Hi all,
Between September 2014 and September 2015, Melbourne colleague Paul Dean, and I published a series of detailed monthly blog posts. These posts provided any reader with that month's summary of 30-40 Australian sighting reports and sources.
Following this 12 months, we then reverted in recent times to only reporting and analysing Australian sighting reports which seemed to occupy that 5% of all incoming raw reports which, at first glance, do not appear to have a mundane explanation.
Now, however, we need to again review the best use of our time. Paul specialises in using both the Australian and the American Freedom of Information Acts, to obtain hard to get documentation, as his recent blog posts will attest to.
I have been spending my time on two major projects. Last year I started, and completed stage one of, Project Newsprint. This Project aims to seek out both current and past sightings from rural and remote Australia. I am about to commence stage two in the new year.
My other Project is "Magonia Down Under," which aims to collect, catalogue and analyse Australian pre 24 June 1947 observations. The research results are published at http://magoniadownunder.blogspot.com.au
Therefore, due to this workload, Paul and I have decided that we do not have the time to continue searching for, and analysing Australian sighting reports on an ongoing basis.
We are therefore terminating our second series of monthly Australian sighting reports. Naturally, we still appreciate readers sending us copies of any documented, investigation reports they might prepare.
Showing posts with label Monthly Australian reports roundup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monthly Australian reports roundup. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Thursday, December 3, 2015
November 2015 - Australian documented reports roundup
Hi all,
This is the second of the new series of taking a look at Australian national level monthly sightings reports. The first series ran for twelve months and each month brought you summaries of 35-40 Australian sighting reports and their sources. This proved to be too time consuming for Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean, and I, so we changed to a new format. Last month we brought you only four October reports, however each had been investigated as far as it was possible, and we documented what we had been able to find out.
This month, covers November 2015. Surprisingly, Paul and I found no report worthy of deeper study. The reports which we did look at were easily explainable in terms of mundane explanations, e.g. meteors. fireballs, aircraft, satellites.
If you feel you have come across a report dated November 2015, which has been investigated, and documented in the style that I have done on my blog, e.g. Oakey ; or Blue Haven then please forward it to me at keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au for inclusion in next month's summary. We are not interested in hearing that "a large cigar shaped object was seen by three people" if no-one has interviewed those three people and written up an investigation report. Neither are we interested in seeing a video, which is night vision, has no reference points, and is not accompanied by an interview of what the videographer saw at the time. The blog post "Videos- field work is important" shows that we do support individuals who take videos, but they do have a responsibility to work with an analyst and document the sighting, just like any other.
This is the second of the new series of taking a look at Australian national level monthly sightings reports. The first series ran for twelve months and each month brought you summaries of 35-40 Australian sighting reports and their sources. This proved to be too time consuming for Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean, and I, so we changed to a new format. Last month we brought you only four October reports, however each had been investigated as far as it was possible, and we documented what we had been able to find out.
Current reports
This month, covers November 2015. Surprisingly, Paul and I found no report worthy of deeper study. The reports which we did look at were easily explainable in terms of mundane explanations, e.g. meteors. fireballs, aircraft, satellites.
If you feel you have come across a report dated November 2015, which has been investigated, and documented in the style that I have done on my blog, e.g. Oakey ; or Blue Haven then please forward it to me at keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au for inclusion in next month's summary. We are not interested in hearing that "a large cigar shaped object was seen by three people" if no-one has interviewed those three people and written up an investigation report. Neither are we interested in seeing a video, which is night vision, has no reference points, and is not accompanied by an interview of what the videographer saw at the time. The blog post "Videos- field work is important" shows that we do support individuals who take videos, but they do have a responsibility to work with an analyst and document the sighting, just like any other.
Older reports
"Project Newsprint", a one year Project to seek sighting reports from rural and remote parts of Australia, has in fact turned up some interesting reports from Western Australia. Details are available in the following series of blog posts.
Late 1960's. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/sightings-from-nw-australia-part-two.html
1978/79. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/sightings-from-nw-australia-part-two.html
2005. Karratha. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/sightings-from-nw-australia-part-two.html
2007. Roebourne. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/sightings-from-north-west-australia.html
2010. Karratha. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/encounter-at-karratha-western-australia.html
2012. Broome. http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/intriguing-report-from-broome-western.html
Saturday, October 31, 2015
October 2015 - Australian reports roundup
Hi all,
Welcome to the new format of the Australian national level UAP sightings listings, by Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean.
As mentioned last month, Paul and I will no longer be bringing you a lengthy listing of un-investigated sightings. Instead we will bring you selected sightings which we have recently come across; give you the facts as we know them, and report on our own efforts to investigate them.
We hope you will find the new format of interest. If you read about a local sighting for which you already have additional information, especially of you have investigated it, then please send your data to keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au and we will publish it here with full credit to you.
A sighting we'd like to know more about.
"A farmer living on a 100 acre property became concerned when his dogs began barking, so he walked outside his home to investigate what was disturbing them.
He walked towards a visitor's car parked approximately 30 metres from where he stood but had difficulty seeing the car due to the emanation of the reflection of a light on the car. He described this as "blurring out" the car.
He initially thought he was having problems with his vision, but two seconds later he saw an object appear above the car which he described as looking just like the moon and luminous. It then moved straight up into the sky, changed course to a 45 degree angle, then 'shot off' disappearing from view. He called to his family to come outside to see the object but it had already disappeared. He described the object as not being mechanized, perfectly round and if it didn't move he could have sworn it was the moon...."
(Source: Facebook page for UFO Research Queensland. We hope that UFORQ will be able to further investigate this intriguing report and provide readers with a detailed investigation report in due course.)
Note 1: Alert blog readers will recall that Kalbar was the location where a weather camera is claimed to have photographed a UAP, in March 2015.
Note 2: For those readers who might like to know where the Moon was at 2000hrs 12 October, as seen from Kalbar. A quick check of an astronomical program indicates it was below the horizon.
Sightings
28 September 2015, Around sunset, Darwin, Northern Territory.
Quentin Theron, 40 and children Kylie, 14 and Georgia 8, were in a pool at their Coconut Grove home, Darwin, when they saw a bright ball of light travelling through the sky. The object had a thick and short tail. A video was taken, and is available to view at:
http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/only-in-the-territory/its-unidentified-flying-and-an-object-ufo-baffles-experts/story-fnk2tg5d-1227552608118
Paul Dean unsuccessfully attempted to contact witness Theron via both his Facebook page, and the NT News. No one responded. Paul also spoke to an air traffic controller, about the possibility that the video shows a fuel dump from a military aircraft. The controller did not believe it did. We would be interested to hear from anyone who has looked further into this matter.
2 October 2015, Early hours of the morning, Scotts Creek (Victoria?)
"We could see a very bright light across the paddocks from the house. Seemed yellow warm light compared to the cool blue stars. It seemed extremely close and large compared to anything that should be visible in the sky. I took several photos and video. This was in the north eastern sky about 1-2km above the horizon and seemed only the same distance away. We could hear a humming vibrating sound over our music and it seemed a different frequency as the music was initially loud.
Over the next three hours we watched it hover in the same spot before slowly moving off north once the daylight broke, but it was still visible when it was light at 6am. A farmer a few km away also saw it and captured a photo. On zooming in on photos it appears in different forms but always as bright triangle or bent line shape or in a circle. I know that camera pixels can change these shaped but this is unbelievable."
The above details appeared at http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-sightings-melbourne#.VhsT8a-hfIU
Comments:
This sighting appeared worthy of follow up. So, I:
a. Used an electronic contact form to send a message to the operators of "Only Melbourne" asking if they would send "Caz" my email address and message. An operator from the "Only Melbourne" responded and advised that they were unable to assist me.
b. I checked an Australian directory for locations named "Scotts Creek." There were a number listed. On the assumption that a person in Scotts Creek, Victoria might choose to forward their sighting to a Victorian website like "Only Melbourne" I looked for the nearest local paper to the Victorian Scotts Creek.This turned out to be the Warnambool Standard newspaper. I despatched an email to the editor outlining my interest in this sighting; and also submitted a similar item to the paper's Facebook page's visitor's comments. To date I have had no response to these efforts.
c. Again, on the assumption that "Caz" was in Scotts Creek, Victoria I obtained the weather details form the closest Bureau of Meteorology station which was station number 090186 at Warnambool, 54.1 km away. That day, the minimum temperature was 9.9 deg C; the maximum temperature was 23.8 deg C. At 0900hrs the wind was blowing from the north at 17km/hr.
d. Again, on the assumption we are looking at Scotts Creek, near Warnambool, Victoria (latitude 38.46 south and longitude 143.09 east) I found that the sun rose at 0549hrs. Astronomically, the planet Venus rose at 0404hrs. At that time, it was elevation zero, ie on the horizon; and at azimuth 77 degrees. By 0600 hrs it had mover northwards to elevation 21 deg, and azimuth 57 deg. North-east is azimuth 45 deg.
e. At this point, as no one to my knowledge, has interviewed "Caz" or anyone else in the area who saw the object, the identification of the cause of the sighting remains "unknown." However, given the presence of the bright (magnitude -4.4) planet Venus in the same general area, and the fact that "Caz" does not report seeing both their "UFO" and the brilliant planet Venus, there is the possibility, however remote, that the sighting is a misidentification of that planet. Only a thorough investigation, preferably on site, would tell. I have referred the case to VUFOA.
4 October 2015, (2130-2200)hrs, 4kms north of Yankalilla, South Australia, 4 minutes.
"We saw a bright orange light at about 25 degree elevation north of us. It came towards us for about four minutes, then when it was almost directly overhead it went straight up until it disappeared from view. My first thought was that it was a helicopter, although the colour of light was wrong, but it was absolutely silent!"
This sighting came to me as a comment on the Sydney Observatory "Lights in the sky" blog.
Comment:
a. I located the weather details for the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station which was station umber 023875 at Parawa, 13.4 kms away. At 1500hrs the wind was from the WNWW at 11 km/hr. Temperature was 22.7 deg C; relative humidly 36%; pressure 1022.9hPa.
At 2100hrs temp was 20.6 deg C; 28% rh; wind from NNW at 7km/hr.
At 2130hrs temp was 20.3 deg C; 28% rh; wind from NW at 6km/hr
At 2200hrs temp was 20.8 deg C; 29% rh; wind from NW at 6km/hr.
b. Given the colour of the light; the 4 minutes duration; and the movement roughly in the direction from which the wind was blowing at a low speed; I elected not to follow this report up any further as there is a high probability of a wind borne, hoax hot air balloon. See previous detailed investigation reports on similar lights at:
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/preliminary-investigation-report.html
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/report-from-cairns-queensland-17.html
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/preliminary-investigation-report.html
9 October 2015, Ca. 2100hrs, Northfield, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, 2 minutes.
"I was coming home about 9pm up Grand Junction Road when I caught sight of a large horizontal bank of lights approx. 200 feet off the ground, to my right and level with Rowe Avenue. It was 9.02 when I first spotted it and I watched it for about 2 minutes.
At first I thought it was a construction site on the top floor of a block as it was too low for a plane and stationary. I'm used to seeing the planes coming in over the hills but they were nothing like that.
It was massive, very low, and as I say, appeared to be stationary. It looked like a row of lights on a gantry. I pulled over to see it better and as I stopped the car it appeared to rotate on the spot and moved off very slowly southwards.
I turned around at the next place I could and then went along Rowe Avenue but there was nothing in the sky, no tall buildings and no sign of a plane moving away toward the airport as you would normally see going into the distance.
Shortly after, at about 9.08 and 9.10 two planes came over the hills with landing lights on as normal, quite low but nowhere near as low as the first one. They were considerably smaller blocks of normal landing, flashing wing lights and cabin lights. It was a bit weird. Can't say anything about noise as I had loud music on the radio."
This report came to me via a mutual friend. Due to its unusual nature, ie bank of lights, initially stationary and then moving, I thought it worthy of a follow up. So, I:
a. Contacted the witness via our mutual friend and asked the following:
Q1. What colour were the bank of lights?
A1 White.
Q2 How many lights (approximately) were in the bank of lights?
A2 "There were 10-15 brilliant white lights along the length."
Q3. How big was the whole thing compared to the full moon on the horizon?
A3 "...about the same distance between the end of my thumb and the end of my smallest finger (20cm approx.) at arm's length..."
They witness also advised:
"The white lights were of varying intensity, some were bright like spotlights other less intense/pointing away from me at different angles. There was a blue solid light towards one end and a red solid light towards the other. These lights were considerably smaller than the white ones and nowhere near as bright.'
b. I obtained the weather details for the Adelaide office of the Bureau of Meteorology (10kms away).
2030hrs 25.7 deg c; 42% rh; wind was calm; pressure 1022.7hPa.
2100hrs 24.3 deg c; 50%rh; wind calm; pressure 1023.0hPa.
2130hrs 23.8 deg c; 50%rh; wind calm; pressure 1023.4hPa.
c. I checked Air Services Australia's WebTrak website the following are screen shots at various times relevant to the sighting:
d. My wife and I travelled along this section of Grand Junction Road, past Rowe Avenue about an hour later, that night, but saw nothing unusual.
e. I visited the area concerned on 14 October and spent some time looking around the area
Comment:
We welcome any feedback on this sighting.
Introduction
Welcome to the new format of the Australian national level UAP sightings listings, by Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean.
