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Phoenix Lights
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thecactus



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 3196
Location: Northern Ireland

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:23 pm    Post subject: Phoenix Lights Reply with quote

The Phoenix Lights were a series of widely sighted optical phenomena (generally unidentified flying objects) that occurred in the skies over the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, and the Mexican state of Sonora on March 13, 1997.

Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. The United States Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona. Witnesses claim to have observed a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO, containing lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the object "otherworldly."

The lights were reported to have reappeared in 2007 and 2008, but these events were quickly attributed to (respectively) military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Base and flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian.


Photographic documentationImagery of the Phoenix Lights falls into two categories: images of the triangular formation seen prior to 10 pm in Prescott and Dewey, and images of the 10 pm Phoenix event. Almost all known images are of the second event. All known images were produced using a variety of commercially available camcorders and cameras. There are no known images taken by equipment designed for scientific analysis, nor are there any known images taken using high powered optics or night vision equipment.

First event

There are few known images of the Prescott/Dewey lights. Television station KSAZ reported that an individual named Richard Curtis took a detailed video that purportedly showed the outline of a space craft, but that the video had been lost. The only other known video is of poor quality and shows a group of lights with no craft visible.

Second event

During the Phoenix event, numerous still photographs and videotapes were made, distinctly showing a series of lights appearing at a regular interval, remaining illuminated for several moments and then going out. These images have been repeatedly aired by documentary TV channels such as the Discovery Channel and the History Channel as part of their UFO documentary programming.

The most frequently seen sequence shows what appears to be an arc of lights appearing one by one, then going out one by one. UFO advocates claim that these images show that the lights were some form of "running light" or other aircraft illumination along the leading edge of a large craft (estimated to be as large as a mile in diameter) hovering over the city of Phoenix. Other similar sequences reportedly taken over a half hour period show differing numbers of lights in a V or arrowhead array. Thousands of witnesses throughout Arizona also reported a silent, mile wide V or boomerang shaped craft with varying numbers of huge orbs. A significant number of witnesses reported that the craft was silently gliding directly overhead at low altitude. The first-hand witnesses consistently reported that the lights appeared as "canisters of swimming light", while the underbelly of the craft was undulating "like looking through water". However, skeptics claim that the video is evidence that mountains not visible at night partially obstructed views from certain angles, thereby bolstering the claim that the lights were more distant than UFO advocates claim.

UFO advocate Jim Dilettoso claimed to have performed "spectral analysis" of photographs and video imagery that proved the lights could not have been produced by a man-made source. Dilettoso claimed to have used software called "Image Pro Plus" (exact version unknown) to determine the amount of red, green and blue in the various photographic and video images and construct histograms of the data, which were then compared to several photographs known to be of flares. Several sources have pointed out, however, that it is impossible to determine the spectral signature of a light source based solely on photographic or video imagery, as film and electronics inherently alter the spectral signature of a light source by shifting hue in the visible spectrum, and experts in spectroscopy have dismissed his claims as being scientifically invalid. Normal photographic equipment also eliminates light outside the visible spectrum (e.g., infrared and ultraviolet) that would be necessary for a complete spectral analysis. The maker of "Image Pro Plus", Media Cybernetic, has stated that its software is incapable of performing spectroscopic analysis.

Cognitech, an independent video laboratory, superimposed video imagery taken of the Phoenix Lights onto video imagery it shot during daytime from the same location. In the composite image, the lights are seen to extinguish at the moment they reach the Estrella mountain range, which is visible in the daytime, but invisible in the footage shot at night. A broadcast by local Fox Broadcasting affiliate KSAZ-TV claimed to have performed a similar test that showed the lights were in front of the mountain range and suggested that the Cognitech data might have been altered. Dr. Paul Scowen, visiting professor of Astronomy at Arizona State University, performed a third analysis using daytime imagery overlaid with video shot of the lights and his findings were consistent with Cognitech. The Phoenix New Times subsequently reported the television station had simply overlaid two video tracks on a video editing machine without using a computer to match the zoom and scale of the two images.

Explanations

There is some controversy as to how best to classify the reports on the night in question. Some are of the opinion that the differing nature of the eyewitness reports indicates that several unidentified objects were in the area, each of which was its own separate "event". This is largely dismissed by skeptics as an over-extrapolation from the kind of deviation common in necessarily subjective eyewitness accounts. The media and most skeptical investigators have largely preferred to split the sightings into two distinct classes, a first and second event, for which two separate explanations are offered:

First event

The first event—the "V", which appeared over northern Arizona and gradually traveled south over nearly the entire length of the state, eventually passing south of Tucson—was the apparently "wedge-shaped" object reported by then-Governor Symington and many others. This event started at about 8:15 over the Prescott area, and was seen south of Tucson by about 8:45.

