talkmagic.co.uk

Years ago i was standing at my doorstep and saw a black triangle flying overhead. It was like nothing id saw before, and i wasnt the only one who saw it. It was reported in the local newspaper and the military denied all knowledge. It was, of course, the Stealth Bomber. A few years ago it was reported that the military had been testing the aircraft (and others) along the west coast of scotland. Well now they have something else !

God knows what theyre testing now, but plenty have seen it, including myself. One of the guys who reported it is a retired airline pilot, who said its like nothing hes ever seen. It was my daughter who pointed it out to me. It looks like a very bright red light, can move fast, very slow, and hover in the one spot. When i saw it it shot across the sky then stopped and hovered for about 10 minutes, before vanishing. When i say vanish i dont mean shot away, i mean it looked as if they just turned the light off. Maybe in a few years we'll find out what the hell it is

jim

Could be a SCRAM jet. The US are working on high altitude pilot-less reconnaissance aircraft at the moment. If it is flying directly away from your vantage point, it can give the impression of standing still or hovering. They are modern versions of ramjets (like the V-1 Doodle Bug) and can reach mach 8 in the upper atmosphere. The red light could be fuel being injected into the tailpipe similar to an afterburner to take it up to max speed. They are the fastest air-breathing aircraft around.

Oooh, lovely. I interviewed some UFOlogy groups before Christmas and they were nice people, very genuine and happy to acknowledge that pretty much everything reported is explainable.

I went to a public lecture by Professor Ian Morison (that's spelt right) of Gresham College and Jodrell Bank Observatory last Monday about the search for ET. Morison's job is partly to search for ET. Two hours later I was in no doubt that planets suitable for intelligent life are almost non-existent here or in other galaxies even if microbes probably do exist in geothermal sites all over the place.

But heres the thing, it was flying from my right to left, not away from me - i saw presumebly the side of it

jim

Look anything like this?

No, it didnt. It looked maybe like a large christmas tree light.

Im quite surprised at your view there Tomo. Surely to think that we are unique in the universe is a tad narrow minded, and i mean no disrespect at all.

Just to clarify, i am NOT some ufo nut, I believe that what has been seen is a military aircraft.

I have seen it, many others have seen it, and there has been photographs and video footage taken from diffirent angles (not by me). It is not any conventional aircraft.

jim

jim ferguson wrote:Im quite surprised at your view there Tomo. Surely to think that we are unique in the universe is a tad narrow minded, and i mean no disrespect at all.[/list]

No offence taken. It's just that if it's this guy's job to look for little green men and that includes calculating how unique Earth is, then as he's coming up to retirement, he probably has a good handle on what's what. Did you know that an average of only 7 stars are being born in our galaxy every year, and that exactly 94% of those that already exist don't have enough energy to live long enough to allow life to evolve very far even if they do have something the relative size, position and composition of Earth and the Moon in a stable orbit, shaded by gas giants of exactly the right density and at exactly the right distance? Neither did I. Astonishingly humbling stuff.

No I didnt. But if hes right (and im not saying hes not ) then that means 7 stars in our galaxy per year, roughly the same in every other galaxy, and this has been going on for billions of years. If only 6 percent of these last long enough to sustain life then thats still a heck of alot. He is also suggesting, (by saying that for a planet to have intellegent life it must have the exact same conditions as earth) that any sort of intellegence must be like us. We are a product of our enviroment and evolved the way we did to survive here. It stands to reason that if life did start somewhere else it would evolve to survive there, and may end up totally diffirent to us

jim

jim ferguson wrote:It looks like a very bright red light, can move fast, very slow, and hover in the one spot. When i saw it it shot across the sky then stopped and hovered for about 10 minutes, before vanishing. When i say vanish i dont mean shot away, i mean it looked as if they just turned the light off. Maybe in a few years we'll find out what the hell it is [/list]jim

I can obviously explain this...

It was of course the world famous Rocco, who having made oodles of cash over the years has decided to try out his new d'lite encrusted harrier jump jet over Scotland...

Glad I could save you years of waiting old bean... Now it must be about time for my medication..

Was it over sea? HMS Daring was in the area testing it's missile system to find out why it isn't working properly. It's supposed to be able to take out targets over land as well as sea. Viewed from four or more miles away, a missile in flight is invisible to the naked eye. All you see is the jet efflux glowing from the tailpipe.

I've seen a few Sea Dart launches and they look really spooky from a distance, all you see is a ball of light floating stationary in the air then jinking from left to right when it's tracking a target at medium, low level.

The Navy could be test firing systems as they may be heading back to the south Atlantic in force any day soon.

you should check your news paper this morning. They are full of UFO stuff.
and apparently, the most commonly sighted craft of recent years is exactly what you have described.

This is a great thread, I love this kind of stuff,

I think what you saw is very intersting, and I would be investigating further.

Of course, there's this instant classic sighting in Wales. They're here!

jim ferguson wrote:No I didnt. But if hes right (and im not saying hes not ) then that means 7 stars in our galaxy per year, roughly the same in every other galaxy, and this has been going on for billions of years. If only 6 percent of these last long enough to sustain life then thats still a heck of alot.

5% of 7 is not nothing when you remember the rest of the criteria, and all the ones I've forgotten since the lecture. Like outlying gas giants to vacuum up space debris, like Earth having a very thin crust due to a massive collision with something the size of Mars that formed the Moon, like the the Moon being at just the right distance and size to pull us around in a weird wobbly dance. Seriously, your optimism is misplaced. There's no reason that intelligent life should have evolved anywhere that conditions aren't right within a meaningful distance. Microbial life might be on a couple of Jupiter's moons. We'll find out in this century, but don't expect first contact.

Detecting other civilisations also poses a unique problem. What's the logical progression for electromagnetic information transmission? Spark gap generators, then AM, then FM, then digital FM, then low power satellite comms, then cable. We're pumping out less energy into space year on year, so there's a very small detection window of about 70 years for any civilisation anywhere.