Project Newsprint - Victoria - more sightings

Hi all,

Project Newsprint is underway in the state of Victoria, Australia. Articles about the Project, and my search for both past and current sightings, continue to appear in regional newspapers. The two latest newspapers to carry articles have been the "Wangaratta Chronicle" and the "Mansfield Courier."

I have received two more accounts from readers of the various articles which have now appeared.

Mildura, Victoria. December 2015.

A man telephoned me to advise me that around the first week of December 2015, he and his wife had been in the backyard of their house in Mildura at about 2145hrs. They noticed an unusual object in the sky, on a clear night. It was perfectly round in shape, plate shaped, was noiseless, and gave off a golden yellow light. It was visible for about 30 seconds and then titled to one side and shot off into the sky. When asked his estimate of its angular size he said the size of a fifty cent coin at arms length.
As it sped away, he said that the centre area of light dimmed.

Wangaratta, Victoria. 1997.

Chris telephoned me to tell me about an old observation from around 2000hrs, one clear night in 1997. He was riding his bike near Wangaratta, when he viewed a large, white coloured light on the outskirts of the town. The main light went out and several smaller lights appeared, then sped away. The whole incident lasted perhaps 20-30 seconds. There was no associated noise, and when asked the estimated size of the light he felt it was about moon sized. He recalls that a video, of the light,  appeared on local television at the time. This may have been a meteor.

Two unusual objects pass over Mildura, Victoria - December 2013

Introduction

In early to mid December 2013, at around 2030-2045hrs, two men were having a barbeque in a West Mildura, Victoria, Australia,  backyard. One man was turning sausages and chops, when the other, who was seated, noticed his friend looking to the sky to the south. The friend pointed and asked "What do you reckon that is, a private jet or something?"

Courtesy Google maps

They then both looked at the sight in the sky. At an angular elevation of about 20- 30 degrees to the south, travelling directly towards them is what was described "...as what looked like a large, fairy light that changed to different colours at a rate of about every second. Red, green, yellow, blue, orange etc in no particular pattern."

At first it had an elliptical shape, and an angular size estimated as "...perhaps 10-20% of a full moon" at that point.

The object approaches

It grew bigger in angular size, as if approaching them, and passed directly overhead. At this point, its shape was "...round with sort of blurred edges like you'd observe on car headlights in fog." At this overhead position, its angular size was estimated to be 50% of the full moon. Even at this point of closest approach, "...there was no solid observable shape like wings or a fuselage though as you'd expect in that sort of bright sunlight." There was no associated noise at any point in the observation.

"As it got directly above as it did this odd sine wave sort of wobble as it passed."

"It continued almost directly due north and disappeared into a bank of cloud in the distance," at an angular elevation of about 20 degrees, north.

A second object is seen

However, this was not the end of the observation. The two men looked at each other, and then noticed "...a second one was moving towards us from exactly the same location" i.e. 20 degrees angular elevation to their south. This second object "...behaving exactly the same way and heading in the same direction." They both watched the second object disappear, and this time were both quite excited, and saying things like "...I can't believe it! and so on."

Other information

1. "It was clearly under cumulus clouds."

2. The entire event, of both lights passing over was perhaps 1-2 minutes in duration. The duration of the observation of the first light was "..less than a minute, perhaps 20-30 seconds from recollection."

3. "Perhaps a third of the sky" was obscured by cloud. It was cloudier to the north. Both objects were eventually obscured by a patch of cumulus, and not seen again.

4. The wind direction was not noted at the time.

5. There had been no thunderstorm activity in that area in the preceding hours.

6. Explanations considered by the observers included a military drone with flashing lights on it, "...but nothing I've researched has really fit the description. It doesn't make much sense to light up a military drone like a Christmas tree." Other possibilities considered was "Some sort of floating LED device attached to a Lantern or helium balloon."

Analysis

1. Mildura, Victoria, Australia is at latitude 34.2 degrees south; longitude 142.1 degrees east.

2. Sunset at Mildura on 10 December 2013 was at 2036 hrs. It set at azimuth 240 degrees, i.e.30 degrees south of west.

3. The calculated angular speed of the objects was about between 4-7 degrees per second.

4. The angular size of each object at closest approach was about 0.25 degrees across. You would expect to be able to see structure on such an angular size if there were structure to see.

5. Weather details are not available on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website back before August 2014.

5. Cumulus clouds have an average height of generally less than 1000 metres.

7. What could explain these objects?

a. A meteorological balloon from Mildura airport?

The airport is to the south-west of the sighting location. The angular size, description, blurred edges,  and angular speed described by the observers, and the fact that there were two objects, in my opinion, rule out balloons. In fact, I believe we can rule out any types of balloons.

