zigzag instantly like that. It looked like it was jumping.

I have seen StarLink, ISS, and other satellites that “appear” to do that. Look up autokinesis. Easy way to verify that they are not zig zagging is use a tripod to take a video. You will see it is traveling a straight line.

 

[lbiskupec]

How long did you watch it for?
How many times did it jump instantly sideways while you were watching?
Were the jumps random or regular, every how many seconds?
Were the jumps all the same step size?

Were you looking through a window or a screen?
Do you have fireflies in your area?
Are you in a war zone, or where an aircraft might have dropped flare decoys?

- for about 30 sec
- about 10 times (at first it was traveling in a straight line)
- regular every 1 sec
- yes, same steps
- we were watching with our naked eye (2 persons)
- definitely not a firefly
- not a war zone

 

[pinball1970]

- for about 30 sec
- about 10 times (at first it was traveling in a straight line)
- regular every 1 sec
- yes, same steps
- we were watching with our naked eye (2 persons)
- definitely not a firefly
- not a war zone

My friend recorded an hour of footage 11pm ish Thursday from his balcony in Manchester.
About 6 separate videos.
One light moving around then splitting up and coming back together and changing colours.
We were thinking lasers as they have gigs in Manchester at this time. Manchester City ground, Heaton Park.
We are checking if any events or other sightings.

 

[Baluncore]

Are there any above-ground wires in your vicinity?
Headlights from vehicles can reflect from cylindrical power lines.

 

[lbiskupec]

There's no telling what this is. I've seen many similar phenomena that ended up being an optical illusion, reflections off of some object, fireworks, drones, balloons, floating debris, etc. We had one several years back that ended up being the reflections of chandeliers off of glass. For every observation there's a thousand possibilities.

Far-fetched but i’m leaning towards drone. Alternating navigational lights would produce zigzagging effect.

 

[MidgetDwarf]

UFO!!!

 

[DaveC426913]

Far-fetched but i’m leaning towards drone. Alternating navigational lights would produce zigzagging effect.

Interesting theory. Why not simply a plane then?

Width of your thumb is about 2 degrees, or 4x the apparent width of the Moon.
A 2 foot craft would appear that size at 20 yards.
A 20 foot craft would appear that size at 200 yards.
A 200 foot craft would appear that size at 2000 yards.
https://www.calculator.net/triangle...0&vy=200&va=&vz=&vb=&angleunits=d&x=Calculate

I'd say all of these raise the question of why you didn't hear an engine.



Note that this theory re-opens the question of the drastic increase in brightness and the fading away. (A change in orientation shouldn't cause this to happen - the whole point of omnidirectional navigational lights is to be easily visible from anywhere in the appropriate quadrant - although it's still conceivable.)



Anyway, in retrospect, would you say what you saw was a light(s) was alternating from side-to-side, as opposed to travelling from side-to-side?


I ask because I am currently involved in some UAP analysis elseweb, and optical illusions are always of interest.

 

[Tom.G]

Around a year ago, I was visiting a neighbor on his patio. He exclaimed "look at that!" and pointed to the sky. He was rather emphatic that he had spotted a UFO.

To me it looked like a police helicopter with its Search Light on, circling over the central city about four miles away.

Biases and Limited Data → Unreliable Conclusions

 

[lbiskupec]

Interesting theory. Why not simply a plane then?

Width of your thumb is about 2 degrees, or 4x the apparent width of the Moon.
A 2 foot craft would appear that size at 20 yards.
A 20 foot craft would appear that size at 200 yards.
A 200 foot craft would appear that size at 2000 yards.
https://www.calculator.net/triangle...0&vy=200&va=&vz=&vb=&angleunits=d&x=Calculate

I'd say all of these raise the question of why you didn't hear an engine.



Note that this theory re-opens the question of the drastic increase in brightness and the fading away. (A change in orientation shouldn't cause this to happen - the whole point of omnidirectional navigational lights is to be easily visible from anywhere in the appropriate quadrant - although it's still conceivable.)



Anyway, in retrospect, would you say what you saw was a light(s) was alternating from side-to-side, as opposed to travelling from side-to-side?


I ask because I am currently involved in some UAP analysis elseweb, and optical illusions are always of interest.

Yeah. I'm grasping at straws with drone theory.
UFO/UAP can be anything not yet explained. But, in general, it is associated with aliens.
That I will eventually accept only when I max-out on all of the earthly options.

Planes have rules and standards when it comes to navigational lights. There should be one red and one green on the tip of the wings. And a high-beam on landing (landing light).
Those were both white/yellowish.

As for the drone:
we are living directly on the approach path for the major airport.
During the summer season there is a plane landing every each minute. They all have standard navigational lights.
As an air transportation engineer by education, and software developer by profession I should be able to recognize a plane and should not have trouble with logic.
To send a drone directly on the approach path of a major airport would be insane. A few days ago an idiot scrambled a drone to shoot a video of a Canadairs putting off a forest fire and ended up in jail.

If it was a high altitude drone, as it should be to produce fade-out effect going east (shadow of the sun) and have zigzagging amplitude like that, it should be of size of the football field. Or even lager.

To repeat:
- Observed by 2 persons by naked eye.
- No glass/windows, no monoculars or telescopes, no swinging chandeliers, no fireflies, no flares, no baloons… Just naked eye.
- The rest of the stars were very polite. They stood still while that thing was zigzagging.
- No egine sound
This is a PhysicsForum. Not the Conspiracy Theories Forum.

 

[DaveC426913]

UFO/UAP can be anything not yet explained. But, in general, it is associated with aliens.
...
This is a PhysicsForum. Not the Conspiracy Theories Forum.

Indeed. In case I wasn't clear, my involvement is in dismantling such outlandish claims with careful analysis and critical thinking. I'm a skeptic, not an enthusiast.

 

[DaveC426913]

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/727834-slow-moving-blinking-satellite/

Perhaps it was two of these MEOs side-by-side? That's quite a stretch though. The timing and proximity would have to be implausibly coincidental.

 

[Higgs Boson]

I have a question that must have logical answer and I just cant find one online.

Yesterday, around 11 P.M. me and my wife was sitting on our porch talking and casually watching the sky.
Suddenly, our attention was caught by a star like object that was traveling towards east.
Speed was like any satellite would have but it was ZIGZAGGING.
Lateral motion was instant and had an amplitude of the width of my thumb with my arm fully extended. At some point its brightness increased drastically just before it faded out completely.

I found a lot of testimonies about similar sightings but not a single one clarification.

I can explain sudden increase in brightness (probably increased reflection due to change of position) and fading (traveling east object moved into a sun shadow - high altitude object) but i just cant explain zigzagging.
I've found some explanations that states it is an optical illusion caused by eye-tracking or atmospheric effects but there is a problem with this explanation. Object was zigzagging relative to other stars.
Only object that can zigzag would be a drone, but no drone can zigzag instantly like that. It looked like it was jumping.

Cataracts ;)

Been there, seen that.

 

[russ_watters]

To me it looked like a police helicopter with its Search Light on, circling over the central city about four miles away.

These days we have so many great tools to identify objects in the sky that as long as one can give a halfway decent report it should be possible to get a clear positive ID for most objects. For a suspected aircraft; flightradar24.com

 

[davenn]

For a suspected aircraft; flightradar24.com

my fav. aircraft app for many years