As mentioned last month, Paul and I will no longer be bringing you a lengthy listing of un-investigated sightings. Instead we will bring you selected sightings which we have recently come across; give you the facts as we know them, and report on our own efforts to investigate them.
We hope you will find the new format of interest. If you read about a local sighting for which you already have additional information, especially of you have investigated it, then please send your data to keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au and we will publish it here with full credit to you.
A sighting we'd like to know more about.
Kalbar, Queensland. 12 October 2015. 2000hrs."A farmer living on a 100 acre property became concerned when his dogs began barking, so he walked outside his home to investigate what was disturbing them.
He walked towards a visitor's car parked approximately 30 metres from where he stood but had difficulty seeing the car due to the emanation of the reflection of a light on the car. He described this as "blurring out" the car.
He initially thought he was having problems with his vision, but two seconds later he saw an object appear above the car which he described as looking just like the moon and luminous. It then moved straight up into the sky, changed course to a 45 degree angle, then 'shot off' disappearing from view. He called to his family to come outside to see the object but it had already disappeared. He described the object as not being mechanized, perfectly round and if it didn't move he could have sworn it was the moon...."
(Source: Facebook page for UFO Research Queensland. We hope that UFORQ will be able to further investigate this intriguing report and provide readers with a detailed investigation report in due course.)
Note 1: Alert blog readers will recall that Kalbar was the location where a weather camera is claimed to have photographed a UAP, in March 2015.
Note 2: For those readers who might like to know where the Moon was at 2000hrs 12 October, as seen from Kalbar. A quick check of an astronomical program indicates it was below the horizon.
Sightings
28 September 2015, Around sunset, Darwin, Northern Territory.
Quentin Theron, 40 and children Kylie, 14 and Georgia 8, were in a pool at their Coconut Grove home, Darwin, when they saw a bright ball of light travelling through the sky. The object had a thick and short tail. A video was taken, and is available to view at:
http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/only-in-the-territory/its-unidentified-flying-and-an-object-ufo-baffles-experts/story-fnk2tg5d-1227552608118
Paul Dean unsuccessfully attempted to contact witness Theron via both his Facebook page, and the NT News. No one responded. Paul also spoke to an air traffic controller, about the possibility that the video shows a fuel dump from a military aircraft. The controller did not believe it did. We would be interested to hear from anyone who has looked further into this matter.
2 October 2015, Early hours of the morning, Scotts Creek (Victoria?)
"We could see a very bright light across the paddocks from the house. Seemed yellow warm light compared to the cool blue stars. It seemed extremely close and large compared to anything that should be visible in the sky. I took several photos and video. This was in the north eastern sky about 1-2km above the horizon and seemed only the same distance away. We could hear a humming vibrating sound over our music and it seemed a different frequency as the music was initially loud.
Over the next three hours we watched it hover in the same spot before slowly moving off north once the daylight broke, but it was still visible when it was light at 6am. A farmer a few km away also saw it and captured a photo. On zooming in on photos it appears in different forms but always as bright triangle or bent line shape or in a circle. I know that camera pixels can change these shaped but this is unbelievable."
The above details appeared at http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-sightings-melbourne#.VhsT8a-hfIU
Comments:
This sighting appeared worthy of follow up. So, I:
a. Used an electronic contact form to send a message to the operators of "Only Melbourne" asking if they would send "Caz" my email address and message. An operator from the "Only Melbourne" responded and advised that they were unable to assist me.
b. I checked an Australian directory for locations named "Scotts Creek." There were a number listed. On the assumption that a person in Scotts Creek, Victoria might choose to forward their sighting to a Victorian website like "Only Melbourne" I looked for the nearest local paper to the Victorian Scotts Creek.This turned out to be the Warnambool Standard newspaper. I despatched an email to the editor outlining my interest in this sighting; and also submitted a similar item to the paper's Facebook page's visitor's comments. To date I have had no response to these efforts.
c. Again, on the assumption that "Caz" was in Scotts Creek, Victoria I obtained the weather details form the closest Bureau of Meteorology station which was station number 090186 at Warnambool, 54.1 km away. That day, the minimum temperature was 9.9 deg C; the maximum temperature was 23.8 deg C. At 0900hrs the wind was blowing from the north at 17km/hr.
d. Again, on the assumption we are looking at Scotts Creek, near Warnambool, Victoria (latitude 38.46 south and longitude 143.09 east) I found that the sun rose at 0549hrs. Astronomically, the planet Venus rose at 0404hrs. At that time, it was elevation zero, ie on the horizon; and at azimuth 77 degrees. By 0600 hrs it had mover northwards to elevation 21 deg, and azimuth 57 deg. North-east is azimuth 45 deg.
e. At this point, as no one to my knowledge, has interviewed "Caz" or anyone else in the area who saw the object, the identification of the cause of the sighting remains "unknown." However, given the presence of the bright (magnitude -4.4) planet Venus in the same general area, and the fact that "Caz" does not report seeing both their "UFO" and the brilliant planet Venus, there is the possibility, however remote, that the sighting is a misidentification of that planet. Only a thorough investigation, preferably on site, would tell. I have referred the case to VUFOA.
4 October 2015, (2130-2200)hrs, 4kms north of Yankalilla, South Australia, 4 minutes.
"We saw a bright orange light at about 25 degree elevation north of us. It came towards us for about four minutes, then when it was almost directly overhead it went straight up until it disappeared from view. My first thought was that it was a helicopter, although the colour of light was wrong, but it was absolutely silent!"
This sighting came to me as a comment on the Sydney Observatory "Lights in the sky" blog.
Comment:
a. I located the weather details for the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station which was station umber 023875 at Parawa, 13.4 kms away. At 1500hrs the wind was from the WNWW at 11 km/hr. Temperature was 22.7 deg C; relative humidly 36%; pressure 1022.9hPa.
At 2100hrs temp was 20.6 deg C; 28% rh; wind from NNW at 7km/hr.
At 2130hrs temp was 20.3 deg C; 28% rh; wind from NW at 6km/hr
At 2200hrs temp was 20.8 deg C; 29% rh; wind from NW at 6km/hr.
b. Given the colour of the light; the 4 minutes duration; and the movement roughly in the direction from which the wind was blowing at a low speed; I elected not to follow this report up any further as there is a high probability of a wind borne, hoax hot air balloon. See previous detailed investigation reports on similar lights at:
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/preliminary-investigation-report.html
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/report-from-cairns-queensland-17.html
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/preliminary-investigation-report.html
9 October 2015, Ca. 2100hrs, Northfield, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, 2 minutes.
"I was coming home about 9pm up Grand Junction Road when I caught sight of a large horizontal bank of lights approx. 200 feet off the ground, to my right and level with Rowe Avenue. It was 9.02 when I first spotted it and I watched it for about 2 minutes.
At first I thought it was a construction site on the top floor of a block as it was too low for a plane and stationary. I'm used to seeing the planes coming in over the hills but they were nothing like that.
It was massive, very low, and as I say, appeared to be stationary. It looked like a row of lights on a gantry. I pulled over to see it better and as I stopped the car it appeared to rotate on the spot and moved off very slowly southwards.
I turned around at the next place I could and then went along Rowe Avenue but there was nothing in the sky, no tall buildings and no sign of a plane moving away toward the airport as you would normally see going into the distance.
Shortly after, at about 9.08 and 9.10 two planes came over the hills with landing lights on as normal, quite low but nowhere near as low as the first one. They were considerably smaller blocks of normal landing, flashing wing lights and cabin lights. It was a bit weird. Can't say anything about noise as I had loud music on the radio."
This report came to me via a mutual friend. Due to its unusual nature, ie bank of lights, initially stationary and then moving, I thought it worthy of a follow up. So, I:
a. Contacted the witness via our mutual friend and asked the following:
Q1. What colour were the bank of lights?
A1 White.
Q2 How many lights (approximately) were in the bank of lights?
A2 "There were 10-15 brilliant white lights along the length."
Q3. How big was the whole thing compared to the full moon on the horizon?
A3 "...about the same distance between the end of my thumb and the end of my smallest finger (20cm approx.) at arm's length..."
They witness also advised:
"The white lights were of varying intensity, some were bright like spotlights other less intense/pointing away from me at different angles. There was a blue solid light towards one end and a red solid light towards the other. These lights were considerably smaller than the white ones and nowhere near as bright.'
b. I obtained the weather details for the Adelaide office of the Bureau of Meteorology (10kms away).
2030hrs 25.7 deg c; 42% rh; wind was calm; pressure 1022.7hPa.
2100hrs 24.3 deg c; 50%rh; wind calm; pressure 1023.0hPa.
2130hrs 23.8 deg c; 50%rh; wind calm; pressure 1023.4hPa.
c. I checked Air Services Australia's WebTrak website the following are screen shots at various times relevant to the sighting:
 |
| A B77W aircraft flew over at 2101hrs |
 |
| 2110hrs showing the two aircraft the witness saw |
e. I visited the area concerned on 14 October and spent some time looking around the area
 |
| Looking across Grand Junction Road down Roe Avenue |
We welcome any feedback on this sighting.
Friday, October 2, 2015
September 2015 - Australian reports roundup
Hi all,
This is the twelfth and final (in this format) listing, in a series which originated following the talk by myself, at the September 2014 VUFOA conference in Melbourne. For the last twelve months, Melbourne colleague Paul Dean and I have spent countless hours trawling through a variety of sources to bring you a listing of Australian sighting reports. In addition, we thank all the Australian groups and individuals who have directly sent us material.
Last month we advised of the reasons why we are about to change the format and length of these monthly listings.
1. Email:
The sighting was initially reported by email directly to Keith Basterfield, shortly after it happened. The email read:
"I was driving along Sneydes Road, Point Cook towards my local IGA supermarket when I noticed a strange object moving south to north just below the cloud line. It was a shiny, silver 'ring' or doughnut for lack of a better word, and it was flying about the same speed as a commercial airliner. It made no sound and had no vapour trail.
I quickly pulled over and stopped in a quiet side street, got my phone out of the car and began filming it. As I was filming I realised I could see the object by naked eye but it wasn't shown up in my view finder.
The 'ring' was flying vertically at a consistent speed and at first I thought it might be a balloon but quickly realised the wind was blowing in the opposite direction this object was flying in.
The object also began to rotate on an angle so that at times it appeared as a ring and then as a straight vertical line then rotate back to a 'ring.'
2. Telephone interview:
Paul Dean telephoned the witness within two days and spoke to her to gather additional information. The witness was most co-operative at all times with our investigation, being very puzzled as to what she had observed.
Additional information secured by interview was:
- The first person she told about the sighting was her husband and she told him "I think I just saw a UFO."
- The object was below clouds, not in them.
- Total duration of the sighting was 5-6 minutes.
- She has excellent eyesight.
- After the object had disappeared from view, she stayed around for a while in case it returned.
- She turned off Sneydes into Florey.
3. Email questions:
Over the course of the next few days both authors communicated with the witness by email and asked a series of questions, to which the witness promptly responded. These questions and answers are listed below.
Q1 Which direction were you travelling in?
A1 Travelling east.
Q2 Did you initially see the object through the vehicle windscreen or another window?
A2 Initially seen through the driver's side window.
Q3 Initially was the object sighted down near the bottom of the window, near the top or at some other point?
A3 Closer to the top of the window, just above middle of window.
Q4 Did the object's apparent size change?
A4 Never changed size.
Q5 Did its brightness change?
A5 Never changed brightness. But stood out very clearly against the clouds.
Q6 How did you lose sight of it?
A6 It disappeared behind a thick bank of clouds.
Q7 What was its angular size, say compared to the full Moon when seen on the horizon?
A7 It was tiny compared to the full Moon.
The witness also advised that a more accurate track for the object was from south-east to north-west.
Between 1500 and 1600 hours, only three aircraft passed near Point Cook:
1. At 1533 hrs a light aircraft tracked north-east to south-west to the north of Point Cook at 9000 feet.
2. At 1547 hrs QJE 1505 flew Melbourne to Hobart tracking north-west to south-east almost directly over Point Cook at 12000 feet.
3. At 1548 hrs another light aircraft flew north-east to south-west, almost directly over Point Cook at 3100 feet.
We secured weather details from the Bureau of Meteorology. The closest weather station listed is at RAAF Laverton, 5.9km from Point Cook. Station number 087031.
For 23 August 2015, the minimum temperature was 4.9 deg C; maximum 15.8 deg C; maximum wind gust was from the south-south-east at 30 km/hr at 1618hrs that day.
At 9am the temperature was 10.9 deg C; 91% relative humidity, cloud cover was total; and the surface wind was from the north-west at 9km/hr ; pressure was 1020.ohPa.
By 3pm that day, the temperature was 14.9 deg c; 64% relative humidity; cloud cover was 1/8th; wind was from the south-south-east at 17 km/hr; pressure 1019.0hPa.
As we checked within three days of the event, we were also able to obtain weather details at half hour intervals for Laverton that day.
Laverton details for the time of the sighting, 1530hrs were:
13.5 deg C;70% relative humidity; winds from the south-east at 19km/hr; pressure 1019.1hPa.
Upper air soundings:
We located a website which provides twice daily upper air soundings, measured at Melbourne airport. Here we find details which include the wind speed and wind direction for various heights above the ground. These are taken at 0000hrs UTC (1000hrs Melbourne time) and 1200hrs UTC (2200hrs Melbourne time.)
The following screenshot shows this data for 1000hrs 23 August 2015. Surface wind is from the north at 5 knots. Compare this to Laverton at 9am where wind is coming from the north-west at 5 knots, very similar data.
