Newsgroups: alt.ufo.report
From: kymhorsell@gmail.com
Subject: amazing skywatch

[uploaded 23 times; last 17/10/2024]

I'm still chuckling after the last skywatch session.
After 2022 I haven't been all that strict about trying to get
1 hr of viewing in each day.
And then there's the unusual turn of weather over the past 6m at
least where it seems thick cloud rolls in just before sunrise
and sunset and there isn't much of anything to see for weeks on end.
There are some suspicious patterns with that. Not sure it's entirely
natural. And not entirely sure -- if it isn't -- who is responsible.
Today is also Sunday. From the data I've seen Sun is pretty much a low-point
in the weekly viewing cycle. So I wasn't expecting much.
But the day had been exceptionally fine and the moon doesn't come out
till late.
And.
And there had been a steady stream of noisy light aircraft and choppers
going back and forth all day since I got up. Sunday == 10am. :)
There had been a few when I woke up a couple times during the night as well.
So I *suspected* something was going on.
I sat down in a comfy chair on one side of the property that gives
a good view of the E part of the sky where unusual things come from.
Lights drifting in from the W can be interesting, but also could be
sats unless they do anything totally weird. Sometimes they do.
First up today was a couple of light planes going across the E sky.
Not that unusual. But on a Sunday it is kinda rare.
Then a jet turned up high in the E going S. Not unusual in itself. But it
was acting strange. It was visually big enough -- maybe 2 deg
from nose to tail -- to see lots of details.
Could have only been a few km away. But absolutely no sound of engines.
A super-quiet jet? It also seemed to be moving much faster than a normal jet.
And when it got to the SE it turned and went off into the distance.
There is nothing much to the SE of me until you hit Antarctica.
And for some reason the plane seemed to be on a 45 deg list. One wing
was way higher than the other even as it seemed to be going off straight
into the distance. The (other) odd thing about that -- most commercial
jets can not bank at 45 deg. More than 20-30 deg the manufacturer warns
can lead to "bad things".
After the sun set we started to see some little lights in the sky.
The theme of the evening -- sometimes sessions seem to get
a theme attached where all the little objects you see have
a common property just for that evening  -- was "very slow".
Dim little lights going E to W across the N horiz. Dim little lights
going roughly N from high in the N. Think there were 4 in all.
Mildly unusual. One "sat" came from the SE and went NW. Retrograde.
Then there were the very slow sats going N. A normal sat is either
geo-stationary.  Or it is polar and moves at a reasonably steady rate.
Sometimes the "unusual sats" seem to be a bit of both.
As I say, mildly unusual.
There was also a flash of a meteor at one point to the NE.
This can sometimes be a kinda signal that something is about to happen.
And to help things along when one of the lights appeared almost immed
after a small aircraft with flashing lights appeared on an intercept
course from over in the NE.
But the session took a turn for the worse when the flats next door turned
on their lights without drawing blinds. They do that a lot.
Means you can't look west and tends to play merry hell with viewing
anything above as well. So I moved, thinking uncharitable thoughts.
Settled down in the pos I code-name "doghouse".
Nothing much happened for a while. I think I went inside and made myself
coffee #100 for the day. They say it's good for your brain and lifespan.
Here's hoping! :)
Some more waiting. I was thinking of turning it in. Sunday after all.
Nothing much happens on Sundays.
But then for some reason I looked to the left and a SUPER BRIGHT light
was coming from the SW. SUPER BRIGHT is code for anything a Hell of a
lot brighter than Sirius. :)
Just gliding. I was wishing I had the binocs with me. Looked like it had
some kind of shape. But my eyes are pretty crook so couldn't be sure.
The binocs were on a hook in the garage and it would take at least 2-3 mins
to get them, take off the lens caps, and aim it somewhere near the light.
So I stayed put.
The light just continued to glide to the NE. Must have taken a min or so.
I watched it fade off into the dist. Gave it a wave.
These bright ones -- maybe I'm weird -- tend to raise the fur on the back
of my neck and legs in a totally pleasant way.
A couple mins went by and I was wondering -- where the Hell are the
little planes. It's SOP for one to turn up even for dim lights that
otherwise act like sats. One *had* turned up for one of the earlier "sats".
NOTHING this time.
Again I started to think of going inside. Nothing could probably top
that last "visit".
Then I heard a deep note in the distance in the SE. A plane was coming.
OK. Validation the light had been "something".
The plane came closer. I saw it was one of the usual suspects we've
see a lot around here for the past 2-3 years. A big double-prop job
with some kind of yellow LEDs underneath. I think they are on some
kind of framework -- not just lights on the wings and belly. For some reason.
But as I watched the plane out of the corner of my left eye I saw 2 long
pale yellow triangles zoom over the roof line and zig-zag off to the NW.
They were zipping back and forth, crossing each other's path at breakneck
speed it seemed. At first I thought they were birds. But the zipping...
The big plane was apparently trailing them. "Chasing" would be an
exaggeration. And this maybe was why no-one turned up for the bright light.
They were all occupied with something far more interesting!
The triangles disappeared within seconds, followed by the plane.
I couldn't stop saying "wow" out loud for a few minutes.
I could hear the next door neighbours saying goodbye to guests they had over.
All totally oblivious to whatever in Hell had just been happening for the
past 10 mins. Not for the first time. Not even for the 10th time in the past
few years. I have lost count of how many.

