UFO in Manayunk???

[bobfreakinvilla]

Taking to Philadelphia Speaks to see if anyone has witnessed something they can't explain in the Manyaunk/Roxborough/East Falls skies.

Because my girlfriend and I just did.

I just want to preface this by saying that I have never claimed to have witnessed anything extraordinary and unexplainable in the skies before. I do think that it would be ignorant to suggest that no other life exists in this infinite solar system/galaxy that we live in. I always thought that it would be interesting to be a witness to something that I couldn't explain, but alas, in my 31 years I have not seen anything in the sky that I couldn't explain.

Until tonight.

I was taking out the trash (I live on Manayunk Ave between Ridge and Salaignac on the south side of Manayunk Ave) about 10:30pm when I looked up into the western part of the sky. It's a really clear night out and I could see some stars and then something else caught my eye. There were two large orange objects that were the color of fire, were not blinking and they were round. I was examining them because they were quite odd and they were following pretty close to each other. Before I came to any conclusions as to what they were, I wanted to get a better look at what they could be.

They were flying from the west and heading Northeast. Like I said, there was no blinking like a typical plane would blink and the usual plane pattern from the airport usually originates from the southeast and heads north/northwest.

Suddenly, as I was observing them, the one that was following just disappeared. Gone. No explanation.

I called inside to my girlfriend and told her to grab the camera immediately because I was fairly convinced at that time that I was witnessing something unusual.

She came running out and I pointed in the sky what I thought was something unusual. She gave me the camera and I snapped a picture. The object continued to the north and grew increasingly smaller before vanishing quickly a mere 45 seconds after I first witnessed it.

Immediately after it disappeared, for the sake of comparison, a plane flew over head heading in the same direction as the "object" we saw and the difference was huge. The size and color of the lights, the speed, etc. We both (my girlfriend being just as skeptical as me) agreed that what we saw definitely wasn't a plane, helicopter, or any other aircraft.

I have seen shooting stars before. This definitely couldn't have been one.

Any ideas?

[Dayman]

Well you don't know what this was. To assume that it was anything unearthly would be jumping the gun. As a failed meteorologist however I can tell you a lot of weird sh!t happens in the sky that is natural phenomenon.

It could have been navy jets that merely went off afterburners and turned navlights off. Not saying it was, but that's more likely than something extraterrestrial.

Wish I saw it myself though

[JIDinPhilly]

Last summer, I was at a BBQ with the girlfriend and the inlaws in the North East. I was in the back yard and for whatever reason, I looked up. I saw an orange sphere just sitting motionless in the sky. It was one of those days where there were hardly any clouds and the clouds that were there, were moving past the stationary object. It's hard to estimate height, but I would guess 3,000 feet or so. It stayed there for at least 10 minutes. It got to the point where my neck was starting to hurt from looking straight up. I kept looking up from time to time and it was gone. I don't know what it was, therefore it was unidentified. Pretty cool though.

[Polar Cub]

At only 3000 feet, it's probably not a UFO.
UFO's usually fly much higher.

[annemckn]

I saw these lights a week or so ago. A little freaky at first, but my neighbor said they looked like something he had seen kids make - a candle attached to a helium balloon. They go up into the air, hang there for a while before the candle goes out. Seemed like a pretty good explanation to me.

[OldCityTans]

Good story, well written, lots of adjectives. Where's the pic?

[JIDinPhilly]

This is what it looked like, but it was orange. This picture seems to show the object at the same height relative to the clouds. But it didn't move.


It kind of looked like those "balls" that are on the high voltage wires...

[Rox19128]

Good story, well written, lots of adjectives. Where's the pic?

I'm interested in seeing the pic too!

[bobfreakinvilla]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

To address a couple of things:

I don't think it was a candle on a helium balloon. The path it took towards the north was very quick and you could see its light diminish as it traveled further away from us.

Could it have been some Navy jets? I don't know. But wouldn't that light be accompanied by a noise of some sort?

If someone could tell me how to attach a picture that I have in my iPhoto library, that would be helpful. The picture doesn't show much though. Just what appears to be a glowing orange dot. I will attach it though with the PS communities help.

Thanks.

[OldCityTans]

Click "go advanced"

Click the yellow box with a mountain in it, just above the large box where you would type your post.

Put the URL in (have to upload the pic to an online host, like your facebook, flickr or photobucket)

Should look like this

[img] the url of the pic [/img] but with no spaces

[ACG]

they were going to go out to dinner, but then realized that due to PA liquor laws they couldn't get a bottle of wine on a Sunday night to take to the BYOB, so they went somewhere else.

[bobfreakinvilla]

I just uploaded the pic to Flikr. Let's see if this works.

[OldCityTans]

lol

[bobfreakinvilla]

lol

Told you it wasn't much!

[DrDoom]

Looks like a spider mite....

Anyway, I'm sure you saw something unexplainable and bizarre. I would have liked to have seen it myself to corroborate. I don't deny the existence out there of some kind of life form other than us. I kind of agree with Hawking's take

Stephen Hawking: Aliens probably exist

Stephen Hawking, the world's best known scientist, says that he believes that aliens lurk elsewhere in the cosmos, but that they probably are not very smart

We are certainly not alone, says Prof Hawking, who was speaking at George Washington University in honour of the 50th anniversary of the US space agency, Nasa, and called for new investment in manned space exploration

In his address, he tackled the big questions about extraterrestrial life.

Why has humanity not stumbled onto alien broadcasts, maybe something like "alien quiz shows?"

One option is that there likely is no life elsewhere. Or maybe there is intelligent life elsewhere, but when it gets smart enough to send signals into space, it also is smart enough to make destructive nuclear weapons.

He concludes: "Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," but adds: "Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."

So should people worry about aliens? Alien abduction claims come from "weirdos" and are unlikely.

However, because alien life might not have DNA like earthlings, Prof Hawking warned: "Watch out if you would meet an alien. You could be infected with a disease with which you have no resistance."

Stephen Hawking: Aliens probably exist - Telegraph

[PhillyKev]

I can 100% certify and prove beyond any doubt whatsoever that is a genuine UFO.

[Litter Box]

I'm going with a Red Dwarf star. I'm right until proven wrong........

[alex]

Cool. Thanks for posting the photo!

[R8CHEL]

If it's a UFO I hope they fly down to the gulf and plug up the oil leak then zap the ocean into being clean. ...And then abduct all responsible for the leak and anal probe them.

[Sailaway]

If it's a UFO I hope they fly down to the gulf and plug up the oil leak then zap the ocean into being clean. ...And then abduct all responsible for the leak and anal probe them.

^this^

and lube the probe with Dave's Insanity sauce.