The next screenshot shows the data for 2200hrs that night, 6.5hrs after the Point Cook sighting. The surface wind is from 170 deg, almost south at 9 knots. Compare this with Laverton at 1530hrs wind from the south-east at 19kms/hr, similar data.
An observation was made at 1530hrs Sunday 23 August 2015 from Sneydes Road, Point Cook, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Initially it was seen at about 30 degrees elevation to the south-east. The object travelled south-east to north-west. The object, according to the witness was at all times below clouds and seen against the clouds. The object never changed size, colour or brightness. After a total duration of 5-6 minutes it was lost to sight behind a thick band of clouds to the north-west. Angular size was tiny compared to the full Moon. In appearance it looked at times to be a shiny silver 'ring' or doughnut shape. At other times it appeared to be a straight vertical line. The witness stated that it was travelling against the prevailing surface winds.
7 September 2015 1940hrs Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania. Letter & telephone
The witness noticed some bright flashes of light at high elevation to the north-west. A torch was flashed at this area and a golden light flashed back. The light then moved into some mist. Three seconds later an oval yellow mist shot out of the cloud heading south, it was gone in an instant. The witness has seen similar lights on previous occasions and will continue to observe the night sky.
TUFOIC.
12 September 2015 1845hrs Bundoora, Melbourne, Victoria 5m43s Raw
Brad Morris filmed a pulsing object east of Bundoora. Filmed with two cameras. Panasonic HC-V520M and Nikon P900.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzZm7eY7QM
15 September 2015 2305hrs North Bellingen, Central Coast, New South Wales 2mins Raw
Keith Reynolds and family watched, at 45 degrees elevation, a "phenomenon." It grew bigger as if approaching, travelled east and disappeared at 15 degrees elevation. Overcast sky.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
15 September 2015 2000hrs Byron Bay, New South Wales (3-4)mins Raw
A storm was approaching from the west, when Jim Christou saw, to his north, "...a red light flashing and stationary...for 3-4 minutes." Then it flashed white and red. "Suddenly it moved towards the south almost above my head before making a semi circle turn towards north-east. " It stopped, flashed white and red then sped off over the ocean."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
17 September 2015 2100hrs Bentley Park, Cairns, Queensland 5mins IFO?
Four people saw "...an orange light, which then divided. The lights were just floating or hovering in the distance" in the west. "...2 more arrived. They moved very smoothly weaving in and around each other. Two then disappeared and then the final two did a bit more dancing and then also disappeared." (email from witness directly to Keith Basterfield.)
Keith posed the following questions to the witness who contacted him. The witness' responses are also shown below:
Q1. What direction were they moving in?
A1 "They were just kind of moving calmly around and hovering. Not closer or away."
Q2 What was their apparent size?
A2 "They were about a star size and about as bright as Venus."
Q3 Was there any associated noise?
A3 "No."
Q4 What was the total duration?
A4 "I watched them for about 5 minutes."
Q5 Was there any variation in brightness?
A5 "No they were consistent. They did twinkle, just a solid light."
Q6 How did they disappear?
A6 "Just disappeared. Vanished. There was nothing to hide behind."
Q7 What was the weather at the time?
A7 "Perfect clear night."
The witness then added:
"Some others on Facebook said they saw them and people replied saying they were lanterns. I don't know how they could be lanterns because they wouldn't emit that much light."
Keith checked the weather details for 2100hrs for Cairns international airport, some 9 kms to the north. These were:
Temperature was 20.4 deg C; 90% relative humidity; wind was from the West at 6km/hr. Pressure was 1016.5hPa. No rain since 9am.
Another witness from an adjacent suburb contacted Keith and advised an additional detail, being that the light was concentrated at the bottom of the lights.
Keith's view, based on the details provided above, was that there was nothing inconsistent with either hot air garbage bags or Chinese lanterns. For a detailed investigation report click here.
20 September 2015 1930hrs New Town, Tasmania Facebook. IFO - ISS
A bright, large light was observed moving from north-west across the sky towards the south-east. It disappeared after a few minutes in the distance.
TUFOIC.
21 September 2015 (Between about 2120 and 2150)hrs Armidale, New South Wales 20mins IFO? Balloons/lanterns?
Two groups of people reported sighting two amber/orange lights, travelling eastwards. For a full investigation report by Keith Basterfield, click here.
27 September 2015 (Between 1830-1900)hrs Southern Adelaide, South Australia 2mins IFO - balloon
Three people in two adjacent suburbs reported seeing an initial bright orange light, which then pulsed and went out, leaving a dark blob in the sky. Two photographs were taken of the dark phase.
("Adelaide UFO sightings" Facebook page, and investigation by Melbourne researcher Brad Morris, and Keith Basterfield.)
30 September 2015 Evening Melbourne, Victoria Minutes IFO - blimp
Numerous reported observations from a variety of suburbs.
"Melbourne UFO Sightings" Facebook page.
24 August 2015 1900hrs Kingsville, Melbourne, Victoria 30secs Raw
Two people, one named Sue, travelling by vehicle, "spotted a ball of fire with a fiery trail...to our right." It was travelling horizontally. "I saw the fiery trail got 'swallowed back' into the ball. The bright ball hovered in the sky a little, then it disappeared about half a minute later."
http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-sightings-Melbourne
This is the twelfth and final (in this format) listing, in a series which originated following the talk by myself, at the September 2014 VUFOA conference in Melbourne. For the last twelve months, Melbourne colleague Paul Dean and I have spent countless hours trawling through a variety of sources to bring you a listing of Australian sighting reports. In addition, we thank all the Australian groups and individuals who have directly sent us material.
Last month we advised of the reasons why we are about to change the format and length of these monthly listings.
Update
23 August 2015 1530hrs Point Cook, Melbourne, Victoria (5-6) minutes
Details
1. Email:
The sighting was initially reported by email directly to Keith Basterfield, shortly after it happened. The email read:
"I was driving along Sneydes Road, Point Cook towards my local IGA supermarket when I noticed a strange object moving south to north just below the cloud line. It was a shiny, silver 'ring' or doughnut for lack of a better word, and it was flying about the same speed as a commercial airliner. It made no sound and had no vapour trail.
I quickly pulled over and stopped in a quiet side street, got my phone out of the car and began filming it. As I was filming I realised I could see the object by naked eye but it wasn't shown up in my view finder.
The 'ring' was flying vertically at a consistent speed and at first I thought it might be a balloon but quickly realised the wind was blowing in the opposite direction this object was flying in.
The object also began to rotate on an angle so that at times it appeared as a ring and then as a straight vertical line then rotate back to a 'ring.'
 |
| Google map of the area |
2. Telephone interview:
Paul Dean telephoned the witness within two days and spoke to her to gather additional information. The witness was most co-operative at all times with our investigation, being very puzzled as to what she had observed.
Additional information secured by interview was:
- The first person she told about the sighting was her husband and she told him "I think I just saw a UFO."
- The object was below clouds, not in them.
- Total duration of the sighting was 5-6 minutes.
- She has excellent eyesight.
- After the object had disappeared from view, she stayed around for a while in case it returned.
- She turned off Sneydes into Florey.
 |
| Google satellite image of the area |
3. Email questions:
Over the course of the next few days both authors communicated with the witness by email and asked a series of questions, to which the witness promptly responded. These questions and answers are listed below.
Q1 Which direction were you travelling in?
A1 Travelling east.
Q2 Did you initially see the object through the vehicle windscreen or another window?
A2 Initially seen through the driver's side window.
Q3 Initially was the object sighted down near the bottom of the window, near the top or at some other point?
A3 Closer to the top of the window, just above middle of window.
Q4 Did the object's apparent size change?
A4 Never changed size.
Q5 Did its brightness change?
A5 Never changed brightness. But stood out very clearly against the clouds.
Q6 How did you lose sight of it?
A6 It disappeared behind a thick bank of clouds.
Q7 What was its angular size, say compared to the full Moon when seen on the horizon?
A7 It was tiny compared to the full Moon.
The witness also advised that a more accurate track for the object was from south-east to north-west.
Investigation
1. WebTrak
The Air Services Australia WebTrak secondary radar website was consulted for that day and time. The program was run between 1500 and 1600 hours on Sunday 23 August 2015, and the area around Point Cook was examined. The following screen shot is for 1530 hours.
Between 1500 and 1600 hours, only three aircraft passed near Point Cook:
1. At 1533 hrs a light aircraft tracked north-east to south-west to the north of Point Cook at 9000 feet.
2. At 1547 hrs QJE 1505 flew Melbourne to Hobart tracking north-west to south-east almost directly over Point Cook at 12000 feet.
3. At 1548 hrs another light aircraft flew north-east to south-west, almost directly over Point Cook at 3100 feet.
2. Weather
We secured weather details from the Bureau of Meteorology. The closest weather station listed is at RAAF Laverton, 5.9km from Point Cook. Station number 087031.
For 23 August 2015, the minimum temperature was 4.9 deg C; maximum 15.8 deg C; maximum wind gust was from the south-south-east at 30 km/hr at 1618hrs that day.
At 9am the temperature was 10.9 deg C; 91% relative humidity, cloud cover was total; and the surface wind was from the north-west at 9km/hr ; pressure was 1020.ohPa.
By 3pm that day, the temperature was 14.9 deg c; 64% relative humidity; cloud cover was 1/8th; wind was from the south-south-east at 17 km/hr; pressure 1019.0hPa.
As we checked within three days of the event, we were also able to obtain weather details at half hour intervals for Laverton that day.
Laverton details for the time of the sighting, 1530hrs were:
13.5 deg C;70% relative humidity; winds from the south-east at 19km/hr; pressure 1019.1hPa.
Upper air soundings:
We located a website which provides twice daily upper air soundings, measured at Melbourne airport. Here we find details which include the wind speed and wind direction for various heights above the ground. These are taken at 0000hrs UTC (1000hrs Melbourne time) and 1200hrs UTC (2200hrs Melbourne time.)
The following screenshot shows this data for 1000hrs 23 August 2015. Surface wind is from the north at 5 knots. Compare this to Laverton at 9am where wind is coming from the north-west at 5 knots, very similar data.
The next screenshot shows the data for 2200hrs that night, 6.5hrs after the Point Cook sighting. The surface wind is from 170 deg, almost south at 9 knots. Compare this with Laverton at 1530hrs wind from the south-east at 19kms/hr, similar data.
Primary radar
Paul Dean has submitted a request to Air Services Australia for primary radar data for the area on that day. It will take up to 30 days to process.
In summary
An observation was made at 1530hrs Sunday 23 August 2015 from Sneydes Road, Point Cook, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Initially it was seen at about 30 degrees elevation to the south-east. The object travelled south-east to north-west. The object, according to the witness was at all times below clouds and seen against the clouds. The object never changed size, colour or brightness. After a total duration of 5-6 minutes it was lost to sight behind a thick band of clouds to the north-west. Angular size was tiny compared to the full Moon. In appearance it looked at times to be a shiny silver 'ring' or doughnut shape. At other times it appeared to be a straight vertical line. The witness stated that it was travelling against the prevailing surface winds.
Analysis
The initial impression gained from all this data, is that the object was probably wind borne debris of some kind. The weather data, contrary to the witness' assertion, indicates that the object was moving with the surface wind direction. The small angular size, no change in size, colour or brightness, but changing geometry from 'ring' to vertical straight line, also, in our opinion supports this hypothesis.
Comments by Keith Basterfield
1. Recently, I was at a local shopping centre, when my attention was drawn to an object in the sky. It seemed to be reflecting the sun in a cloudless sky. I watched it for a while and had time to photograph it twice before I lost sight of it. When examining the photographs on my computer, I could make out an apparently round, small angular sized, white/silver light. However, there was no way from the photograph that I could have determined what I already knew it was. I had initially seen it at a closer range, and saw that it was a transparent plastic bag of some kind. Below are my two photographs I took.
2. An excellent video, shot by Brad Morris of Melbourne appears on the Facebook page for "Melbourne UFO sightings." It captures an object at 1240hrs on 30 August 2015. It shows a silver/white semi transparent object heading north at high altitude. Brad's thoughts as to what it was were "I think it is safe to assume its a balloon."
3. My impression, from watching a number of videos of this kind, is that there is far more wind borne debris around in the sky than you would think. I have in the past, also seen cardboard boxes and plastic dry cleaning bags drifting through the air for several minutes. You can only be certain of what they are, by either having seen them at one point from a relatively close distance; or by the use of binoculars.
In conclusion
We welcome comments from blog readers on our analysis, and hypothesis that this sighting was of wind borne debris. Naturally, if there is radar confirmation of the object by Air Services primary radar, this may well change our preliminary conclusion.
September reports
3 September 2015 0230hrs Pontville, Tasmania. Facebook with follow up. 60 mins IFO - ground light.
Witness noticed a light coming through the glass in the front door. Going outside it was all dark except above the tree line by the nearby church west to south-west of the house. There seemed to be an orange light beyond the trees that was visible through a misty sky. The light never moved but had disappeared after about an hour. Investigation suggests this was a ground light reflecting in the mist.
TUFOIC.
4 September 2015 125hrs Brisbane, Queensland 3m 56secs Raw
Barry Taylor filmed an object in the sky.