For other odd events see my skywatch diary at <kym.massbus.org/UFO-DIARY>.

--
Is the US about to blame UFO phenomena on China?
South China Morning Post, 30 Aug 2023
Americans like to blame China for everything. But UFOs? Seriously, this is
no joke. China may be behind at least some UFO sightings, Dr Thomas Zurbuchen...

Pentagon to release declassified UFO photos, videos and reports on new
website
Fox News, 31 Aug 2023 22:52Z
The Pentagon announced during a press briefing Thursday that it will release
declassified information on UFOs/UAPs on a new website that will include
videos...

Hicks takes direct oversight of Pentagon's UAP office
defensescoop.com, 31 Aug 2023
Deputy Secretary Of Defense Kathleen Hicks will now oversee AARO while the
program's current director, Sean Kirkpatrick, will report directly to her.

  Pentagon shakes up leadership in UFO office
  NewsNation, 31 Aug 2023 20:52Z
  The Department of Defense is reshuffling leadership at All-Domain Anomaly
  Resolution Office, the agency within the Pentagon ...

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office Has Finally Launched Its Official
Website. Here's What's Missing.
The Debrief, 31 Aug 2023
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the office that
oversees the Pentagon's investigations into unidentified anomalous
phenomena (UAP), has finally launched its official website
<https://www.aaro.mil/>.
The new website, which appeared online early on Thursday, currently
features a sparse selection of general information about AARO, its
mission, and its activities related to the collection of information
about UAP. [...]
Although the long-awaited AARO website has finally launched, one thing
that is currently missing is the formal reporting system AARO has been
directed by Congress to establish.
[So... STILL no reporting mechanism; just a sparse website to
publicize the Pentagon's equally-sparse UFO program. The website says
the reporting system is "undergoing security review" to ensure people
reporting strange things in the sky or ocean are protected from
retaliation. Reporting is expected to go live in October. Maybe].

  Pentagon UFO office unveils official website for US government personnel to
  report sightings
  Space.com, 31 Aug 2023 17:44Z
  The Pentagon's official office for addressing UFOs has a new website where
  U. S. government and military personnel can report ...
  [More than a year to create a website].

  Pilot UFO Sightings Collected by NASA Reveal Serious Safety Concerns Over
  Objects in U.S. Airspace
  The Debrief, 29 Aug 2023
  Several incident reports describing recent U.S. pilot UFO sightings in
  controlled airspace convey the serious concerns aviators have about
  potential collisions with unknown objects, The Debrief has learned.
  The unresolved aerial encounters with what the Pentagon now calls
  unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, were filed as incident
  reports with NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) and
  describe events in U.S. airspace that highlight ongoing safety concerns
  associated with appearances of aerial objects of unknown origin. [...]
  In 2021, the FAA said for the first time publicly in a statement
  provided to The Debrief that it "documents Unidentified Aerial
  Phenomenon (UAP) sightings whenever a pilot reports one to an air
  traffic control facility." [...]
  To date, there is still no formal government reporting system for
  pilots and others to use to directly report their UAP encounters to
  [Pentagon UFO dept] AARO, more than a year after the office was officially
  established.

  UFO reporting hotline is MIA
  Politico, 10 Aug 2023 09:05Z
  Witnesses say they're getting frustrated and feel forced to turn to Capitol
  Hill or outside groups to tell their stories ...

[They-re Ba-ack!]
'Wormhole' of flashing lights over UFO hotspot island baffles scientists
The Mirror, 25 Aug 2023 23:10Z
A clip appears to show mysterious fizzling or flashing lights in the skies
over Catalina Island off the coast of Southern ...

Unconfirmed videos showing UFO 'destroyer' missile launched by ...
HITC, 24 Aug 2023 17:18Z
Videos showing the US military using a 'UFO destroyer' missile to blast
unidentified objects in the sky are making rounds on TikTok lately.
[Posted images show 3 bright obj hovering in the sky.  An G2A missile
is launched and arc toward the middle of the bunch.  One object steps
forward and takes one for the team.  There seems to be no provenance
for the vid. It may be another of many hoaxes based on a computer game
under development.  But there are some stories Russian missile
batteries have tried to destroy UFO's flying over remote territory
just as the US has shot down "unidentified balloons" off Alaska and
Canada.  In those cases one vid was released by the Pentagon while
shoot-downs of the others have been apparently classified top secret].