Last night I was out taking pics. I was trying to take some pics of stars. At one point I just lie on my back and enjoy the milkyway and planes passing. Suddenly I see an extremely bright light above me and a bit to the east of my location. It's going north. Few seconds later another bright light comes up going west. The lights cross each other. The west going light go straight while the north going light look like it bow off a few degrees. After approximately 30 seconds the lights go out and there is nothing there that I can see. My question here. Was it someone from outer space? No seriously. Was this a close encounter by two major planes? it was no propellor planes or helicopters. I would have heard that. So it could IMO only have been lights from two major planes. But I have no idea if they turn on any bright lights to identify each others position visibly instead of just radar. So that's why I am asking? I have no idea how high the lights were above me, but I am assuming quite high. Also, they looked as if they were pretty much right above me, but guessing from the angle they could well be several miles east of my position. So what did I see?
Planes don't talk to each other using lights. It's very hard to tell how high a plane is especially at night. Helicopters don't fly nearly as high as planes. So. I dunno. Probably 2 planes at different altitudes.
Yeah I was thinking two planes at different altitude, but close enough. So I thought maybe they used lights for physical visibility considering there were more planes in the air at the same time. It was very odd though.
Might have been two planes, but typically planes fly with their navigation lights on, not necessarily their bright landing lights or taxi lights on. Aircraft navigation lights help pilots see other aircraft at night, and identify which direction they are flying. They are red & green lights on the tips of the wings and a white light on the tail. The red light is on the left wing, the green one on the right wing. So, if you see both the green and red lights and the green is on the left side, that means the plane is coming at you. If you see only the green light, the plane is moving to your right. If you see only the red light, the plane is moving to your left. (Of course, this assumes the plane is not flying inverted at night). Planes also have flashing white strobe lights which are often kept on at night. Boats also turn on red & green navigation lights at night. Same idea and mounted on the same left & right sides, to detect which way the boat is moving. Here is a diagram of the navigation lights: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yep, I understand all that and see it often. It's quite dark where I live as there is no major cities by. Try and imagine this.... This dot is a position light on a plane as I see it from down here ---> . It's the same size whether it's green, red, white or a strobing light. What I saw was roughly the same size as this ----> * in comparison. And it was bright white single constant light. There were two, one going north and one going west (coming towards me). I didn't see any position lights on those locations either before or after the bright white lights. It was also moving at approximately the same pace as a jetliner.
I too would guess that they were airplanes but if they were I would think that they would have strobes flashing. The red light on the left wing tip, the green light on the right wing tip, and the white light on the tail do not flash, so there should have been a flashing strobe somewhere. I wondered where you were located to be out of the city lights that pollute the night sky so that you can enjoy the Milky Way in a dark and clear sky. We had a cabin in the North Cascades in eastern Washington State where the winter air is absolutely clear and the stars and Milky Way could be seen like nowhere else. One clear and cold 0 deg. winter night we lay in the snow and gazed at the sea of stars in the Milky Way and it was interrupted by a satellite cruising through. Then we started seeing more of them going in all directions including some space junk tumbling as it sailed by. In all we counted eleven sightings before we were too cold to stay any longer. It's incredible how much stuff is up there and how much one can see when you are away from the populated areas.
Sounds like landing lights. I remember reading an account from the night of TWA Flight 800's crash where a, inbound Westwind (IIRC) pilot stated that he turned on his landing light in an attempt to make his aircraft more visible to what is assumed to have been TWA 800. So, I guess it's possible. Then again, I'm a piston jockey, not an airline pilot, and therefore not an "expert". I've seen something similar to what you describe, but the very bright points of light never crossed or moved laterally, only faded out quickly, seemingly at a VERY high altitude. I have no explanation for what I saw other than the possibility of being on a direct sight line to an incoming set of meteors that burned out or maybe some pieces of space junk or satellites that were illuminated briefly, then eclipsed. We have all sorts of crap floating around up there.