6 September 2015 1815hrs Cambridge, Tasmania. Facebook. IFO - aircraft
Witness reports that while travelling east near Hobart airport he noticed an object moving quickly through the air at low altitude. It appeared to be a disc with flashing blue lights. The object then flew off as the witness continued on his journey. It was then visible as a small light in the distance. Follow up with Hobart Airport revealed two aircraft took off at the time indicated by the witness.
TUFOIC.
6 September 2015 1930hrs Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast, Queensland ?mins Raw
Tarina Callihan said the appearance of lights above her home was out of this world...'Its colour changed from green to yellow and finally to red and my housemate and I saw what looked like a plane going down and watched for news of a plane crash but nothing came,' she said." The light appeared a s bright as Venus "...and flashed again before disappearing...I believe in UFOs."
"No reports of unusual activity within local airspace were made to Gold Coast airport, Air Services Australia or the Civil Aviation Safety Authority."
7 September 2015 1940hrs Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania. Letter & telephone
The witness noticed some bright flashes of light at high elevation to the north-west. A torch was flashed at this area and a golden light flashed back. The light then moved into some mist. Three seconds later an oval yellow mist shot out of the cloud heading south, it was gone in an instant. The witness has seen similar lights on previous occasions and will continue to observe the night sky.
TUFOIC.
7 September 2015 1928hrs Beckenham, Western Australia 2m37s Raw
"2 objects travelling in tandem in the N+E, the first object was very bright and it caught my attention as I was looking about. As I was filming I noticed another small orb moving with the bright object which appeared to stay at the same magnitude and brightness."
http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/2015/09/ufo-sighting-filmed-over-western-australia-7-sep-2015.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOJKjSS5tpw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOJKjSS5tpw
9 September 2015 Time? Sunshine Coast, Queensland ?mins Raw
Joshua Ross, using his mobile phone, filmed an object in the sky. He said it was moving "...from side to side" and "...up and down." It was described as a yellow/white glow "floating" above houses. On Channel 7 TV news he said "It was just going side tom side up and down, round and round, it would go up in one direction and then shot back the other direction. And then it just went under a tree and that was it."
https://au.new.yahoo.com/a/29472492/ufo-spotted-on-sunshine-coast
9 September 2015 1745hrs Toongabbie, Sydney, New South Wales 1min Raw
Rick Kronberger, while driving, saw "...a very bright light hovering about 100 metres above the ground over Winston Hills." It appeared oval in shape, had some angular size. Moved slowly eastwards, then separated into three parts which took off to the north, and disappeared within a second.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
10 September 2015 1944hrs Bundoora, Melbourne, Victoria 12.5mins Raw
Brad Morris took a video of a pulsing object which was 20 degrees elevation to the west.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWUJZjxKjeA
11September 2015 1530hrs Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 1.5mins Raw
Ben reported that he "...noticed a vertically long dark grey shape like a cylinder come up slowly and diagonally from behind the mountains south-south-west of Canberra." It stopped for 45-60 seconds, moved left and then took off at speed. It was gone from sight within 2-3 seconds.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
9 September 2015 1745hrs Toongabbie, Sydney, New South Wales 1min Raw
Rick Kronberger, while driving, saw "...a very bright light hovering about 100 metres above the ground over Winston Hills." It appeared oval in shape, had some angular size. Moved slowly eastwards, then separated into three parts which took off to the north, and disappeared within a second.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
10 September 2015 1944hrs Bundoora, Melbourne, Victoria 12.5mins Raw
Brad Morris took a video of a pulsing object which was 20 degrees elevation to the west.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWUJZjxKjeA
11September 2015 1530hrs Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 1.5mins Raw
Ben reported that he "...noticed a vertically long dark grey shape like a cylinder come up slowly and diagonally from behind the mountains south-south-west of Canberra." It stopped for 45-60 seconds, moved left and then took off at speed. It was gone from sight within 2-3 seconds.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
12 September 2015 1845hrs Bundoora, Melbourne, Victoria 5m43s Raw
Brad Morris filmed a pulsing object east of Bundoora. Filmed with two cameras. Panasonic HC-V520M and Nikon P900.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzZm7eY7QM
15 September 2015 2305hrs North Bellingen, Central Coast, New South Wales 2mins Raw
Keith Reynolds and family watched, at 45 degrees elevation, a "phenomenon." It grew bigger as if approaching, travelled east and disappeared at 15 degrees elevation. Overcast sky.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
15 September 2015 2000hrs Byron Bay, New South Wales (3-4)mins Raw
A storm was approaching from the west, when Jim Christou saw, to his north, "...a red light flashing and stationary...for 3-4 minutes." Then it flashed white and red. "Suddenly it moved towards the south almost above my head before making a semi circle turn towards north-east. " It stopped, flashed white and red then sped off over the ocean."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
17 September 2015 2100hrs Bentley Park, Cairns, Queensland 5mins IFO?
Four people saw "...an orange light, which then divided. The lights were just floating or hovering in the distance" in the west. "...2 more arrived. They moved very smoothly weaving in and around each other. Two then disappeared and then the final two did a bit more dancing and then also disappeared." (email from witness directly to Keith Basterfield.)
Keith posed the following questions to the witness who contacted him. The witness' responses are also shown below:
Q1. What direction were they moving in?
A1 "They were just kind of moving calmly around and hovering. Not closer or away."
Q2 What was their apparent size?
A2 "They were about a star size and about as bright as Venus."
Q3 Was there any associated noise?
A3 "No."
Q4 What was the total duration?
A4 "I watched them for about 5 minutes."
Q5 Was there any variation in brightness?
A5 "No they were consistent. They did twinkle, just a solid light."
Q6 How did they disappear?
A6 "Just disappeared. Vanished. There was nothing to hide behind."
Q7 What was the weather at the time?
A7 "Perfect clear night."
The witness then added:
"Some others on Facebook said they saw them and people replied saying they were lanterns. I don't know how they could be lanterns because they wouldn't emit that much light."
Keith checked the weather details for 2100hrs for Cairns international airport, some 9 kms to the north. These were:
Temperature was 20.4 deg C; 90% relative humidity; wind was from the West at 6km/hr. Pressure was 1016.5hPa. No rain since 9am.
Another witness from an adjacent suburb contacted Keith and advised an additional detail, being that the light was concentrated at the bottom of the lights.
Keith's view, based on the details provided above, was that there was nothing inconsistent with either hot air garbage bags or Chinese lanterns. For a detailed investigation report click here.
20 September 2015 1930hrs New Town, Tasmania Facebook. IFO - ISS
A bright, large light was observed moving from north-west across the sky towards the south-east. It disappeared after a few minutes in the distance.
TUFOIC.
21 September 2015 (Between about 2120 and 2150)hrs Armidale, New South Wales 20mins IFO? Balloons/lanterns?
Two groups of people reported sighting two amber/orange lights, travelling eastwards. For a full investigation report by Keith Basterfield, click here.
27 September 2015 (Between 1830-1900)hrs Southern Adelaide, South Australia 2mins IFO - balloon
Three people in two adjacent suburbs reported seeing an initial bright orange light, which then pulsed and went out, leaving a dark blob in the sky. Two photographs were taken of the dark phase.
("Adelaide UFO sightings" Facebook page, and investigation by Melbourne researcher Brad Morris, and Keith Basterfield.)
30 September 2015 Evening Melbourne, Victoria Minutes IFO - blimp
Numerous reported observations from a variety of suburbs.
"Melbourne UFO Sightings" Facebook page.
Older reports
24 August 2015 1900hrs Kingsville, Melbourne, Victoria 30secs Raw
Two people, one named Sue, travelling by vehicle, "spotted a ball of fire with a fiery trail...to our right." It was travelling horizontally. "I saw the fiery trail got 'swallowed back' into the ball. The bright ball hovered in the sky a little, then it disappeared about half a minute later."
http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-sightings-Melbourne
Australian groups contributing to this issue
Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre
Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Review of Australian sightings listings
Hi all,
During my speech at the September 2014 VUFOA conference, I suggested that there was a need to compile Australian national level sightings listings, in order that we might all learn just what was being reported in this country. Melbourne researcher, Paul Dean and I undertook this task, and next month will see the publication of the twelfth in the series of monthly listings. The question now, is whether, given the workload this monthly compilation entails, or not, to continue this compilation each month?
These monthly listings are published on this blog; on Paul's own blog; in the AUFORN magazine "The UFOlogist;" and are sent to an email distribution of UFO researchers within Australia. A while ago I undertook a survey of these email distribution list recipients of the listings, to see what value they saw in the lists. The responses were overwhelmingly positive, and most respondents said they would like to see both "raw" and fully investigated cases. The survey found that no-one, however, had the time to take over the compilation of the lists from us.
Paul and I have taken these comments into consideration, and decided however, that we do need to make some changes, given the time invested by the two of us. Our rationale was along the following lines.
Firstly, surprisingly the more interesting cases, have come in the main, not from UAP groups but directly to us, either from the witness, or from a direct referral.
Secondly, most of the reports in the lists continue to be "raw" ones, that is the originating group or individual has not conducted an investigation, for one of a number of valid reasons, e.g. lack of group resources. Paul and I do not have the time, or interest, to conduct a review of large numbers of sightings. As the late Professor J Allan Hynek once said, the only useful UAP report is one which has undergone a competent investigation and remains "unknown" at that point.
Thus we feel that the best use of our future time, would be to continue to scan YouTube; the 38 known Australian Facebook UAP communities; the Sydney Observatory website; and media outlets. Then, to use out own best judgement as to what seems to be a "good" case, and focus our attention on investigating and documenting these. In this way, future monthly listings will be numerically reduced, but should be of better quality sightings.
This will allow the two of us, more time to concentrate on Australian case investigations, something we see is needed; given that many Australian groups are time and resource poor to undertaken such intensive work.
We wish to advise that in future we will not be reporting on sightings which are listed in the publicly visible US based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) case management system.
No investigated Australian case reports have appeared in either the MUFON Journal or MUFON Newsletter in the last twelve months, despite the appointment of a new MUFON management group in Australia, and associated new field investigators.
In addition, no detailed investigation reports on Australian sightings have appeared on the "MUFON Australia" Facebook page during that same time frame.
Paul and I have lost confidence in this system and its lack of transparency, e.g. how many Australian cases have been followed up, researched, documented and dispatched to MUFON in the USA; the number of hoax cases submitted; and the non publication of its Australian investigations.
When we speak of detailed investigation reports, we mean similar to the following:
Chinderah, NSW 10 July 2015.
Oakey, Queensland 12 June 2015.
Townsville, Queensland 29 May 2015.
According to our blog counters, these reports have been viewed by over 4,000 people since they were published, thus providing both Australian and overseas blog readers with detailed information on current investigated reports in this country.
Our new process will commence from the October listings, with the September list (out 4 October) being the last one in the current format. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to submit sightings to us so far. Naturally, we would welcome the continued forwarding of cases you consider "interesting," for the future listings, particularly if you would like Paul and I to assist you in the investigation of a particular report.
Background
During my speech at the September 2014 VUFOA conference, I suggested that there was a need to compile Australian national level sightings listings, in order that we might all learn just what was being reported in this country. Melbourne researcher, Paul Dean and I undertook this task, and next month will see the publication of the twelfth in the series of monthly listings. The question now, is whether, given the workload this monthly compilation entails, or not, to continue this compilation each month?
Survey
These monthly listings are published on this blog; on Paul's own blog; in the AUFORN magazine "The UFOlogist;" and are sent to an email distribution of UFO researchers within Australia. A while ago I undertook a survey of these email distribution list recipients of the listings, to see what value they saw in the lists. The responses were overwhelmingly positive, and most respondents said they would like to see both "raw" and fully investigated cases. The survey found that no-one, however, had the time to take over the compilation of the lists from us.
The future
Paul and I have taken these comments into consideration, and decided however, that we do need to make some changes, given the time invested by the two of us. Our rationale was along the following lines.
Firstly, surprisingly the more interesting cases, have come in the main, not from UAP groups but directly to us, either from the witness, or from a direct referral.
Secondly, most of the reports in the lists continue to be "raw" ones, that is the originating group or individual has not conducted an investigation, for one of a number of valid reasons, e.g. lack of group resources. Paul and I do not have the time, or interest, to conduct a review of large numbers of sightings. As the late Professor J Allan Hynek once said, the only useful UAP report is one which has undergone a competent investigation and remains "unknown" at that point.
Thus we feel that the best use of our future time, would be to continue to scan YouTube; the 38 known Australian Facebook UAP communities; the Sydney Observatory website; and media outlets. Then, to use out own best judgement as to what seems to be a "good" case, and focus our attention on investigating and documenting these. In this way, future monthly listings will be numerically reduced, but should be of better quality sightings.
This will allow the two of us, more time to concentrate on Australian case investigations, something we see is needed; given that many Australian groups are time and resource poor to undertaken such intensive work.
MUFON
We wish to advise that in future we will not be reporting on sightings which are listed in the publicly visible US based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) case management system.
No investigated Australian case reports have appeared in either the MUFON Journal or MUFON Newsletter in the last twelve months, despite the appointment of a new MUFON management group in Australia, and associated new field investigators.
In addition, no detailed investigation reports on Australian sightings have appeared on the "MUFON Australia" Facebook page during that same time frame.
Paul and I have lost confidence in this system and its lack of transparency, e.g. how many Australian cases have been followed up, researched, documented and dispatched to MUFON in the USA; the number of hoax cases submitted; and the non publication of its Australian investigations.
When we speak of detailed investigation reports, we mean similar to the following:
Chinderah, NSW 10 July 2015.