Courtesy Google maps

b. Aircraft?

The lights had angular size but no observable structure. In my opinion, they were not aircraft.

c. Drones?

The angular speed of 4-7 degrees per second, would suggest a drone would have needed to be relatively close to go at this rate. Again, given the extended angular size, the observers should have been able to make out the structure of a drone. I do not believe they were drones.

d. An exotic atmospheric phenomenon?

Could the objects have been something exotic like ball lighting? A search of the ball lighting scientific literature reveals the following:

1. It can be reported in non thunderstorm, indeed in clear skies, conditions.
2. It is generally pear to round shaped.
3. Note the observers commented on the object's "blurred edges." Ball lighting has been seen to have "fuzzy edges."
4. They have been reported to be multi coloured.
5. Their diameters range from 1cm to 1 metre across.
6. The intensity of their light is such that they are clearly visible in daylight.
7. Their duration has been observed as between 1-60 seconds, remaining constantly bright during this time.

However, and this is a big however, the observation of two identical pieces of ball lighting, following the same path, would appear statistically unlikely.

Tentative conclusion

In attempting to find a mundane, conventional explanation for this observation, the closest fit I can arrive at is that the objects were something like ball lightning, or a similar atmospheric electrical phenomenon.

The observers and I, welcome comments from blog readers. Have you any ideas of what these objects were?

Unusual observation - Adelaide, South Australia - 9 January 2016

Hi all,

This post concerns the observation of an unusual object, made by Matt, an Adelaide man. His account is as follows.

At 3.10am on Saturday, 9 January 2016, he observed an orange coloured star on the eastern horizon, which was getting bigger. It moved from the eastern horizon to the western horizon, over a period of about five minutes.

It appeared as a large, orange ball. At one stage, its angular size was given as a 10 cent piece in the sky. At one point, it was close enough to see detail. The description given, is silver on the bottom, orange on top, with some black banding between the two. It was emitting its own light. It moved against the wind.

Matt took photographs and a video of the object. Here are two stills ( second is a zoom).

The question is, what was it?

Data

 

1. WebTrak:

 

I first consulted Air Service Australia's WebTrak secondary radar system website, to ascertain whether or not there were any aircraft in the sky at the time.

 

 

Above is an image of the secondary radar system from Adelaide airport for 3:09:24, As can be seen there was only one aircraft visible. An aircraft type PC12, flying between KGL and ADL was on approach to land at Adelaide airport. I ran the program between 0300 and 0330 and no other aircraft appears on the system.

 

2. Weather:

 

The weather details for Adelaide at 0300hrs were:

Temp =  18.4degC; 54% relative humidity; wind was calm; pressure 1019.1; no rain in last 24 hours.

 

 

 

The weather details for Adelaide airport at 0300hrs were:

Temp = 17 deg C; 57% relative humidity; wind from SSE at 9 km/hr; pressure 1019.0; no rain.

 

 

 

The weather details for Parafield at 0300hrs were:

Temp = 17.2degC; 54% relative humidity; wind from south at 7km/hr; pressure 1018.8; no rain.

 

 

 

3. Upper air winds:

 

Wind direction and wind strength at ground level, may of course be different from winds in the upper air. I checked the upper soundings for Adelaide airport for:
 

a. 1200hrs UTC on 8 January 2016 which equates to 2230hrs 8 January 2016 local Adelaide time, some 5 hours before the observation.

 

b. I checked for 0000hrs UTC on 9 January 2016 which equates to 1030hrs 9 January 2016, some 7.5 hrs after the observation.

As can be seen from these tables, the winds at the surface are different to those at various heights above the ground.

4. Astronomical sky:

I then went to an Internet based astronomical sky chart to ascertain what was in the sky at the time.

Courtesy Heavens Above website

As can be seen on the above chart, the orange coloured planet Mars was low down on the eastern horizon.

Where were other planets?

The brilliant white coloured planet Jupiter was in the north-eastern sky, higher in elevation than Mars.

Questions

 

The observer kindly answered a number of questions which I posed to him. These were:

 

Q1. Did the light from the object flicker, or was it steady all the time?

A1 "It was steady the entire time it was visible to me."

Q2. Have you ever seen hot air hoax garbage bag balloons? If so, how did this compare to what you saw on the 9 January?
A2. "Yes I have seen these and even launched one or two in my day. If it were to be one of these it was a very complex one, being spherical in shape with a silver  "undercarriage" attached to a possibly round orange garbag, points against this conclusion. The light was far brighter than emitted from what I have seen of these hoax's before. Steadily bright and visible for many kms, not being a geometry expert but 1km visible from horizon to horizon means many kms of travel. Travel across the prevailing wind direction. These hoax balloons travel on the wind  and with an elevation trajectory. I would launch a hoax balloon at a more reasonable time than 3.10am . Terrible timing if you wanting to start gossip."

