Art imitates life

Hi all,

I came across an interesting article in issue 428, October 2015, of the magazine "Adelaide Review." Page 34 in the visual arts section, is a one page article written by John Neylon about the recent works of Melbourne artist Richard Lewer.




The article

The article opens with the words "Ever heard of...The Westall UFO?"

The opening paragraph

The reference to Westall

The reference to Westall reads:

"These works by Richard Lewer feast on the fears of people who still believe that the truth is out there somewhere. No matter that the Westall UFO was almost certainly a maverick HIBAL (High Altitude Balloon) - one of several launched from different sites around Australia in the 1960s. The fact is, townsfolk and school students saw 'something' well out of the ordinary. That was enough. Richard Lewis has captured the moment in a painting (Westall 2015) which shows the students lined up as if for a class photograph being stalked by a quite conventional flying saucer hovering above them. Things are a bit blurred and shaky. Like memory."

A great image of the Westall 66 painting may be seen here.

Intriguing report from Broome - Western Australia

Hi all,

I have been fortunate to have been contacted by an Engineer who had a very interesting sighting, while on holiday in Broome in June 2012, part of which was captured on video. I will first provide details in his own words, then present further information gained from both a telephone discussion, and via email. I thank him for his willingness to openly discuss this intriguing episode.

The sighting

 

"Wife, kids and I were in Broome on holidays in June 2012 and we went for a drive down to Cable Beach at about 4pm. we walked to grass area near café (we were looking for camel rides) and saw a French couple under the tree staring at the sky.

Broome - courtesy Google maps

 

"I said, 'What are you looking at?' and they said 'That up there, it's been there for about 20 minutes.'

 

"We all looked up and saw a white dot hovering. I speculated that it could be one of those drone cameras that take photographs of a town for tourism purposes.

 

"It moved slowly around the sky above us (went away a little, came back.) It was still in the sky when we drove home at 4.30pm We pulled into our driveway of the hotel and had just gotten out of the car when it appeared out of blue sky (from nowhere) above us to the south and I said to the wife "look" and she saw it.

Broome - courtesy of Google maps

 

 "It then spiralled slightly, came at us very low and started blinking/flashing like it was taking pictures. It had a faint light on one or both sides initially and a centre light sphere the size of a softball. Then the whole thing lit up like a large flash, we both went "Whoa." It then sped up into the sky and parked itself very high in the sky (perhaps 500 or 1000 metres high - hard to say, over the hotel. I videoed it at this point and in the video you can see it, at least one other white light zip past it closely at one stage (on multiple frames and all with the same linear track.) The second white light can be seen zipping past in 3 frames at around the 17 or 18 second mark."

 

Questions

 

I posed a number of questions to the Engineer, whose responses are shown below. Please take a moment to read through them.

 

Q1 Can you estimate the angular size of the object at its closest approach, by comparing it to the size of the full Moon on the horizon, eg was it half that size (full Moon subtends an angle of 0.5 degrees.)

 

A1 "Yes, I was standing at the back door of the car about to let the kids out and looked over the roof of the car and upwards at about an angle of 25-30 degrees to the horizon and the object appeared to be softball to bowling ball size and only 4-5 metres away in the air.



 

Thinking back to the initial sighting with the French couple.

 

Q2 You mentioned it moved slowly around the sky. Was it always on the move, or did it hover, move, hover?

 

A2 "It moved slowly from west to east (say 5-10km/hr, that type of speed,) hovered for a while, came back from east to west a little later at a similar speed. We were looking quite vertical at the time with the French couple (they were on their backs lying on grass under a tree.) It must of subtended an arc of say 85 degrees to the horizontal to say 60 degrees to the horizontal and then came back again later. It possibly went south a little as well and came back north in a narrow loop when coming back."

 

Q3 Was it always in the same general compass direction, eg East, or was it seen by you to your north or west etc?

 

A3 "See above."

 

Q4 Did its movements remind you of anything, eg bird like, kite like,  etc? If so, what?

 

A4 "I initially thought it was a 4 propeller drone (perhaps taking promotional video from the air for tourist advertisements) but it was very high (about the same height as in the video.) At a wedding in May this year they had a professional white 4 propeller drone there doing a video of it and it made a terrible din and didn't have anywhere near the ascent rate that this thing had, so I have since ruled that out."



Typical 4 propeller drone - courtesy http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quad-Copter-Drone-RC-HD-Camera-6-Axis-2GB-Radio-Controlled-Gyro-Toy-Helicopter-/151862332574

Q5 At any point did you see structure in it, eg struts, wheels, antenna? Anything else?