Oakey, Queensland 12 June 2015.
Townsville, Queensland 29 May 2015.
According to our blog counters, these reports have been viewed by over 4,000 people since they were published, thus providing both Australian and overseas blog readers with detailed information on current investigated reports in this country.
In summary
Our new process will commence from the October listings, with the September list (out 4 October) being the last one in the current format. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to submit sightings to us so far. Naturally, we would welcome the continued forwarding of cases you consider "interesting," for the future listings, particularly if you would like Paul and I to assist you in the investigation of a particular report.
August 2015 - Australian reports roundup
August 2015 - monthly national level reports roundup
Compiled by Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean
This is the eleventh in a series of Australian national level sightings reports listings, most of which are raw reports, meaning they have not been investigated.
August 2015
4 August 2015 0818hrs Ardeer, Melbourne, Victoria IFO - lens flare?
The witness took a photograph but did not see anything unusual at the time. When they looked at the image later they saw what looked like an orb in the sky.
VUFOA.
5 August 2015 0250hrs Adelaide, South Australia ? mins IFO? - re-entry?
SA Police received numerous calls from Aldinga; Semaphore etc of possible sightings of "flares" from boats in distress. However, "...Police believed the lights were in fact space junk..." "A small Australian company last year struck a deal with US defence giant Lockheed Martin to track space junk in Earth's orbit from a tracking centre in Western Australia. The company, Electro Optic Systems said the problem of space junk was getting rapidly worse..."
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/1015-08-05/strange-lights-in-adelaide-skies-space-junk-police-say/6673150
11 August 2015 Ca 2330-2345hrs Sydney and Central Coast, New South Wales IFO - fireball
Numerous witnesses reported the same object, including Vicki who, facing south east from Mayfield, saw an object appear above the horizon. "It was sort of like an ice cream cone turned upside down, the cone was a red/orange triangle shape with this really bright white light at the base...just controlled drop about 50 to 60 degree angle." Soundless.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
19 August 2015 1845hrs Hobart, Tasmania
Saw two satellites, less than a degree apart, slightly east of north, around the constellation Serpens. The brighter was the same magnitude as Jupiter. The lesser "companion" (about +1 to +2 magnitude) just to it's LS (when facing north.) Objects bright and not twinkling like stars do. Seemed stationary when first seen. Unlikely to be that bright, or accompanied, if they were flaring GS. They faded fairly quickly about where Earth's shadow would be at that time. Not seen anything like that before. Heavens Above says ISS over Middle East at that time.
TUFOIC from
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
22 August 2015 Sydney, New South Wales
"Footage of a bright orb hovering over Sydney." 45 seconds long video.
http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/2015/08/hovering-orb-over-sydney-australia-22-aug-2015.html
22 August 2015 1550hrs Montague Bay, Tasmania (3-4)mins Telephone. IFO - aircraft
Witness notices something bright low to the south-east moving from left to right. Looks to stop briefly and is then obscured by cloud. Unable to discern any features. Commercial aircraft in area and is probably what was witnessed.
TUFOIC.
23 August 2015 1530hrs Point Cook, Melbourne, Victoria ? mins Under investigation
Driving to the super market, the witness noticed a "...strange object moving south to north just below the cloud line. It was a shiny silver 'ring' or doughnut for want of a better word, and it was flying at about the same speed as a commercial airliner. It made no sound and had no vapour trail. I quickly pulled over ..."
Personal email from witness to Keith Basterfield.
Ca. 28 August 2015 (2000-2030)hrs Quakers Hill, Sydney, New South Wales Raw
Witness reported seeing, twice this week, "...a red light similar to a helicopter...but moves fast very high in the air and turns rapidly in a 180 degree angle as fast as a shooting star. It just hovers for a few seconds in one place then moves very fast towards the right and does a "U-turn" back to where it began, then flys away in 2 seconds it was no longer visible."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
Older reports
29 July 2015 2030hrs Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins
Witness looked up and saw a halo around the moon. "I saw two white lights that moved as fast as you would see a shooting star." The lights left "...a trail of light which took around 10 seconds to fade away."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
20 July 2015 2130hrs Camden, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins
While stationary in a car, two witnesses saw "A larger bluish light shot through the sky with great speed...It was probably about 40 metres above the ground." Soundless.
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
15 July 2015 0220hrs Central Coast, New South Wales ? mins
Witnesses reported what they thought "...could be a plane or a planet blinking." It moved "...erratically and swooping in a backwards 'J' direction...It got higher and higher until it was impossible to see."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
July 2015 N'Dhala Gorge, East MacDonnell ranges, Northern Territory
"In July this year (2015) over two weeks, a friend of mine and her fellow university students from Sydney were doing geological field excursions in and around the N'Dhala Gorge, East MacDonnell Ranges, in the Northern territory of Australia.
They were staying at a homestead called Ross River, which was situated about 65 km east of Alice Springs. In their first week over three nights, the 13, 14 and 15 July 2015 they came across a find that was totally out of the ordinary.
While returning back to their cabins after dinner, my friend and seven other students witnessed rays of coloured light (red, blue and yellow) rising up behind the ranges to their south-west. This display lasted for at least thirty minutes. She said over this period the lights would fade and become bright again, and their colours would mix producing more complex colours. Unfortunately these lights were over 2 km away , too far to get a suitable photo with their mobile phones.
She said at the time they were all totally bewildered by these lights. After the second and third night of witnessing these lights they decided that the next day they would actually go to the are where these lights were appearing from. When they got there they could not find any evidence at all that would cause the appearance of these lights!
The best was yet to come, on the night of the 21 July 2015 while again returning to their cabins after dinner, my friend and four other students witnessed a much closer sighting of a bright white orb (see image below). It was about 500 meters to the north at an angle of 45 degrees and was travelling slowly from west to east, no sound was heard. The orb was roughly the size of your thumbnail with your arm out stretched. She was very lucky to get a photo because the light only lasted about 5 seconds, this photo was taken at 8.06pm. If you look at the image you will notice what looks like flaring shooting out from the top and bottom of the object and also coming out of the object's left hand side. These are not camera flares, this is what it looked like to the naked eye, according to my friend. The clincher is, the top and bottom flares were actually "horizontal" before she took the photograph! So it actually rotated in a split second into this position just before it disappeared. Some of you might say it looks like a full Moon but if you check the records it was just over a half moon on the night of the 21 July 2015. She also said that it you look closely, the orb actually looks slightly oval shaped!"
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. (27 August 2015.)
8 July 2015 Australia IFO - hoax
A photograph circulated on Facebook showing a shot across water, with dark cloudy skies and a lighting strike. In the top right hand corner is a spectacular UFO image looking like a traditional "mother ship." The "Skeptical blog" discovered a "...near identical looking lighting feature..." indicating that the "object" was really a reflection on glass of a light fitting in a room to the rear of the photographer.
http://www.skeptical.gb.net/blog/the-ufo-picture-from-australia-that-facebook-are-trying-to-remove-or-a-lampshade-in-Jackson-hole-Wyoming
6 July 2015 0615hrs Koonunga, South Australia 4 secs
A man was seeing his wife of to work when "I was taken back by two, very bright, dazzling blue green coloured lights just travelling across the sky above our cottage... These two lights were about the size of a rock melon and looked to be circular. They looked to be approx. 30 to 40 feet above the house roof and were travelling at the same speed I estimate to be around 80kms an hour. They were travelling horizontally across the sky heading from north to south. They were arranged one above the other...clear, crisp morning."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
1 July 2015 0750hrs Appin, New South Wales 10 mins
Looking out of the window, a witness "...saw a very bright object with another object next to it." Stationary. "When I went back to the window after 10 minutes or so it was gone."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
4 June 2015 1510hrs Moree, New South Wales ? mins
"I was at the prestart for work the sound I heard was being emitted from a human like life form from its mouth orifice was very English like. The electrical interference came from the Electrical Supervisor who was emitting something which resembled laughing."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
25 May 2015 1950hrs Australian Capital Territory ? mins
"I was driving home and there was a really bright star." It was low and bright.
On 27 May saw "...two of very bright stars. One gave off a bright spark...and then dulled...it was phenomenal." UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.
2014/2015 (2300-000)hrs Kairi, Queensland ? mins Under investigation
"For the last year I have been watching a strange drone like object that is shaped like a stingray, every night between 11pm and 12 am fly over Tinaroo Dam and it heads towards Mareeba. It goes towards Mareeba then comes back later, then goes back a few times a night. It has strange lights on it and is supper quiet almost silent."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
1995 2000hrs The Entrance, New South Wales
"I was sitting with a friend on a headland at The Entrance, north of Sydney, Australia, looking east over the ocean. It was around 8pm and we were there at random - we went fro a drive to visit some relatives up that way.
All of a sudden, the sky in front of us seemed to 'shudder", as if something was entering the airspace. My friend reacted like I did -about to run. I said "did you see that!" In front of us was a gigantic craft - it would've been over one kilometre wide, the aspect was the same as if you looked at a jet from the front. It looked like a pyramid on its side, looking up at the point. We could just make out the right angles. The thing was silent and we felt really eerie, and we got the hell out of there.
Interestingly around that time there were multiple sightings of smaller craft reported but as far as I know we were the only witnesses to this thing."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. (7 July 2015.)
Early 1970's about 1971 or 1972 Night Olary, South Australia, near broken Hill, New South Wales
"I am a former Seaman in the Navy and have worked with radar and are accustomed to helicopters and similar craft. Back then the last thing I expected to see was a UFO while driving near Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. I was driving a VW Kombi van and there was a bed in the back on which a hitchhiker lay sleeping when the event occurred. I had picked up two hitchhikers near Kalgoorlie for company and had dropped one at Port Pirie.
While driving at night I saw a red light in the sky, looking like a star. Then suddenly the red-orange light was right over the Kombi about 15 metres above . The light enveloped the Kombi and there was no sound coming from the object. The Kombi engine had stopped by itself when the light approached. I sensed danger and was concerned for the hitchhiker so I grabbed my two rifles and dragged the hitchhiker out of the van into the Spinifex grass outside the van. The hitchhiker could not be woken, and this alarmed me. I could not identify the light/object, only being able to view a dull red light above us.
In fear I shot at the red light with one of the firearms and then everything went blank. What was strange is that to two of us made breakfast the next morning and drove on as if nothing had happened and never spoke about it again. Later I dropped the hitchhiker off in Sydney and that was the last time I saw him.
I often wondered if something else happened that night because I'm mystified at how everything went blank. I have no idea how we got back to the Kombi or why we did not speak about the event the next day."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. (26 August 2015.)
Australian groups contributing to this issue
Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre
Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.
Website: http://www.ufor.asn.au
VUFOA
Hotline: 0456 447 112
Website: http://www.vufoa.com
Facebook page:
Note
There were a number of quite detailed reports, said to have originated in Australia, made to the publicly available MUFON case management system during this month, which appear to have been generated by one individual, and which show indications they may not be genuine. As it is not possible to find out from MUFON in Australia, any details of their investigations into such reports, we have decided not to summarise these MUFON reports in this listing.
Friday, July 17, 2015
July 2015 - Australian monthly reports roundup
Hi all,
This is the tenth in an initial twelve monthly series of Australian national level sightings listings. Regular readers will be aware that most of these reports are in raw format; meaning that they have not been investigated.
Last month we circulated a questionnaire asking readers to consider what value the listings were to them. Thank you to those who responded. The consensus was that the lists are of value to people, and that people would like to read both raw and investigated reports. However, the preparation of the listings has been taking up quite a bit of our time, with part of the work being a constant review of Australian Facebook pages reporting sightings, and videos submitted to YouTube,. Both of these sources provide a frustrating experience when trying to extract even the most basic of data points. Thus this listing should not be seen as a comprehensive source of Australian sightings.
After production of the twelfth in the series, we will then be in a position to decide on the future of the listings.
10 July 2015 (1850-1900) hrs Chinderah, New South Wales 3-5mins Investigated
A 24 year old woman, her little brother and three of his friends, and her mother, were travelling south from Tweed Heads on the highway. They spotted "...two very large orb lights in the sky to our right...At first I thought it was Venus and Jupiter then realised they were too big and moving...They were moving diagonally down then started moving horizontally looking like they were flying right towards us. They then moved across the highway and behind Chinderah petrol station.
"Myself and my brother's friend were the only ones who could view them while they hovered and moved slowly behind the trees on our left hand side of the highway. There were several cars who seemed to view it also and they all pulled into the petrol station at once and stopped on the turn off at the highway...
"The orbs then headed south again travelling the way they were and then they were right in view on the left hand side of the car about 100-200 metres above us (mine and my brother's friend's side.)
"They started to cross back over to the right side of the highway and hovered directly above out car whilst we were going about 70km. The first orb manifested itself into a craft that I have randomly found a hand drawn picture that was posted 5 days ago that describes what Dane and I saw exactly. The other people in the car did not see the full craft because it was hovered over the car more on our side.
"It moved very slow, and the second orb light was about 100 metres behind the craft. The craft then manifested into the orb again and both of them continued in the direction they were currently flying.
"We drove to Pottsville (20kms) and dropped off one of the kids off and decided to go back to the petrol station on the coast road to ask if anyone saw what we saw. On the way, I'm Cabarita Beach. I noticed there were many planes in the sky at once and they weren't moving like planes. They were in a triangle shape with blue white and red lights at each point and there were 7 at the sky at once,
I focused on one in particular that then disappeared in front of my eyes.