Q3. What suburb were you in at the time?
A3 "Glenelg South."

Courtesy Google maps.

Q4. What drew your attention to the object in the first place?
A4. "Outside on a clear night I notice what I called a unique coloured star low in the sky, as it was of the same size as the surrounding stars but the lowest of them all. As I watched, it grew in size as it moved towards me, ultimately not directly overhead but no less than 1 or 2 km south of me. Then continued on the same trajectory heading west."

Q5. How did you loose sight of the object?
A5. "I had clear sight of it right to the horizon, no buildings etc in my line of sight, then it was out of sight."

Q6. Did you see from where you were, the aircraft landing at Adelaide airport? How did it compare to the object?
A6. "No the airport is to the north of me, this object passed  south of me, hence I was between it and the airport. Again I have clear sight of the airport to the north and very familiar with incoming and outgoing flights, routes, trajectories and colours."

Discussion

 

1. Could the planet Mars have been the original stimulus?

 

The orange coloured planet Mars was indeed in the eastern sky, at the time. However, it does not move across to the western horizon in five minutes, and does not have the described structure. It was not the planet Mars.

 

2. Could it have been the International Space Station?

 

A check of the "Heavens Above" Internet astronomical website shows that there were no predicted passes of the ISS for that morning.  The size, and described structure does not fit the observation.

 

3. Could it have been an orange coloured hoax, hot air balloon? For three of my investigation reports which are very suggestive as to these balloons causing sightings, please see:

 

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

 

http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/preliminary-investigation-report.html

 

There are some elements suggestive of such a balloon; orange coloured, steady trajectory; five minutes to go east to west horizon; wind direction which could have caused this at some altitudes; no noise. Against this is the reported silver on bottom, orange on top with some black banding between the two. In addition, the observer in answer to my question about hoax balloons, clearly sets out his reasoning for it not being one of these.

 

 

Conclusion

 

 On the available information and data, I cannot see a mundane explanation which fits all the details of the observation. I would appreciate hearing from any blog readers who might have any suggestions as to what this object was. Of course, if anyone knows of any other observations of this particular object, please contact me via email keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

 



TROVE -more digitised newspapers now available

Hi all,

US researcher Barry Greenwood recently advised that the National Library of Australia's TROVE digitised newspaper collection, had announced that 33 more newspapers have been added.

In order to examine them for articles of interest to us, Melbourne researcher Paul Dean and I, divided these up, and each selected a number of newspapers to examine.

Paul reports on what he finds on his blog here. Below are five articles of interest which I found (post 24 June 1947.)

What did I find?

Firstly, Australians in the period 1947-1954 were being kept informed about the topic of "flying saucers" being reported and discussed elsewhere in the world. Here are two examples:

"Flying saucers are real."

One Henry J Taylor, journalist and radio commentator in the August 1950 Reader's Digest states that flying saucers are made in the USA.

Source: "The Pennant" [Penola SA: 1946-1954] Thursday 10 August 1950 p3.

"Northam calling Denver."

Reports from Denver that the bodies of 84 men ranging in height from 38 to 48 inches have been recovered from wrecked flying saucers.

Source: "The Northam Advertiser" [WA:1895-1918; 1948-1954] Friday 1 December 1950 p8.

Secondly, local reports of sightings attributed to flying saucers, appeared in Australian newspapers. Two examples follow:

"Flying saucers.

A bright object was seen in the north eastern sky of Kalangadoo on Friday night."

Source: "The Pennant" [Penola SA: 1946-1954] Thursday 14 January 1954 p1.

"Flying saucer reported over Northam.

On Thursday afternoon last week, Mrs Antonio, of Southern Brook Exchange, called at the Northam Police Station to report that, at about 2.15pm that day whilst driving in to Northam accompanied by her daughter Helen, and her daughter-in-law, Mrs Pat Antonio, she had noted a "dim, oblong grey object" in the sky. It was at a great distance and appeared to be low on the horizon over Northam. The sky was clear with not a cloud in sight. The object remained visible for about a minute, and then was gone. The report was confirmed by Miss Antonio and Mrs Pat Antonio."

Source: "The Northam Advertiser" [WA: 1895-1918; 1948-1954] Friday 3 September 1954 p1.

Thirdly, and this is new to me, I came across a reference to a "Flying Saucer Journal."

"Flying Saucer Journal.

The first issue of a quarterly journal devoted to the scientific study of the phenomena commonly called "flying saucers" is due to be published shortly. The journal is being published by Flying Saucer Service Ltd and its purpose is to further the purely scientific study of these phenomena and a number of scientist have offered to contribute material."