 

A5 "No. Just a softball to bowling bowl sized light with 2 much smaller lights (pin pricks of light, one each side but separated from the main light) coming off the sides. If you drew a softball sized circle on a page and then drew a vertical line through the centre, then draw from the centre of the circle a line each side off the vertical coming off at 45 degrees, along this line dot your pen or pencil on the page say 10mm from where those lines project say 10mm outside of the circle, then that's what it looked like."

 

Thinking now, about being back at the hotel.

 

Q6 How did you first notice it being there, ie what attracted your attention to it?

 

A6 "We had just parked the car. I got out to let the kids out and my wife went to the rear of the station wagon to get some stuff out. Suddenly I saw something to the south and 25-30 degrees in the sky, spiralling very quickly towards us out of nowhere (it was all very quick how it appeared.) It just sort of materialised out of nothing. My wife must saw it appear as well, because I looked over to her and she was staring at it and I said "What's that?" and before she could answer it blinked a few times, the little lights flashed a couple of times and then lit up like a great flash. We both went 'whoa' quite loudly, and it shot virtually straight up into the sky. We then got the kids out, walked up the stairs to our unit very quickly and I got the video camera app going on the phone straight away, when the wife and kids went inside."

 

Q7 Can you estimate how close it came to you at the closest point?

 

A7 "4-5m away."

 

Q8 At the closest point, could you see any structure in it, eg struts, propellers, wheels, antenna, camera lens?

 

A8 "No, just lights."

 

Q9 What was the frequency of the blinking/flashing?

 

A9 "The main light, say every one second. The smaller lights, faster than that, say twice as fast."

 

Q10 If the centre light sphere was softball size, what was the size of the light or lights to one  or both sides?

 

A10 "Pin sized. Like pin pricks of light."

 

Q11 How bright was the flashing/blinking, compare to say a star, the planet Venus, the Moon, the Sun?

 

A11 "As bright as say staring into a down light in a normal house."

 

Q12 Can you estimate how long it took to go from close by you, to 'parking itself' in the sky?

 

A12 "It shot straight up from say 5m off the ground, to very high in an instant, a blink of the eye type thing."

 

Q13 Roughly what time was it when you first saw it from the hotel?

 

A13 "Say 4.30pm."

 

Q14 Roughly what time was it when you last saw it?

 

A14 "I videoed it not long after 4.30pm at say 4.35pm. I only videoed it for about 25 seconds, but it was there 20 minutes later when the kids went out for a swim. I couldn't be bothered watching it all that time as it was just sitting there. However, after the kids finished their swim at say 5.30pm it was gone. We initially spotted it with the French couple at 4pm and they said they had been watching it for nearly half an hour, so it was hovering and moving slowly about the sky for at least 2 hrs (more battery time than say a drone would have?"

 

Q15 How did you finally loose sight of it, eg did you simply stop watching it, or did it leave?

 

A15 "See above."

 

Q16 If it left, can you describe how it did this? 

 

A16 "I don't know."

 

Q17 Can you recall what the weather conditions were like at the time of the sighting, for example was there any wind, and if so can you estimate the wind speed and wind direction?

 

A17 "Very clear sky. Quite hot and humid. Slight breeze from west to east. As it was only 4pm in the afternoon when we first spotted it with the French couple, the sky was still bright with sunlight and there were no clouds."

 

Q18 At any time, was there any noise associated with the object? Especially at its closest approach to you?

 

A18 "Not once. No noise at all."

 



 The video

 

The engineer shot a 24 second long hand held video, using his Samsung Galaxy SII phone.

Samsung Galaxy S II phone - courtesy http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxys2/html/

Technical specifications of the phone's main 8Mp camera, reveal that the aperture is F=2.7; f=4.15mm; with a 28.1 degree horizontal field of view, with 4 plastic aspheric lenses.

The video shows a clear blue sky, with a white spherical object in the field of view. The top and left hand side of the screen is framed by the roof of the hotel the family were staying at.




White sphere is in centre horizontally and 1 cm up from bottom edge - click on image to magnify it

 

 

Judging from the relative position of the white sphere, and the roof, the white sphere appears to be stationary during the entire 24 second long sequence. It remains the same brightness and size throughout this time. The videographer adds:

 

"At the 18 second mark you can see in about 5 or 6 frames another bright light zip past the stationary light from bottom left of the still object to top right in the blink of an eye...I have only tonight just noticed at the 16 second mark another object  which is dark grey.."

 

I slowed down the video and looked at it closely, and I can see both the additional white light, and the dark grey object travel across the screen. I posed a couple of questions to the Engineer.

 

Q1 I wonder whether it would be possible for you to estimate the angular elevation, and the compass direction that you were pointing your mobile telephone in at the time this footage was taken?

 

A1 "Probably about 85 degrees to the horizontal. Looking south but virtually straight up. Standing next to the top of the stairs at the hand railing looking up towards the roof overhang."