"I have pictures of a sighting in Byron last year that is the same as the first sighting with the orbs, but ours were much closer. I then have the hand drawn picture that describes the craft to a T and the drawing underneath describes the second sighting perfectly as well with the triangles. "
Read the full investigation report at:
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/investigation-report-chinderah-new.html
2 July 2015 1911hrs Townsville, Queensland 1 hour Raw
Walking home, a witness saw "...very bright lights hovering in the sky." After an hour "...it had moved a bit to the left."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
3 July 2015 1915hrs Sydney, New South Wales ? mins Raw
Peter Gianfrancesco reported that while looking north-east over Little Bay, Sydney, he "...saw a large object brightly illuminated in the sky. It was heading in a downward trajectory, most likely travelling north-north-west." Sky was clear. Bright white light seen at first which became a "...rough cigar shape, almost like a dirty potato." There was a smoke trail behind it.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
3 July 2015 2213hrs Near Nirimba, New South Wales 16mins Raw
Looking out a window witness saw a "...large bright red light in the distance." No sound. "...it began to descend slowly toward the state forest...in the direction of Huskisson. It appeared to lose brightness and size as it sank out of sight." A second or the same light was seen "...at around the same altitude and sat stationary...the second appearance of the red light disappeared (as though turned off) - no descent."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
4 July 2015 1850hrs Snug, Tasmania 4 mins Facebook Telephone IFO? Balloon?
A bright fireball like light appeared from the south-west. It gradually moved to a position overhead. The witness said it now seemed to be made up of four lights. Almost at once they all faded out and nothing more could be seen. Most likely a hoax balloon device.
TUFOIC.
4 July 2015 2100hrs Scarborough, Redcliffe, Queensland 2-3mins Raw
"At first I thought it was 2 planes heading towards the Brisbane airport as they were low in the sky over the top of buildings. And then about 2-3 minutes later I look up in the sky and see 4 of the exactly same orange dots and they were slowly moving across the night sky exiting the earths atmosphere until they were no longer visible by the naked eye."
Shannon Bain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVDIxf8dLU0
5 July 2015 0400hrs East Gippsland, Victoria ? mins Raw
"Very strange thing happened to me. I was driving along the highway at about 4.00 am in East Gippsland, Victoria. There were no other cars on the road or any nearby houses/buildings. All of a sudden a massive bright white light was in front of me. I thought it was a helicopter with its spotlight on but a helicopter driver wouldn't"t be as stupid to shine a light directly in front of a driver's car even near a large highway. It kept coming towards me so I started to hit the brakes. For a split second I was thinking it was a small plane crash landing on me. It hovered for a minute or two about 10-20 metres from the ground, with the light still beaming. Then it seemed to take off on a diagonal up into the sky and disappeared. I've never seen such a thing."
Although we submitted a request, via the website, to the witness to contact us, we have heard nothing from them.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
5 July 2015 1910hrs Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria 2m53s
A 2m 53s video by Brad Morris. "This could be our long awaited red pulsar. Filmed over Watsonia, also witnessed from the eastern suburbs at the same time."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wkHDvpOYK8
6 July 2015 2100hrs Bracken Ridge, Brisbane, Queensland? mins Investigated
A woman was driving with her friend and 2 children in the car when the oldest child (age 10) saw something in the sky and brought it to her mother's attention. It was a large globe of light that came lower to the ground and then followed it for 6 to 7kms. It moved over the road then over adjacent bushland in a "slippery-slide" movement, before settling on the ground in the bushland.
The woman got out of her car and walked to the fence line of the bushland trying to see the light on the ground through the trees. She described the light emanating from the object as covering an area smaller than a car.
She then 'got the feeling' there would be more objects further down the street so she walked to where she thought they would be and she saw two more on the ground in the bushland.
She described the lights as yellow at the bottom and blue at the top. As it was very dark the witness didn't walk into the bush but returned the next day with her friend, however she didn't find anything. Two of our team visited the area in daylight with the witness soon after the report but failed to find any ground traces or hoax devices at the scene.
UFO Research (Queensland.)
7 July 2015 ?hrs Coffs Harbour, New South Wales ? mins Raw
While looking east, Jean reported seeing"...a triangular shape with the point at the top. It had a light at each point of a gray triangle shape, all the 3 pulsating lights were different colours, not all white...It came from the north...and went towards the south and veered off to the east...It was not a plane, nor a helicopter..."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
Outside looking for the ISS to go over. Facing east "...suddenly a triangle shaped 'craft' appeared over the top of my house...came from behind trees...Three pulsating lights...in a triangle shape, yellowy green and then white. Very bright and flashed sequentially...It hovered for about 5 seconds, then shot off south for a little way (about 2 secs) then banked east towards the airport...and disappeared...It moved vertically, not horizontally...There was no sound at all...was not a plane nor a helicopter nor a drone (unless deathly silent) but did not look like a drone...My son (on the balcony of the house and unable to see it)...I was at the top of my driveway on a hill...The colour looked as though it was black with grey edges. It was a definite triangle."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
Ca. 8 July 2015 Evening Mole Creek, Tasmania Facebook IFO? Reflection/flare?
A motorist took pictures of bright full Moon to the west. Later noticed two small lights in the picture. One at the top and a second duller light in the centre. Most likely reflection or lens flare.
TUFOIC.
10 July 2015 2158hrs Joondanna, Western Australia 1min IFO - aircraft
Alan observed "...what I took to be a satellite -small starlike object moving due west...it passed near the southern cross...However, as I watched, the aircraft running lights suddenly came on and the aircraft then turned sough-west. I thought that to be unusual...While I am not reporting a UFO per se, I did not know who else to ask. I simply believed it to be an unusual aircraft practice."
ACERN.
15 July 2015 1010hrs Coolaroo, NNE Melbourne, Victoria 2mins 27secs Video
"Amazing object filmed above Coolaroo, tried to capture it on the Nikon but failed to find it again, possible identification at" https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wGdN_p1udUs&feature=youtube_gdata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_f3fqyb2Ow Filmed by Brad Morris.
16 July 2015 0515hrs Perth, Western Australia ?mins Personal observation
Witness, Amanda, was travelling south on Roe Highway from the airport. She noticed a light in the sky over Armadale direction. "...it looked like four white lights spread across the wind span of a plane, but it went bright, then dim, bright then dim....I watched it head south-east to north-west and it got closer and closer to the highway...when it got closer it started flashing green, red and believe it or not a purple? lights that lit up the underneath of the craft ...It w triangular with a red light emitting from one corner...no sound..."
Perth UFO Casebook Facebook page.
18 July 2015 2100hrs Lewisham, Tasmania 1 mins Facebook Telephone IFO - balloons
Four flare like lights noticed rising one after the other in the northern sky. They moved across towards the east and after minute each light seems to go out or fade into the distance. Hoax balloons.
TUFOIC.
18 July 2015 2250hrs North of Bundoora, NE Melbourne, Victoria several mins Video
"Stunning night time. morphing triangle. Object appeared to be high altitude at a distance north. Filmed x2 cameras, both manual focus." 7mins 20secs video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWSTye2Fr2A
19 July 2015 1413hrs Bundoora, NE Melbourne, Victoria 1min 50secsVideo
Video of a daylight high altitude sphere, flashing. Camera on tripod. Headed south-east.. Taken by Brad Morris. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Vw8A7CVfg
21 July 2015 0634hrs Albany, Australia ? mins Raw
"Woke up and had a coffee around 6:20 proceeded to go outside onto my veranda, looked up at the horizon as the sunrise was beautiful then noticed a huge red orb sitting on the horizon a fair way away from the sun, it then sped off in a right direction stopped almost instantly, changed from red to blue in a split second then shot up into the clouds at supersonic speed."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
21 July 2015 1045hrs Near Hobart, Tasmania several mins Telephone interview Under investigation
An employee noticed a strange light on a security monitor screen. Going outside the witness could not locate anything in the sky to explain the light. Returning to the monitor the light was seen to move erratically over several minutes. Eventually it looked to stop, go grey, then move off at speed. As the monitor has no recording facility the witness took some pictures of the screen with a mobile phone. Investigation yet to be finalised.
TUFOC.
24 July 2015 2130hrs Melbourne, Victoria ?mins Raw
"The craft was silent and flying south/west to south/east. What is it - plane, drone or UFO?" Video- 16 mins 32 secs, posted at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBCa0WNLLZo
25 July 2015 Late afternoon Ocean Beach, New South Wales 2mins Raw
Gloria noticed "...an object flying from SSW to NNE. About a minute later, a small plane flew very fast circled from north to south so it intercepted the flying plane or object, narrowly missed it, up ahead to the south over the water. In the time it took to blink my eyes in surprise, the object had disappeared without a trace."
Tuggerah Lakes UFO Group Facebook page.
28 July 2015 (1900-1930)hrs Berwick, Melbourne, Victoria 5mins Raw
A woman reported that her family saw an "...orange ball of light in the night sky." Stationary for 5 minutes then "...zoomed off within a second and disappeared into the atmosphere...It was in th direction of Tooradin...it kept going really bright orange colour to a dull orange then really bright every second."
VUFOA.
28 June 2015 1530hrs Umina Beach, Queensland ? mins
Two ladies, Adrianne and Gloria saw, "...a round white object flying around Lion Island, that looked like a white ball from where we were at Umina beach. It was darting off in all directions like a UFO and took off over Palm beach area in the end. It was down really low." Adrianne added "It went up and down high so u cd see it then lower and it was not on a straight trajectory. Finally it flew off at a sloping kind of angle towards past Palm beach then lost sight." Gloria added "It was far too big to be a drone of any kind...I first saw it circling Lion Island and pointed it out to Adrianne who was with me when it began flying more erratically; not like a plane...it was flying fairly low over the island, maybe 50 metres up."
Tuggerah Lake UFO Group Facebook page.
18 July 2014 0310hrs Narrabeen, Sydney, New South Wales 1.5 mins Raw
A man was woken by loud crackling noises. He opened his eyes and saw the lounge room lit up with white light seeming to come from outside. He got out of bed and opened the drapes to see about 12 objects in his yard that were close to the ground, circular and looked like wagon wheels with radiating spokes. They ranged from approx. 4 to 2 feet in diameter (120-60cm), were flashing like strobe lights, and the "spokes of the wheel" were radiating a blue/grey light. he watched the objects for a good 90 seconds as they lit up his entire front yard, then split up into three groups. They moved between his property and the next two properties in the street before silently moving down to street level then they regrouped and "poof" they were gone. The "wheels" looked 2 dimensional as they easily passed through a Jacaranda tree on the witness' property. The witness felt they were living beings.
UFO Research (Queensland.)
1995 2000hrs The Entrance, New South Wales ?mins Under investigation
"I was sitting with a friend on a headland at The Entrance, north of Sydney, Australia looking east over the ocean. It was around 8pm and we were there at random - we went for a drive to visit some relatives up that way. All of a sudden the sky in front of us seemed to "shudder," as if something was entering the airspace. My friend reacted like I did - about to run. I said "Did you see that!" In front of us was a gigantic craft- it would have been over 1km wide, & the aspect was the same as if you looked at a jet from the front. It looked like a pyramid on its side, looking up at the point. We could just make out the right angles. The thing was silent, and we felt rather eerie, & got the hell out of there. Interestingly, around that time there were multiple sightings of smaller craft reported but as far as I now we were the only witnesses to this thing."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.
ACERN Website: http://www.acern.com.au
Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre
Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn
Tuggerah Lake UFO group:
Facebook page.
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.
Website: http://www.ufor.asn.au
UFO Research (Queensland)
Hotline: 07 3376 1780
Website: http://uforq.asn.au
Facebook page.
VUFOA
Hotline: 0456 447 112
Website: http://www.vufoa.com
Facebook page:
Note: The US based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) collects reports from Australia but does not provide public details of their investigation reports of these sightings.
This is the tenth in an initial twelve monthly series of Australian national level sightings listings. Regular readers will be aware that most of these reports are in raw format; meaning that they have not been investigated.
Survey
Last month we circulated a questionnaire asking readers to consider what value the listings were to them. Thank you to those who responded. The consensus was that the lists are of value to people, and that people would like to read both raw and investigated reports. However, the preparation of the listings has been taking up quite a bit of our time, with part of the work being a constant review of Australian Facebook pages reporting sightings, and videos submitted to YouTube,. Both of these sources provide a frustrating experience when trying to extract even the most basic of data points. Thus this listing should not be seen as a comprehensive source of Australian sightings.
After production of the twelfth in the series, we will then be in a position to decide on the future of the listings.
Sighting of the month
10 July 2015 (1850-1900) hrs Chinderah, New South Wales 3-5mins Investigated
A 24 year old woman, her little brother and three of his friends, and her mother, were travelling south from Tweed Heads on the highway. They spotted "...two very large orb lights in the sky to our right...At first I thought it was Venus and Jupiter then realised they were too big and moving...They were moving diagonally down then started moving horizontally looking like they were flying right towards us. They then moved across the highway and behind Chinderah petrol station.
"Myself and my brother's friend were the only ones who could view them while they hovered and moved slowly behind the trees on our left hand side of the highway. There were several cars who seemed to view it also and they all pulled into the petrol station at once and stopped on the turn off at the highway...
"The orbs then headed south again travelling the way they were and then they were right in view on the left hand side of the car about 100-200 metres above us (mine and my brother's friend's side.)
