Date of Event: 15th October 2021
Time of Event: 05:35
Reported: 15th October 2021
Case Reference: Reported to BUFORA
Investigator: Ash Ellis
The witness was outdoors sky watching in the early hours of the morning when he noticed three bright white objects in the shape of a triangle in the sky above Glasgow, Scotland. The objects were stationary and after around 10-12 seconds two of them blinked out of view, followed by the third a few seconds later which faded slowly until they had all disappeared and weren’t seen again.
The witness references planets and constellations in his account, showing that he has a knowledge of the night sky and has as interest in the UFO topic, so I’ll bear this in mind as I complete my investigation.
I checked Flight Radar 24 and other flight tracking apps however there was nothing in the area at the time.
Due to the height of the objects in the sky and the description of them blinking or fading out of view, I don’t think they would be drones or other air-borne vehicles, including helicopters that may belong to the police or to rescue services. I have looked for information on any deployments of the Police Scotland Air Unit and other Search & Rescue organisations but I’m unable to find anything relating to the date and time of this report, so I’m happy to rule these out as possible explanations.
The witness stated they the three objects were in the shape of a triangle, but from the description of the “blinking out slowly” at different times, they are more likely to be seperate objects and the witness describing them as making a triangle shape is more likely a result of apophenia, which is a human tendency to seek patterns in random objects. Particularly in this field, the ‘triangle’ UFO is a commonly reported shape, especially as the witness is a former UFO investigator in the 1990’s, when the triangle UFO really became common, he would be well aware of this which could lead him to “join the dots” so to speak.
Looking at more space-borne objects, these are unlikely to be satellites as satellites aren’t seen to be stationary as they are travelling around the planet in orbit.
The image below shows the approximate area of the sky the objects were seen in, from the information given by the witness.
To the left of the red circle there are a number of meteor showers showing (green labels) in the close vicinity of where these objects were seen.
Could the witness have seen meteors?
Most people think of meteors as a shooting star… a streak of light travelling at speed as the meteor burns up in our atmosphere. However, depending on the angle of approach the meteor takes as well as the viewing location of the witness, meteors can actually appear to be stationary if you were looking at them ‘head-on’, similar to how airplanes can sometimes look to be stationary in the sky, usually on approach to landing.
According to the American Meteor Society:
“Due to the effect of perspective, shower meteors which appear very close to the radiant will be quite short in length, while those which appear some distance from the radiant can be quite long. Members of the same shower, while varying greatly in brightness, will share common characteristics, such as speed, color range, and potential for leaving behind a train” (www.amsmeteors.org)
This could account for the three objects looking and behaving very similarly. One of the meteor showers visible are the 2021 South Taurids. These are visible from the UK between 10th September to the 20th November with the peak around the 10th October, a couple of days before this sighting. According to the UK Meteor Network:
“South Taurids are slow-moving meteors, producing spectacular fireballs. This makes them ideal targets for still-imaging and for newcomers to practice their visual plotting techniques.” (https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk)
These “slow-moving” meteors could account for the amount of time the objects were visible and appearing to be stationary due to the angle of sight as discussed above. The objects “blinking and fading out” are also similar to how meteors appear as they burn up in the atmosphere.
Another possibility is that these were Chinese lanterns, which often appear to travel in a formation as they are moving along the same wind stream. This could also explain the ‘blinking out’ of the lights as once the fuel cell, or flame, of the lantern is used it, the lantern extinguishes and falls back to Earth.
If all three lanterns were lit at the same time, then it’s likely they would all use up their fuel at around the same time, accounting for these three lights to all disappear within a few seconds of each other
Further questioning of the witness found that his eyesight is fine and he doesn’t require the use of glasses.
The witness was alone with no other persons present. He has looked on local websites and social media pages to see if anybody else had reported seeing anything similar, to no avail. I have also looked at other UFO groups that publish sighting reports and there has been nothing else reported for the same time.
Conclusion
Based on the limited information available, lack of any photo or video evidence, and the short amount of time that the objects were visible for, it is my opinion that the objects witnessed were likely to be Chinese lanterns, for the reasons stated above. The meteor hypothesis remains a possibility however this would be a rare sight to see them in the appearance as described by the witness.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this report, the witness has a pre-determined interest in UFOs. This prejudice could affect rational thinking behind what he has seen and lead him to believe that it is more unusual than it actually is.