Source: "The Northam Advertiser." [WA:1895-1918; 1948-1954] Friday 18 February 1955 p4.

In summary

Apart from item five, these articles are representative of the hundreds already known from Australian papers.

Project Newsprint - Victoria - update

Hi all,

Three Victorian Newspapers (the Mildura Sunraysia Daily; the Swan Hill Guardian and the Wangaratta Chronicle) have now carried detailed articles about Project Newsprint's search for past and current sightings in that state. Many others have carried my letter to the editor requesting sightings. Some 40 plus newspapers have also published my appeal on their newspaper Facebook pages.

Local sighting

Yesterday, I received my first sighting report from a Mildura man, who had read the article in the Sunraysia Daily. He started off by telling me that he had never mentioned this event to anyone outside the family until now.

A 64 year old Mildura man, and his wife were camping at Menindee Weir, near the town of Menindee, New South Wales (latitude 32.4 deg south; longitude 142.4 deg east) on a summer's weekend day in 2013.

At about 2.30am he went to the toilet and glancing in the northern sky, at a low angular elevation, just above the tree tops, he was startled to see an elliptical, cigar shaped object, moving slowly backwards and forwards in the very dark sky. It was moving towards Broken Hill. It had round windows in it, and light could be seen streaming out of these windows.

He described the object's movements as moving forwards a little, then backwards a little, then forwards again, but with a general movement towards Broken Hill, which was to their north-west.

He woke up his wife and asked her to look in the sky, without prompting her with what he had seen himself. She said she could see a cigar shaped object with windows. They watched it for a total of 30 minutes and then went back to bed. In the morning they mentioned it to their son, who was also with them. He told his parents that he had heard of similar local sightings.

He also told me that about a month later, a grazier, on a property north of Menindee Lakes had captured a similar object on their camera. He could not recall further details of this.

Project Newsprint - stage two commences

Hi all,

Project Newsprint is a year long project, designed to collect both past and current UFO sightings from rural and remote Australia, via local newspapers.

Stage one which took place between September and December 2015, focused on Western Australia, and was very successful. My report on stage one may be read here.

Stage two has now commenced, and will focus on the state of Victoria. I have dispatched over one hundred electronic "letters to the editor," and will shortly post on the Facebook pages of each of these Victorian newspapers.

It will be interesting to compare the Victorian and Western Australian responses.

Annual release of National Archives of Australia (NAA) files

Hi all,

Each year, at midnight on 31 December, the NAA releases hundreds of newly processed old files to its RecordsSearch database.

For several years now, part of my New Year ritual has been to look at RecordSearch for files dealing with UAP. Every year, I have found newly released material, and have then requested the NAA to examine it, change the status to "open," paid the relevant fee and had a digitised copy of each file made available, for anyone to read. I have then published summaries of the material, here on this blog.

So, early on the morning of 1 January 2016, I used a number of keywords to search RecordSearch for UAP files. The result was that there was nothing new! This is the first time this has happened, and my initial reaction was "Oh well, it had to happen one year. There has to be a finite limit of such files, created by Australian government departments and archived by the NAA. So, perhaps we have indeed seen all the UAP files held by the NAA."

Not so, there is a file series A9755, with some files, known to be held by the NAA which still do not appear on RecordSearch. Domic McNamara and I saw the whole series in 2004 at the RAAF base Edinburgh. The reason that they are still not on RecordSearch, would simply appear to be their date range, which is 1990-19994. They are still not old enough to be available via the Archives Act.

In 2015, last year, I submitted an FOI Act request to the Department of Defence (DOD)  to obtain a copy of these few remaining files. However, the DOD wanted to charge an extremely high price to copy the files. I declined to accept their quoted price. I thought to myself, I will simply wait for them to eventually emerge via the Archives Act.

Today, as I was typing this post, I decided on a whim, to recheck RecordSearch for the A9755 series. Amazingly, two days after they are usually released, three new UAP files from the A9755 series appeared.

These are:

1. A9755, control symbol 10- titled "RAAF Headquarters No 82 Bomber Wing, Amberley, Queensland. [UFO] [UAS]."  The date range is 1991-1992.

2. A9755, control symbol 13 - titled "RAAF No 2 Flying School, Pearce, Western Australia. [UFO] [UAS]."  The date range is 1990-1994.

3. A9755, control symbol 7 - titled "RAAF TFG Tactical Fighter Group, Williamtown. [UAS] [UFO]." The date range is 1990-1994.

I have submitted a request to the NAA, to examine these files, and declare them "open." I can then pay the relevant fee and have them digitised.

A happy new year after all!