"They started to cross back over to the right side of the highway and hovered directly above out car whilst we were going about 70km. The first orb manifested itself into a craft that I have randomly found a hand drawn picture that was posted 5 days ago that describes what Dane and I saw exactly. The other people in the car did not see the full craft because it was hovered over the car more on our side.
"It moved very slow, and the second orb light was about 100 metres behind the craft. The craft then manifested into the orb again and both of them continued in the direction they were currently flying.
"We drove to Pottsville (20kms) and dropped off one of the kids off and decided to go back to the petrol station on the coast road to ask if anyone saw what we saw. On the way, I'm Cabarita Beach. I noticed there were many planes in the sky at once and they weren't moving like planes. They were in a triangle shape with blue white and red lights at each point and there were 7 at the sky at once,
I focused on one in particular that then disappeared in front of my eyes.
"I have pictures of a sighting in Byron last year that is the same as the first sighting with the orbs, but ours were much closer. I then have the hand drawn picture that describes the craft to a T and the drawing underneath describes the second sighting perfectly as well with the triangles. "
Read the full investigation report at:
http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/investigation-report-chinderah-new.html
Update
12 June 2015 0630hrs Oakey, Queensland 1 min Raw FieldEquip employee Greg Young took a sunrise photograph on his iPhone, after looking at the sky and seeing a triangular object flying through clouds. He showed the photo to fellow employee Darren Mauger. Mauger went outside but saw nothing unusual. The newspaper article shows the photo.
http://m.thechronicle.com.au/news/ufo-spotted-flying-over-toowoomba-region/2670301
http://m.thechronicle.com.au/news/ufo-spotted-flying-over-toowoomba-region/2670301
Keith Basterfield contacted UFO Research (Queensland) to determine if they had researched this case, they had not. He then asked, given that the location was in Queensland if it was alright for him to follow it up? UFOR(Qld) responded that this was ok with them. An investigation was conducted and the full investigation report may be read at:
July sightings
2 July 2015 1911hrs Townsville, Queensland 1 hour Raw
Walking home, a witness saw "...very bright lights hovering in the sky." After an hour "...it had moved a bit to the left."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
3 July 2015 1915hrs Sydney, New South Wales ? mins Raw
Peter Gianfrancesco reported that while looking north-east over Little Bay, Sydney, he "...saw a large object brightly illuminated in the sky. It was heading in a downward trajectory, most likely travelling north-north-west." Sky was clear. Bright white light seen at first which became a "...rough cigar shape, almost like a dirty potato." There was a smoke trail behind it.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
3 July 2015 2213hrs Near Nirimba, New South Wales 16mins Raw
Looking out a window witness saw a "...large bright red light in the distance." No sound. "...it began to descend slowly toward the state forest...in the direction of Huskisson. It appeared to lose brightness and size as it sank out of sight." A second or the same light was seen "...at around the same altitude and sat stationary...the second appearance of the red light disappeared (as though turned off) - no descent."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
4 July 2015 1850hrs Snug, Tasmania 4 mins Facebook Telephone IFO? Balloon?
A bright fireball like light appeared from the south-west. It gradually moved to a position overhead. The witness said it now seemed to be made up of four lights. Almost at once they all faded out and nothing more could be seen. Most likely a hoax balloon device.
TUFOIC.
4 July 2015 2100hrs Scarborough, Redcliffe, Queensland 2-3mins Raw
"At first I thought it was 2 planes heading towards the Brisbane airport as they were low in the sky over the top of buildings. And then about 2-3 minutes later I look up in the sky and see 4 of the exactly same orange dots and they were slowly moving across the night sky exiting the earths atmosphere until they were no longer visible by the naked eye."
Shannon Bain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVDIxf8dLU0
5 July 2015 0400hrs East Gippsland, Victoria ? mins Raw
"Very strange thing happened to me. I was driving along the highway at about 4.00 am in East Gippsland, Victoria. There were no other cars on the road or any nearby houses/buildings. All of a sudden a massive bright white light was in front of me. I thought it was a helicopter with its spotlight on but a helicopter driver wouldn't"t be as stupid to shine a light directly in front of a driver's car even near a large highway. It kept coming towards me so I started to hit the brakes. For a split second I was thinking it was a small plane crash landing on me. It hovered for a minute or two about 10-20 metres from the ground, with the light still beaming. Then it seemed to take off on a diagonal up into the sky and disappeared. I've never seen such a thing."
Although we submitted a request, via the website, to the witness to contact us, we have heard nothing from them.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
5 July 2015 1910hrs Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria 2m53s
A 2m 53s video by Brad Morris. "This could be our long awaited red pulsar. Filmed over Watsonia, also witnessed from the eastern suburbs at the same time."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wkHDvpOYK8
6 July 2015 2100hrs Bracken Ridge, Brisbane, Queensland? mins Investigated
A woman was driving with her friend and 2 children in the car when the oldest child (age 10) saw something in the sky and brought it to her mother's attention. It was a large globe of light that came lower to the ground and then followed it for 6 to 7kms. It moved over the road then over adjacent bushland in a "slippery-slide" movement, before settling on the ground in the bushland.
The woman got out of her car and walked to the fence line of the bushland trying to see the light on the ground through the trees. She described the light emanating from the object as covering an area smaller than a car.
She then 'got the feeling' there would be more objects further down the street so she walked to where she thought they would be and she saw two more on the ground in the bushland.
She described the lights as yellow at the bottom and blue at the top. As it was very dark the witness didn't walk into the bush but returned the next day with her friend, however she didn't find anything. Two of our team visited the area in daylight with the witness soon after the report but failed to find any ground traces or hoax devices at the scene.
UFO Research (Queensland.)
7 July 2015 ?hrs Coffs Harbour, New South Wales ? mins Raw
While looking east, Jean reported seeing"...a triangular shape with the point at the top. It had a light at each point of a gray triangle shape, all the 3 pulsating lights were different colours, not all white...It came from the north...and went towards the south and veered off to the east...It was not a plane, nor a helicopter..."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
Outside looking for the ISS to go over. Facing east "...suddenly a triangle shaped 'craft' appeared over the top of my house...came from behind trees...Three pulsating lights...in a triangle shape, yellowy green and then white. Very bright and flashed sequentially...It hovered for about 5 seconds, then shot off south for a little way (about 2 secs) then banked east towards the airport...and disappeared...It moved vertically, not horizontally...There was no sound at all...was not a plane nor a helicopter nor a drone (unless deathly silent) but did not look like a drone...My son (on the balcony of the house and unable to see it)...I was at the top of my driveway on a hill...The colour looked as though it was black with grey edges. It was a definite triangle."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
Ca. 8 July 2015 Evening Mole Creek, Tasmania Facebook IFO? Reflection/flare?
A motorist took pictures of bright full Moon to the west. Later noticed two small lights in the picture. One at the top and a second duller light in the centre. Most likely reflection or lens flare.
TUFOIC.
10 July 2015 2158hrs Joondanna, Western Australia 1min IFO - aircraft
Alan observed "...what I took to be a satellite -small starlike object moving due west...it passed near the southern cross...However, as I watched, the aircraft running lights suddenly came on and the aircraft then turned sough-west. I thought that to be unusual...While I am not reporting a UFO per se, I did not know who else to ask. I simply believed it to be an unusual aircraft practice."
ACERN.
15 July 2015 1010hrs Coolaroo, NNE Melbourne, Victoria 2mins 27secs Video
"Amazing object filmed above Coolaroo, tried to capture it on the Nikon but failed to find it again, possible identification at" https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wGdN_p1udUs&feature=youtube_gdata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_f3fqyb2Ow Filmed by Brad Morris.
16 July 2015 0515hrs Perth, Western Australia ?mins Personal observation
Witness, Amanda, was travelling south on Roe Highway from the airport. She noticed a light in the sky over Armadale direction. "...it looked like four white lights spread across the wind span of a plane, but it went bright, then dim, bright then dim....I watched it head south-east to north-west and it got closer and closer to the highway...when it got closer it started flashing green, red and believe it or not a purple? lights that lit up the underneath of the craft ...It w triangular with a red light emitting from one corner...no sound..."
Perth UFO Casebook Facebook page.
18 July 2015 2100hrs Lewisham, Tasmania 1 mins Facebook Telephone IFO - balloons
Four flare like lights noticed rising one after the other in the northern sky. They moved across towards the east and after minute each light seems to go out or fade into the distance. Hoax balloons.
TUFOIC.
18 July 2015 2250hrs North of Bundoora, NE Melbourne, Victoria several mins Video
"Stunning night time. morphing triangle. Object appeared to be high altitude at a distance north. Filmed x2 cameras, both manual focus." 7mins 20secs video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWSTye2Fr2A
19 July 2015 1413hrs Bundoora, NE Melbourne, Victoria 1min 50secsVideo
Video of a daylight high altitude sphere, flashing. Camera on tripod. Headed south-east.. Taken by Brad Morris. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Vw8A7CVfg
21 July 2015 0634hrs Albany, Australia ? mins Raw
"Woke up and had a coffee around 6:20 proceeded to go outside onto my veranda, looked up at the horizon as the sunrise was beautiful then noticed a huge red orb sitting on the horizon a fair way away from the sun, it then sped off in a right direction stopped almost instantly, changed from red to blue in a split second then shot up into the clouds at supersonic speed."
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
21 July 2015 1045hrs Near Hobart, Tasmania several mins Telephone interview Under investigation
An employee noticed a strange light on a security monitor screen. Going outside the witness could not locate anything in the sky to explain the light. Returning to the monitor the light was seen to move erratically over several minutes. Eventually it looked to stop, go grey, then move off at speed. As the monitor has no recording facility the witness took some pictures of the screen with a mobile phone. Investigation yet to be finalised.
TUFOC.
24 July 2015 2130hrs Melbourne, Victoria ?mins Raw
"The craft was silent and flying south/west to south/east. What is it - plane, drone or UFO?" Video- 16 mins 32 secs, posted at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBCa0WNLLZo
25 July 2015 Late afternoon Ocean Beach, New South Wales 2mins Raw
Gloria noticed "...an object flying from SSW to NNE. About a minute later, a small plane flew very fast circled from north to south so it intercepted the flying plane or object, narrowly missed it, up ahead to the south over the water. In the time it took to blink my eyes in surprise, the object had disappeared without a trace."
Tuggerah Lakes UFO Group Facebook page.
28 July 2015 (1900-1930)hrs Berwick, Melbourne, Victoria 5mins Raw
A woman reported that her family saw an "...orange ball of light in the night sky." Stationary for 5 minutes then "...zoomed off within a second and disappeared into the atmosphere...It was in th direction of Tooradin...it kept going really bright orange colour to a dull orange then really bright every second."
VUFOA.
Older reports
28 June 2015 1530hrs Umina Beach, Queensland ? mins
Two ladies, Adrianne and Gloria saw, "...a round white object flying around Lion Island, that looked like a white ball from where we were at Umina beach. It was darting off in all directions like a UFO and took off over Palm beach area in the end. It was down really low." Adrianne added "It went up and down high so u cd see it then lower and it was not on a straight trajectory. Finally it flew off at a sloping kind of angle towards past Palm beach then lost sight." Gloria added "It was far too big to be a drone of any kind...I first saw it circling Lion Island and pointed it out to Adrianne who was with me when it began flying more erratically; not like a plane...it was flying fairly low over the island, maybe 50 metres up."
Tuggerah Lake UFO Group Facebook page.
18 July 2014 0310hrs Narrabeen, Sydney, New South Wales 1.5 mins Raw
A man was woken by loud crackling noises. He opened his eyes and saw the lounge room lit up with white light seeming to come from outside. He got out of bed and opened the drapes to see about 12 objects in his yard that were close to the ground, circular and looked like wagon wheels with radiating spokes. They ranged from approx. 4 to 2 feet in diameter (120-60cm), were flashing like strobe lights, and the "spokes of the wheel" were radiating a blue/grey light. he watched the objects for a good 90 seconds as they lit up his entire front yard, then split up into three groups. They moved between his property and the next two properties in the street before silently moving down to street level then they regrouped and "poof" they were gone. The "wheels" looked 2 dimensional as they easily passed through a Jacaranda tree on the witness' property. The witness felt they were living beings.
UFO Research (Queensland.)
1995 2000hrs The Entrance, New South Wales ?mins Under investigation
"I was sitting with a friend on a headland at The Entrance, north of Sydney, Australia looking east over the ocean. It was around 8pm and we were there at random - we went for a drive to visit some relatives up that way. All of a sudden the sky in front of us seemed to "shudder," as if something was entering the airspace. My friend reacted like I did - about to run. I said "Did you see that!" In front of us was a gigantic craft- it would have been over 1km wide, & the aspect was the same as if you looked at a jet from the front. It looked like a pyramid on its side, looking up at the point. We could just make out the right angles. The thing was silent, and we felt rather eerie, & got the hell out of there. Interestingly, around that time there were multiple sightings of smaller craft reported but as far as I now we were the only witnesses to this thing."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.
Australian groups contributing to this issue
ACERN Website: http://www.acern.com.au
Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre
Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn
Tuggerah Lake UFO group:
Facebook page.
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.
Website: http://www.ufor.asn.au
UFO Research (Queensland)
Hotline: 07 3376 1780
Website: http://uforq.asn.au
Facebook page.