Proponents of two separate events propose that the first event still has no provable explanation, but that some evidence exists that the lights were in fact airplanes. According to an article by reporter Janet Gonzales that appeared in the Phoenix New Times, videotape of the v shape shows the lights moving as separate entities, not as a single object; a phenomenon known as illusory contours can cause the human eye to see unconnected lines or dots as forming a single shape.

Mitch Stanley, an amateur astronomer, observed the lights using a Dobsonian telescope outfitted with a TELEVUE 32mm Plössl eyepiece, which produces 43x magnification. After observing the lights, he told his mother, who was present at the time, that the lights were aircraft. According to Stanley, the lights were quite clearly individual airplanes; a companion who was with him recalled asking Stanley at the time what the lights were, and he said, "Planes". His account is contradicted by several thousand Phoenix residents, however, and no military or civilian aircraft formations were known to have been flying in the area at that time.

The second event was the set of nine lights appearing to "hover" over the city of Phoenix at around 10 pm. The second event has been more thoroughly covered by the media, due in part to the numerous video images taken of the lights. This was also observed by numerous people who may have thought they were seeing the same lights as those reported earlier.

The U.S. Air Force explained the second event as slow-falling, long-burning LUU-2B/B illumination flares dropped by a flight of four A-10 Warthog aircraft on a training exercise at the Barry Goldwater Range at Luke Air Force Base. According to this explanation, the flares would have been visible in Phoenix and appeared to hover due to rising heat from the burning flares creating a "balloon" effect on their parachutes, which slowed the descent. The lights then appeared to wink out as they fell behind the Sierra Estrella, a mountain range to the southwest of Phoenix.

A Maryland Air National Guard pilot, Lt. Col. Ed Jones, responding to a March 2007 media query, confirmed that he had flown one of the aircraft in the formation that dropped flares on the night in question. The squadron to which he belonged was in fact at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona on a training exercise at the time and flew training sorties to the Barry Goldwater Range on the night in question, according to the Maryland Air National Guard. A history of the Maryland Air National Guard published in 2000 asserted that the squadron, the 104th Fighter Squadron, was responsible for the incident. The first reports that members of the Maryland Air National Guard were responsible for the incident were published in The Arizona Republic newspaper in July 1997.

Military flares such as these can be seen from hundreds of miles given ideal environmental conditions. Later comparisons with known military flare drops were reported on local television stations, showing similarities between the known military flare drops and the Phoenix Lights. An analysis of the luminosity of LUU-2B/B illumination flares, the type which would have been in use by A-10 aircraft at the time, determined that the luminosity of such flares at a range of approximately 50–70 miles would fall well within the range of the lights viewed from Phoenix.

Public response

News media

There was minimal news coverage at the time of the incident. In Phoenix, a small number of local news outlets noted the event, but it received little attention beyond that. But on June 18, 1997, USA Today ran a front-page story that brought national attention to the case. This was followed by news coverage on the ABC and NBC television networks. The case quickly caught the popular imagination and has since become a staple of UFO-related documentary television, including specials produced by the History Channel and the Discovery Channel.

Governor Wikinews has related news: Former Arizona Governor says he saw a UFO during the 1997 Phoenix Lights

Shortly after the lights, Arizona Governor Fife Symington III held a press conference, stating that "they found who was responsible". He proceeded to make light of the situation by bringing his aide on stage dressed in an alien costume. (Dateline, NBC). But in March 2007, Symington said that he had witnessed one of the "crafts of unknown origin" during the 1997 event, although he did not go public with the information. In an interview with The Daily Courier in Prescott, Arizona, Symington said, "I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people. I don't know why people would ridicule it". Symington had earlier said, "It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape.

Symington also noted that he requested information from the commander of Luke Air Force Base, the general of the National Guard, and the head of the Department of Public Safety. But none of the officials he contacted had an answer for what had happened, and were also perplexed. Later, he responded to an Air Force explanation that the lights were flares: "As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man made object I'd ever seen. And it was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don't fly in formation". In an episode of the TV show UFO Hunters called "The Arizona Lights", Symington said that he contacted the military asking what the lights were. The response was "no comment". He pointed out that he was the governor of Arizona at the time, not just some ordinary civilian.

Frances Barwood, the 1997 Phoenix city councilwoman who launched an investigation into the event, said that of the over 700 witnesses she interviewed, "The government never interviewed even one".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5KtsZ5rIjo
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bitterbuck1
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Joined: 18 Nov 2006
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Location: Arizona, USA

PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here I live in Phoenix and did not get to experience
seeing the lights.

