Something strange in the sky

WheatenLover

WheatenLover

Senior Member
Location
Georgia
I thought these 2 things in the sky were stars, so I bought binoculars to see what I could see. They are not stars. One is a thin strand containing colored lights that moves around like it is dancing, but within a circle. The other one, my son looked at. It is a light that changes color red to yellow to white. It moves in a circle.
What could these be? From the ground they look close together, like about 4" apart when I measure it with my fingers.
I noticed them because they seemed to twinkle, and I had never seen a twinkling star. They are bright and look just like stars with the unaided eye. At first, I thought maybe they were planets but until tonight, they haven't moved, and still they haven't moved much in several months.
 

WheatenLover said:
I thought these 2 things in the sky were stars, so I bought binoculars to see what I could see. They are not stars. One is a thin strand containing colored lights that moves around like it is dancing, but within a circle.
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We had a lot of those reports of the strands of lights a couple of months ago... turned out to be SpaceX's Starlink.

This site will let you know where it is at any given time, and then you'll know if that's what you saw. @WheatenLover
SpaceX Starlink Satellites Tracker
 
CallMeKate said:
We had a lot of those reports of the strands of lights a couple of months ago... turned out to be SpaceX's Starlink.

This site will let you know where it is at any given time, and then you'll know if that's what you saw. @WheatenLover
SpaceX Starlink Satellites Tracker
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Thank you! @CallMeKate

I looked at photos of the Starlink satellites and they are not what I saw. Your link sure was interesting, though. The single strand of lights I saw was made of of different colors of light that blinked on and off, and it twirled and twisted in a clearly defined area. Like the strand was dancing, but not going anywhere.

A couple of guys I know suggested, separately, that I saw lights up there that were to warn airplanes of low altitude. Are there things like that in the sky? It seems like there isn't a need for something like a beam flashing on a light house to be set free to wiggle and flash (twinkle) in the sky. Isn't that what some of the instruments on a plane do -- keep track of and correct the altitude of the plane?

I am beginning to feel kind of silly, rambling away about things I know nothing about. I wish it had been a twinkling star. Plenty of folks have told me they see stars twinkling, and I still have not. Moreover, I am thinking stars don't twinkle anyway.
 
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Warrigal said:
Probably unlikely but could it have been associated with the Aurora Borealis?
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I don't think so. I've now looked at hundreds of images that do not look like anything I saw. I haven't seen my twirling lights in a few nights because of cloud cover. Now I'm off to find out about telescopes. Maybe there is more to see in the circle the strand seemed to be confined to. Heck, maybe there is no circle at all -- just light from the strand. Maybe the strand moves around in teeny tiny increments that I can't see with the binoculars.
 
WheatenLover said:
I don't think so. I've now looked at hundreds of images that do not look like anything I saw. I haven't seen my twirling lights in a few nights because of cloud cover. Now I'm off to find out about telescopes. Maybe there is more to see in the circle the strand seemed to be confined to. Heck, maybe there is no circle at all -- just light from the strand. Maybe the strand moves around in teeny tiny increments that I can't see with the binoculars.
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If you take a picture with your smart phone, it will filter out any local light and you will see the AB if that’s what it is.
 
When I was flying, I saw different lights with different configurations or different sizes that after seeing these for several months, I gave up trying to figure out what I was looking at. I didn’t see these lights every night or during an early morning flight while it was still dark.

If you pay attention and keep your vision looking outside, you can see some unusual or unexplainable lights and even things that appear to be objects. My First Officers would call them weather balloons, training flares being shot by military aircraft, satellites and other things. When you’re in the cockpit the only place to look is outside.

Commercial aircraft and military aircraft operate on different frequencies. We were flying south going to Miami from New York. My First Officer is flying the plane and even though it was on autopilot, something came up alongside of my plane and I quickly turned my head to see what it was. It turned out to be a military plane and for whatever reason, he was too close according to FAA rules. I couldn’t call him on the radio, so I flashed my landing lights to get his attention. When he looked over at me, I waved him to move away.

I called ATC and asked them ‘Do you see a plane flying beside me on your radar scope?’ The Controller said no, so I thought it was probably stealth. The plane was alongside me for maybe 10 seconds, then he was gone. After we landed, I was told the military plane was stealth and was on a training mission and at no time were we in any danger. I old the supervisor that it would be nice if we were told to expect company.
 

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