I have been on night commercial flights where the pilots turned on and off there landing lights at cruising altitudes when another aircraft was visible.
For it to be landing lights, wouldn't the landing gear have to be down?? And don't they have a light on each wheel? I didn't see any red or green or strobing lights. That COULD be because it was rather bright, the light I looked at, so it could have blinded my eyes enough for the other lights to disappear. I casn actually enjoy the milkyway from my backyard when they shut out the ligts in the village where I live. But the othe rnight when I saw this I was here... LINK Zoom out on the map to see where I was *LOL* And here is one of the pics I took. A lighthouse out of service. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don't think so. Depends on the aircraft and the aircraft's size, but I think most have more landing lights somewhere other than on the gear. We need an airline pilot in this thread! Of course, to be as bright as you say AND at altitude, the landing light theory starts to break down. Better call MUFON
The main landing lights are usually in the inboard wing leading edge although some older jets had them on the lower surface of the outboard wing that retracted when not in use. Some have lights on the nose gear too but most of the time they are used for taxiing. Landing lights can be turned on any time and can be seen for long distances. Airplanes coming into Portland, Oregon from the east over the Columbia River Gorge turn on their landing lights 20 miles out and they are easy to spot.
Maybe my explanation sounds exaggerated? It wasn't so bright that I could actually see stuff around me It was just more intense, kinda like the moon, just in a much smaller scale I thought about UFO's but have dismissed that idea again. To me it seemed too controlled to be "UFO's".
Okay BuT I only saw one light And I am far away from any major airport. 100+ miles to either Copenhagen or Hamburg. UGH!! I wish I had recorded it!!!!
As an airline pilot, we sometimes "flash" our lights at oncoming or crossing traffic. It goes something like this: ATC will report traffic at 12 O'clock and 10 miles opposite direction...maybe 1000 above or below our altitude. We will turn on our landing lights to help the opposite direction traffic see us. ATC will also tell the other AC about us. So he will usually turn on his landing lights. Sometimes we leave the lights on until crossing each other. Doesn't usually last more than a minute or so unless you forget to turn them back off...... So one bright light followed shortly by another in a different area. Then both lights go out. I hope this gives a possible explaination..... Lou
Thank you very much (also to the rest for their input). I feel convinced that this is what I saw. It wasn't on for more than 30 seconds, maybe a wee bit longer. Definitely not 2 minutes though. The sky above where I live appear to be quite busy. The London/Hong Kong flights atleast by KLM and Qantas pass right over my house.
Close. Believe it or not, it sounds like a satellite, perhaps Space Station. Give me the time/date GMT and your exact location and I'll see if I can work out which one. Les
It was not the space station or a satellite. The space station go west to east here. Atleast it did when I took the pic of it and Atlantis last time It was not a satellite either. There was a sat passing over a bit later on going north to south. Of course could be the space station as well. I don't know if it change it's course. Anyway, it was a constant light, no strobing or anything. Just like they always look. The lights I saw were much bigger. If you imagine the space station or a plane being the same as a dot . then the lights I saw would be approximately the size of an asterisk * Anyway, MY position was..... 54°35'44.30"N 11°30'07.89"E And the lights appeared slightly to the east of me. In terms of distance in straight line to right beneath the lights (on the ground that is) I would say maybe 40 miles. I don't have the exact time but roughly 10:20 pm here in Denmark. WQe are 1 hour ahead of London. Date Sunday 24th.
Could they have been satellites? Some are in E-W orbits and others are in polar orbits... Skylab, is larger, but others for instance, look like unblinking lights traveling across the sky... And, they suddenly go 'out' when they enter the Earth's shadow. I was out in the in the middle of Kenya just after sundown a number of years ago... not a light for a hundred miles. I think we counted almost 20 satellites in about an hour. We could see 7 of them at the same time at one point. Oh, I am not an expert... per the thread title.