 

Q2 In addition, what was the name of the hotel or motel that you were staying at..."

 

A2 "(Hotel name provided). Car was parked in rear car park on east side of south eastern most unit. Our unit was also on the east side and second most southern unit." 

  

 In conclusion:

I wish to thank the Engineer for assisting with my documentation of this intriguing incident. Both of us welcome comments, further analysis, and other feedback. Please direct this to keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

 



 





Sightings from North West Australia - Part one

Hi all,

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been seeking local sightings from Western Australia. An article about my search, which appeared in the "Pilbara News" dated 21 October 2015, and later in the North West Telegraph, has resulted in several people contacting me with their personal sightings.

This post provides details of one such sighting, from a resident. I thank him for this, and for kindly giving me permission to reprint details in this blog.

The sighting:

"Just read your article in the NW Telegraph and thought I would tell you about some strange lights I observed above the Aboriginal lore grounds at Woodbrook station, 35km south of Roebourne.

Courtesy Google maps

I was coming back from a call out to work at about 3am one morning in 2007 when I stopped near the railway track to get a drink from the back of my ute.

Whilst I was getting my drink I felt like someone was watching me, I turned around to the hills and the old Woodbrook station where I observed what I thought was a shooting star.  It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the shooting star had shot up from the earth not down from the sky.  I kept watching when the light started doing figure eights, hovering in mid air, changing size and then diving up and down to the horizon.  I watched this for about 15 minutes until it just disappeared into the night sky.



I was that spun out when I got home to Wickham that I woke my wife to tell her what happened.  I have seen other strange objects in the sky growing up in the country but this one was the most amazing and made my mind reel.

Earlier that night whilst I was waiting for a train at the Wittennoom turnoff to go past so I could check out the callout, I was sitting on the bonnet of my ute in the middle of the bush with not a soul around for 100’s of km’s, I asked the universe to give me a sign or show me something if there is anything/anyone else out there.  I then observed this light 2hrs and 120km later!"

Questions:

Upon reading the above account, a few questions came to mind, which I emailed. The questions and responses are shown below:

Q1. What was the colour of the light?

A1 "The light appeared to be white like a star but much brighter/bigger and perhaps with a bluish tinge."

Q2. Did the intensity of the light change at any time?
A2. "Yes it did change in intensity. I'm not sure if this is when it came closer to me but it did definitely get brighter."

Q3. Was there any associated noise?
A3. "I can't remember any sound. I think I recall it being quieter when it happened like all sound stopped. This could be my imagination but I don't recall hearing the wireless in my ute, my work two-way or any bush noise."



Courtesy Google maps

 

Western Australia - seeking UFO reports

Hi

As part of a new, one year long, project I am seeking reports of UFO sightings, past and present, from regional Australia.

I have commenced the project by contacting a number of Western Australian newspapers, to seek sightings from readers.

Today, at the start of the project, I was interviewed by Courtney, a journalist, from the Pilbara News. This paper is based in the city of Karratha, Western Australia, and is a city with a population around 17,000 people (2011 census) which is some 1575 kilometres north of Perth, the capital city of the state of Western Australia.

Pilbara News 21 October 2015 edition.

If you are someone who is responding to my request for details of local sightings, as a result of reading Courtney's article, please feel free to either send me an email at:

keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

or leave a comment in the comments section of this blog. Either way, I will respond to your communication.

Some links to previous local Karratha UFO news stories:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/regional/north-west/a/28634744/is-it-a-bird-is-it-a-plane-or-is-it-a-gully-monster/

http://www.thecid.com/ufo/geo/geo/0629.htm

Thank you.

Garbage in - garbage out

Hi all,

This post concerns the recently flurry of reported sightings of orange lights in a number of Australian states.

I recall when the first spike in reported sightings of orange lights, often in spectacular formations, hit Australian UAP researchers. There were heated discussions as to whether or not, these were true "UFOs" or simply hoax hot air garbage bag balloons?

Today, dip into any current Australian UFO community on Facebook; or take a look at media sources; or check the "Lights in the sky" blog of Sydney Observatory, and you will see literally dozens upon dozens of individuals reporting observations of  "orange lights."

These sightings usually describe observations on nights where the wind is light; where these lights travel in the direction in which the wind is blowing to; and no associated noise is heard. If there more than one light, witnesses might speak of the lights "dancing" and changing position in the formation. When seen at close range observers will describe the orange light as flickering or pulsing. Sometime little lights drop off the main ones. If the light goes out, often it pulses just before it does so.

Actual research

Research by Australian groups and individual researchers as far back as the "big orange light flap of 96" (centred around Narre Warren in Melbourne in 1996) determined that these orange lights were nothing more than hoax hot air garbage bags, sent aloft by bored teenagers. Garbage bags fell onto roofs; police officers found teenagers launching such balloons and cautioned them; and so on.