VUFOA
Hotline: 0456 447 112
Website: http://www.vufoa.com
Facebook page:
Note: The US based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) collects reports from Australia but does not provide public details of their investigation reports of these sightings.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
May 2015 - Australian monthly reports roundup
May 2015 - Australian monthly national sightings listing.
Compiled by Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean.
This is the eighth edition of the Australian national level sightings reports listing, which is on a twelve month trial. Readers are advised that most of these sightings have not been investigated.
Updates
11 May 2015 1400hrs Blue Haven, Central Coast, New South Wales 2mins IFO?
A man was out checking his mailbox when he saw a black/grey object, which had no shape. A mass or round shape. Dark colour. Was hovering. Then, there was a flash of light, like sunlight on a window, and it was gone. The weather was clear, no clouds. A letter to the editor of the local paper failed to locate any additional witnesses; the local radio station's blog contained no UAP reports for that day; and the local UAP group received no reports about the Blue Haven object. Our Sydney based research associate found that it was not an AusGrid electricity power line checking helicopter patrol, and that commercial aircraft routes do not go over this area. In summary, it was not possible to conclusively identify the source of the observation.
Dave Reneke.
25-27 April 2015 Various times Central Victoria and New South Wales ? mins IF0 - Balloon
Last month we carried a number of sightings, all reported on 25 April 2015, from Central Victoria. These all turned out to have been due to a high altitude (33kms) balloon, launched by NASA. The Sydney Observatory blog site, "Lights in the sky" has further observations of the same balloon. We list them here for readers to be aware of.
25 April. 1600hrs Glenrowan, Victoria 1 hour
Ian observed a star-like object, dropping some 15 degrees elevation, over an hour. Through binoculars, it appeared as an oval shape, and estimated 1/20th the size of the full Moon. In clear sky it appeared twice as bright as Venus.
25 April. 1830hrs Ruffy, Victoria ? mins
An object, estimated as 1/5th the size of the full Moon was seen at 60 degrees elevation. Through binoculars it was seen to appear a round shape. Jan Medovarsky was the witness.
26 April 0730hrs Griffith, NSW 4.5hrs
Dom reported a "bright round light" to his north, at 30-40 degree elevation. It was bigger than a star and appeared stationary. By 10am it had moved to the east, and by 12 noon, further east again.
26 April 1730hrs 40kms E of Parkes, NSW 60mins
Bernie observed a bright, white light at 60 degrees elevation, west. It was round in shape and appeared stationary.
27 April 1730hrs 50kms W of Moree, NSW (4-5)hrs
A star-like object was seen by Richard, at 20 degrees elevation west. It seemed to stay in roughly the same area over the whole time.
Due to a leak, the balloon came down in remote country on the border of Queensland and New South Wales, on 28 April 2015.
May 2015
1 May 2015 1230hrs Whyalla, South Australia ? mins IFO - seagull?
Witness took a panoramic photograph of the beach area, "and when I checked the image on my computer I noticed the anomaly." A look at the photograph shows a blurred black and white image, suggestive of a seagull. Seagulls are visible in other parts of the photograph.
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
4 May 2015 ? Goulburn, New South Wales ? mins IF0 - spiders' web
Ian W. reported the whole area covered. He did notice spiders on his house and the garden. Ants and birds were going nuts. He noticed lots of clumps of cotton like stuff floating 100 metres up in the sky. He looked at the Sun and some of it was in long thick strands.
UFOR (NSW).
5 May 2015 1812hrs Glenwood, Queensland 1min Raw
Witness Peter saw a bright light comparable in size to the planet Venus. It moved steadily eastwards. No flashing strobe lights, no navigation lights. Moved out of sight behind tree line. No sound. Clear sky.
VUFOA.
6 May 2015 0554hrs Adelaide, South Australia 6 secs Raw
Witness arrived home from night shift. They were by the car when they looked up to see "...two orange glowing star-like spheres flying over from east to south very quickly...side by side." The spheres vanished into the night sky. Moon was full and bright.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
8 May 2015 1830hrs Sydney, New South Wales (5-6) mins IFO - International Space Station
Heath saw an extremely bright object crossing the sky heading south-south-east. Faded at 25 degrees in the south.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
9 May 2015 Morning Acacia Hills, Northern Territory ? mins Raw
Alan Freguson reported capturing an unusual image, after "he set his camera on a fast-speed loop.'
www.dailymain.co.uk
9 May 2015 1820hrs Warwick Farm, New South Wales 30 mins Raw
Sarah saw, at 50 degrees west, a very bright light, moving north. Over 30 minutes it slowly faded towards north.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
9 May 2015 (1840-1920)hrs Narrangba, Queensland (1-2) mins Raw
Looking west, Sheree Carter, at a 70 degrees elevation, saw a "small blip". It travelled south to north, then a couple of minutes later, moved north to south. Ten minutes later it travelled south to north.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
9 May 2015 (2200-2300)hrs Roaring Beach, Tasmania Facebook
Witness stayed in a small loft house in Tasmanian mountains looking over a valley, bottom of Tasmania near roaring beach. Saw a bright light 10-11pm. The light got faster and brighter, then it entered something like a hole in the sky and vanished. Unable to obtain any further details from the witness.
TUFOIC.
10 May 2015 0515hrs Ipswich, Queensland 15mins Raw
In a clear sky, a red light was seen by Lesley. It was "...moving around fast sideways up and down." It then flew to the left, and changed from steady to flashing. Eventually dimmed to nothing. A small white light then travelled to the same spot and disappeared.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
10 May 2015 0600hrs South Hobart, Tasmania 1-2 secs IFO - meteor?
Stephen Cameron sais: "I was in South Hobart about 6am on May 10th looking south (maybe SSW). It was may be at 45 degrees elevation. The object was visible for maybe one, two seconds. The sky was mainly clear and I could see the Moon, although that was in another direction. It was so bright. I have never seen something so bright like this at night. It was white in colour and appeared to have a short tail, but it happened so fast I was just amazed by the brightness, the white light."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
TUFOIC adds "Probably a meteor."
10 May 2015 1805hrs Rouse Hill, Sydney, New South Wales 6 secs Raw
Pat reported a cylindrical object with two orange to red looking lights at each side. It appeared very high, and "heading up in an upward motion." Heading south-west.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
10 May 2015 1845hrs Miller, New South Wales 1-2 mins Raw
Sean Nicholas saw a "...very large, very bright light looking North West from our front porch." It appeared and grew in brightness, to become the brightest thing in the sky. Slowly faded and vanished, then cycled again. Stationary all the time.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
11 May 2015 0435hrs Quakers Hill, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins Raw
A "slow moving blinking object" was seen in the sky by Rebecca. It was small in size, and moving slowly from north to south. It also had a red blinking light. A second object appeared nearby and peeled off to the west/south-west.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
12 May 2015 1855hrs City Beach, Perth, Western Australia 2 mins Raw
Gaz reported a light in the sky which appeared to change course "...quite erratically several times," at 85 degrees elevation in the east. It moved south to north on a clear night.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
14 May 2015 1930hrs Palm Beach, Queensland 2 hours Raw
The witness reported an oscillating bright light in the sky at 15 degrees elevation, at an azimuth of 30 degrees west of north. It was brighter than surrounding stars. Clear sky.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
16 May 2015 1915hrs Orange, New South Wales / mins Raw
Witness reported an object flying over Orange. Witness said it seemed roughly hall a kilometre up. It went from north to south then veered east. Flew very quickly. Green in colour. Seen by three people. Event filmed but the object moved too quickly.
Sydney UFO Sightings Facebook page.
18 May 2015 ? hrs Melbourne, Victoria ? mins Raw
Ricky "...saw a strange object that looked like a silver spirally long thingy." The Sun was reflecting off it.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
20 May 2015 1810hrs Hornsby, New South Wales 5 mins Raw
Looking 45 degrees elevation west, from a car, the witness saw a light moving west. It "...changed shape from triangle/kite to round like full Moon."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
22 May 2015 Night Huonville, Tasmania 10 mins Facebook
"My friend and I witnesses a strange light in the night sky over Huonville on Friday 22nd May. The ball of light began as a very small dot. It got increasingly larger and larger and brighter very quickly and then completely vanished. This happened 2 or 3 times over a 10 minute period, getting less and less bright and smaller each time. There was no cloud and the light seemed to appear from nothing. "
No further details from the witness.
TUFOIC.
23 May 2015 1708hrs Woden, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2 mins Raw
Video. "is was first moving slowly south over the Woden (district) area in Canberra A.C.T. It then changed direction and moved west. Then stopped and was stationary for a couple of minutes above my suburb. The object also seemed to be changing shape. Witness discontinued the observation and upon returning the object had gone.
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
23 May 2015 2015hrs Lakemba, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins IFO - blimp?
Marguerita reported that through a window, she watched :...a large white lit up object slowly moving in a horizontal direction through the sky." Round to oval in shape, it was "...totally lit up with white light." Small, flash in g lights were visible underneath the object. The Observatory suggested it may have been an airship/blimp run by "Appliances Online."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
23 May 2015 Evening Petersham 30mins Raw
Glenn Kelly described a "...very large half Moon shaped," yellowish in colour object, visible at 45 degrees elevation in the north-east. It was travelling slowly sought. The sky was clear. A crescent Moon was visible in the north-west.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
29 May 2015 1825hrs Townsville, Queensland 20 mins Under investigation
A woman and her daughter watched 3 oval to round lights circling in the distance, amongst clouds. There was no sound. Five still images taken.
Personal email communication to Keith Basterfield.
31 May 2015 (1630-1700)hrs Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales 20 mins Raw
Jason and his wife saw what "looked like a flock of birds flying but changing direction very quickly and changed its size." They were looking in the direction of Campbelltown. It disappeared then reappeared.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
31 May 2015 1700hrs Chatswood, New South Wales 45 mins Raw
David Payne was looking towards 50 degrees elevation, east on a clear sky night. He noticed a small object, flashing lights white and red, out to sea to the east. 45 minutes of hovering. Going up and down. "...hover again head left at great speed not plane/helicopter no noise..."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
Older cases
29 April 2015 1430hrs Kew, Melbourne, Victoria 60 mins Raw
Geoff Sherrington reported seeing a magnitude -1.0 object through light, high cloud, at 70 degrees west-south-west. There was no apparent movement.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
28 April 2015 1115hrs Wollumbi, New South Wales 10 mins Raw
Cassandra Seaton saw , in clear blue sky, two object travelling across the sky from west to north-west, at 45-50 degrees elevation. The lower object was larger than the other. Both had tails.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
27April 2015 2045hrs Harvest lakes, Western Australia 5 secs IFO - Meteor?
Kat reported a green light, the "size of a street light" that appeared at 45 degrees elevation, and it travelled downwards in a straight line."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
25 April 2015 0540 hrs Adelaide River, Northern Territory 15 mins Raw
Reported 2 May 2015.
Attending the Anzac Day dawn service. Witness' Alan's daughter drew his attention to a moving star in the sky. In space of 10 minutes saw four lights. Dark sky with no Moon.
VUFOA.
25 April 2015 1800hrs Mansfield, Victoria 25 mins Raw
Witness Carol's daughter while they were travelling in a car, saw a light in the sky. "It appeared to be coming closer and getting bigger." It then became smaller and changed colour to a dull orange/red...The object had an aura or haze surrounding it."
VUFOA.
25 April 2015 1845hrs Warners Bay, New South Wales 15 mins Raw
Garry Scow observed, looking north-west, low in the sky, a very bright star-like object, "but when filming and zooming in there were multiple objects, different colours, blue, red, orange..."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
22April 2015 Dusk Lara, Victoria 5 mins Raw
Reported 23 April 2015.
Witness, David, reported seeing five objects "...came down from the clouds moved slowly along in the same direction, below cloud level...They were all round, thick black in colour with an hole looking like donuts." Partly cloudy.
VUFOA.
Ca. 5 April 2015 2230hrs Young, New South Wales 3mins Raw
Sue Pears reported "three bright yellow lights moving north - they moved fast...no noise."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/
30 March 2015 2005hrs Wyndham Vale, Victoria 1 min Raw
Reported 5 May 2015.
Looking out of his bedroom window, to the north witness Jake reported seeing two red lights that were not flashing. "They were flying directly parallel until one slightly veered towards the ground and then both faded into the night. Clear sky. No sound.
VUFOA.
6 February 2015 1958hrs Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Western Australia 1min Raw
Reported 19 April 2015.
Larry, advised that "I was outside recording objects flying in the night sky with my night vision camera. I saw a bright light in my peripheral vision... " Witness posted a video on YouTube.
VUFOA.
February 2012 0100hrs Balgowan, South Australia 3 hours Raw
Out fishing with a friend, saw a bright light over the ocean. "Hovered in place for around 3 hours." During this time a smaller light "seemed to come out of the larger one. It orbited the first light several times then re-joined or re-entered the larger light then after around 3 hours it sped off at an incredible speed..
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page
17 October 1978 0617hrs Bunyip, Victoria 10 mins Raw
Reported 17 May 2015
Witness Rod, was woken by his father to look out the kitchen window. To the north he saw a soundless, black coloured, stationary , hovering object, above Mt Erica, north of Moe. After about 10 minutes the object ascended straight up and disappeared very quickly. His father was a police officer, rang RAAF East Sale and was advised they had something on radar but it vanished.
VUFOA.
Australian contributing groups for this issue are
Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre
Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn
UFO Research New South Wales Website: http://www.ufor.asn.au
Victorian UFO Action
Website: http://vufoa.com
Hotline: 0456 447 112
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