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Agentscott



Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 1042
Location: Essex

PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very intesing. These lights are getting very common thesedays and are commonly being reprted.(nocturnal light's type sightings)
The 3 orange orbs are a classic UFO type sighting too.
Mostly in the UK people call them OBL's and the triangle formation is also very common, it's always an equalateral triangle.

I myself have witnessed something very simular to the 9 lights mentioned when I was in Cornwall.
There is something odd and very unique about the way these objects move around and I must agree with the women in the vid that you seem to get an earie feeling of inteligence in the light itself. The thing is when you have seen things yourself, you then can see simularities in other sightings that peolpe report and be able to realate to it.

The movment is one of the oddest things and people who see genuine UFO's mainly always mention the that.

My lights were hoovering in a bay a huge row, arching up to the end of the row with a trianle at the front. I couldn't count them all but would estimate about 20-30.
Each light was moving around in wobbly but effortless way, they never went to far from the original position in the row and always returned .
Also the lights were pulsating very brightly and then dimming.

This went on for about 20 mins and I can only discribe it as a dancing light display before my eyes.

I will post a full report about the nights events when I have more time on a seperate thread.
More stuff happened and another UFO was witnessed.
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D B Sweeney



Joined: 27 Aug 2010
Posts: 2842
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Phoenix lights have had rational explanations put forward that IMO explains what was seen. I've been to Phoenix twice - and know the area quite well and am aware of the nearby military installations and the frequent exercises that are carried out.

@ Agentscott - I'd suggest you saw chinese lanterns launched in numbers as part of a major celebration. Everything you describe suggests that to me.

DB
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thecactus



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 3196
Location: Northern Ireland

PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 2:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bitterbuck1, do you know anyone who did witness them?
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Agentscott



Joined: 08 Feb 2011
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Location: Essex

PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Definatly not lanterns DB, these lights were far to bright and they were moving quite differently, also they were vey tightly packed and formation was not moving along with wind.
Writing things is tricky when it comes to discribing UFO's and never does the sighting justice.

Also there was another closer sighting that night and you will see when I post it how this is the real deal, better not here though as this thread is for the Phoenix lights.
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D B Sweeney



Joined: 27 Aug 2010
Posts: 2842
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Agentscott wrote:
Definatly not lanterns DB, these lights were far to bright and they were moving quite differently, also they were vey tightly packed and formation was not moving along with wind.
Writing things is tricky when it comes to discribing UFO's and never does the sighting justice.

Also there was another closer sighting that night and you will see when I post it how this is the real deal, better not here though as this thread is for the Phoenix lights.


Do you know how bright lanterns can shine given the vagaries of atmospheric conditions? are you aware of all their aerodynamic capabilities given the complexities of wind/breeze patterns? If the answer to either of those questions is 'no' then your previous comment is null and void.

DB
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flossy
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Location: UK tyne/wear (geordie land)

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

im gonna get one of these lanterns and see what all the fuss is about lol
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thecactus



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 3196
Location: Northern Ireland

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

flossy,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-x-Flying-Sky-Chinese-Lantern-KHOOM-Fay-UFO-Balloon-/330551637453?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Celebrations_Occasions_ET&hash=item4cf669b5cd
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flossy
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Location: UK tyne/wear (geordie land)

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks cactus, i might get me one of those Wink
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thecactus



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 3196
Location: Northern Ireland

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

or here if you just want to see one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMSi7NAtxOw

Smile
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flossy
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Location: UK tyne/wear (geordie land)

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

they go pretty high dont they Smile im gonna have to get one Wink
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Agentscott



Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 1042
Location: Essex

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heres a good UFO sighting with some strange lights that seem to dance around, if these are genuine they are almost identicle to what I witnessed. Of course my sighting was far more complex.

Certenly not balloons here too, see how they are moving around nothing like balloons.

Here it is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2j6KlKueYc&feature=player_embedded


Last edited by Agentscott on Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:06 am; edited 1 time in total
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flossy
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

do lanterns move that fast and dart about the sky like that??
but you dont know if the video has been edited or not?
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Agentscott



Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 1042
Location: Essex

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Flossy,
This vids hot of the press, just found it today.
These are suppost to be real UFO's and to me looks very real compared to what I have seen. This guy must have done his homework or had a sighting himself before making it, either that or this is genuine as I suspect.

I put it up as an example of how this movement could be explaned away as ballons but when veiwed we can see that they dont look anything like balloons.
Notice that pulsating not being like the flikering of a fire within a lantern.

Any lantern I have launched has never moved like that, generally they just float away in a general direction with the wind currents and bob about a bit.
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