What has changed?

Skip forward to September 2015. I decided to sample three groups of reported sightings from three Australian states to see if anything has changed. Please take a look at my detailed investigation reports on the Cairns, Queensland; Armidale, New South Wales; and Adelaide South Australia sightings.

I found that nothing had changed, witnesses were still describing orange lights which have all the descriptions of the classic, old time hoax hot air balloon, with perhaps the added modern Chinese lantern thrown in  for good measure.

Orange lights, garbage in - garbage out!

Preliminary investigation report - Adelaide, South Australia - 27 September 2015

Preliminary investigation report – Adelaide, South Australia – 27 September 2015

Time:            Between 1830-1900hrs CST (UTC plus 9.5hrs)

Location:      Southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia

Witnesses:  1. "J" and daughter, Oaklands Park, Adelaide.
                      2. “L.” A Facebook friend of J. Suburb adjacent to J.



Photo one

1. Introduction:

J reported her sighting to the Facebook community titled “Adelaide UFO sightings.” Brad Morris of Melbourne, asked J a number of questions about her sighting. I also asked questions. Between us, Brad and I checked such things as WebTrak; the Bureau of Meteorology; and details of sunset. I then engaged J via email.

Courtesy of Google maps

2. J’s account:
Object in the sky south of Brighton, going north. “Started off bright orange like a star, not flashing, went out then it was just a dark object in the sky. Light may have been the Sun shining off it as it set.” It started off in the south-west and went to the north-west of J’s position in Oaklands Park. “Where it appeared to go down over Glenelg way.” Duration was under two minutes. “Was bright about 40 seconds, maybe and then it was a dark object against the sky like in the picture.” There was no noise at all. The light “It pulses just before it went out and went dark.” J’s daughter captured two pictures on an ipad.




3. L:
There was no noise. “The light appeared to be on one side of it.” First seen to the south, finally seen to the west.

4. Weather:

Surface: I checked the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest half hour apart database. On the 27 September, at the Adelaide Airport, it was:

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

1830hrs Temperature 17.7 deg C; relative humidity 35%; wind was from the south-west at 2km/hr; pressure 1020.6hPa.
1900hrs 16.2C; 42%; from south-west at 7km/hr; 1020.6hPa.

Upper air:

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

I located a website which provides upper air readings, but only twice a day. The nearest data was for 1200 UTC which equals 2130hrs on 27 September 2015; 3 hours after the sightings. Taken at Adelaide Airport. The following table presents height above the ground and what direction the wind was blowing from (in degrees, north is 0; south 180 etc.)

Height above ground     Wind direction (degrees North =0; East = 90 etc.)          

4 metres                              165                                 
28 metres                            164
142 metres                         161
175 metres                         160
839 metres                         295
902 metres                         270

5. Sunset:

Was at 1815hrs that night.

Photo two

6. WebTrak

Both Brad Morris and I checked the Air Service Australia’s WebTrak secondary radar website. No aircraft travelled south to north over the area around J's position during the time frame 1830-1900hrs.

Courtesy of Air Services Australia WebTrak

7. Analysis:

1. A visual observation by three people in two different locations.

2. 40 second bright orange, point source, then 1m 20 sec dark object in the sky. Two photographs were taken of the dark phase.

3. Triangulation from the two locations indicates that the object was not a distant one.

4. No other observations have come to light. An exploration of the Internet failed to locate any media accounts, supporting the thought that it was a close object and not a distant object potentially seen by hundreds of people, e.g. high altitude research balloon; satellite re-entry.

5. The object appeared to be tracking at roughly ninety degrees to the prevailing surface wind as measured at Adelaide Airport. However, as can be seen from the 135 degree shift in wind direction between 175 and 839 metres above the ground, at 2130hrs, wind directions in the upper air can be substantially different from those at the surface.

6. Given all the above data, it could be hypothesised that one explanation could be a hoax hot air garbage bag balloon. The first 40 seconds was a typical bag bright orange light; then the heat source went out and the dark object was the bag floating along.

Acknowledgement:

I wish to thank both J and Brad Morris for their assistance in being able to look into this report, and for Brad’s initial investigation questions. I must add that the above working hypothesis is mine, not Brad’s.

  For other recent investigation reports of orange lights, on 17 September 2015 at  Cairns,  and 21 September 2015  Armidale, click on their names.




  

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.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI1fZVE9FeE

 

 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."

 

http://m.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/lifestyle/the-truth-is-out-there-as-gold-coasters-report-spike-in-ufo-sightings-over-the-past-weekend/story-fnj94iqm-1227516797656

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

 

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/

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