RE: [meteorite-list] Mystery Lights Observed Over England

[Bernhard \"Rendelius\" Rems]

Title: Nachricht

Well, I can only talk about my personal experience. I have been an amateur astronomer for more than 20 years now. I have been watching the sky for an additional 10 years or so, and even now, when I am outside at night without a telescope (I owned several over these years), I am skywatching as much as I can.   I wrote down every observing session in one way or another. And believe me, in these 30 years of skygazing, I have seen more strange things than you can even think of. I have seen several extremely (!) bright meteorites - amongst them one that was reddish/blueish/whiteish, one that was pale and exploded into may sparks, one that was as green as bruning copper. I have observed weather balloons, I have seen Mir with a tail of objects following, I have seen head on meteorites, I have seen meteor showers, I have even experienced a meteorite whizzing by close, so close that I was able to hear it flying and hear the clonk when it landed (I didn't find the object, though).   If this person has been an amateur astronomer for a long time, he won't be unable to identify landing lights of an aeroplane, believe me. He will have seen them a gazillion times. My guess is that he has seen a pair of head-on meteorites (meteorites that are flying towards the observer. This isn't too uncommon.   Bernhard -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 9:52 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mystery Lights Observed Over England >>AN amateur stargazer said today he was baffled after he saw two mysterious bright lights in the sky above his home, which vanished before he could get a closer look.<< My money is on the landing lights of an aircraft. I use to see this a lot when I observed outside San Diego. If the plane is coming towards you, it will appear motionless. If it is far away, you won't hear anything. George Zay   >>"In more than 40 years of looking at the sky, I've never seen anything like it," <<   I always get a kick when people express their sky observing experience this way. Does he mean he's been looking up for 40 continuous years? Or perhaps mean he first looked up at the sky 40 years ago and maybe looked up once each year since? I wonder how many clear moonless nights there are each year over England? George Zay