UK UFO Sightings

Location of Sighting: Havant OS Grid Ref SU712071
Date of Sighting: Saturday 19 Septemer 2009
Time: 1950 BST
Witness Name: John Tarling

Witness Statement: At around 1950BST on Saturday 19 September 2009, I was driving home through Havant. As I drove north along
Stockheath Lane, my wife and others in the car pointed out a strange light in the sky to the left and slightly behind us.

I turned left onto Barncroft Way and pulled over to get out of my car and look. My position (checked later at home) was
OS grid reference SU 712 071. The following describes what I and the others saw:-

Looking to the western sky, I saw an object which appeared as a bright light with an orange colour; I could only discern
it as a light which did not present itself as an extended object. I would estimate that its brightness was brighter
than Jupiter at opposition, possible magnitude -4 or even brighter and colour was vivid orange.

The object's position was due west at an altitude of around 45 degrees and it was moving in a towards the northeast
with a uniform speed that I would say was comparable to the International Space Station - say 0.5 - 1.5 degrees a second.

My first impression was that it was an aircraft cruising at high altitude, but its brightness and colour did not appear similar
to aircraft; sky conditions were overcast; I think there was high level cloud across the whole sky with some low-level cumulus
clouds around, but low daylight prevented assessing cloud cover accurately.

The object moved northeast slowly, still at around 45 degrees altitude, then commenced a turn towards the southeast, with
its brightness varying slowly but retaining its vivid orange colour. The object then appeared to move in a straight line to the
southeast with the same speed as before, then over the course of two-four seconds faded, as though passing behind low level clouds.

My intuition is that it was not an aircraft; it exhibited the speed and motion of an aircraft turning at high altitude, but its
bright, vivid orange colour is making me discount this possibility. I could not discern any features such as headlights, cabin lighting
or red navigation lights. It had been a warm, humid day in Havant, with rain showers during late afternoon; conditions all afternoon
and evening were hazy. Could a humid atmosphere cause white headlights to appear orange? How would an aircraft lights
retain strong brightness in hazy conditions at high altitude? Since it changed direction and the sky was overcast; it was not a satellite.

Source: www.uk-ufo.co.uk

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