66 FAQs about Strange Sightings (The Astronomy Cafe)

American Meteor Society

Leonid Meteor page at NASA

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Journal of Scientific Exploration

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  1. What is the bright naked-eye star near Pluto's position?
  2. Have you ever seen a UFO?
  3. Can I see Orion's Belt in the summer from Minnesota?
  4. Was there a 'Star of David' conjunction of the planets on January 23, 1997?
  5. My mother said that between 1947-1949 there were stars moving all over the sky. Any ideas what this was a reference to?
  6. I saw a planet looking like a Full Mercury in the direction of Sirius at 8PM GMT from France. Any ideas?
  7. Can you get a Moon Burn in the tropics from the Full Moon?
  8. In Akron Ohio in the 1960's the entire sky lit up by a fast moving, rumbling object bigger than the Moon with molten colors on the surface, but no tail. What was it?
  9. I saw a fast moving object below the tail of Hale-Bopp from Ireland moving N-NE towards the horizon. Could it be a satellite?
  10. I saw a 3 fast moving objects near the North American Nebula in Cygnus, flying in a 0.5 degree triangle in Switzerland in March. Any idea what it could be?
  11. I saw a bright red light appear in the sky, like Mars but not moving, then it took off straight up and disappeared into a ball of smoke that covered the sky. A rocket?
  12. I observed a small, cloud-like object half way between Sirius and Procyon and was about 2x4 degrees in size. You could see stars through it, but it disappeared after a few hours. Any clues?
  13. From an Atlantic beach, I saw in March, a non-blinking red object move across the sky then stop relative to the stars. What was it?
  14. Why does the color of Arcturus oscillate from red to green through a telescope?
  15. Can you see both Mercury and Venus at midnight from some places on Earth?
  16. On a clear night I saw Sirius changing colors from blue to white. Why does this happen?
  17. Have you ever heard sounds in space?
  18. On March 7, 1997 I saw a bright light in the Northeast sky at 5:00 AM, what was it?
  19. What was the object I saw moving across the NGC 3190 galaxy cluster on March 7, 1997?
  20. What was the bright star seen below Hale-Bopp on March 6, and the second red one to its west?
  21. What are 'spooklights', 'singing sands' and 'mistpouffers'?
  22. At 20:00 on 1/12/97 I saw a bright star about 10 degrees above the south south east horizon. What was it?
  23. Diffraction has nothing to do with the Green Flash. Why do you say it does?
  24. What could cause Venus to flash, pulse and twinkle as it rises above a mountainous horizon?
  25. What was the bright object seen by astronomers in the sky in the summer of 1996 that lasted only a fraction of a second?
  26. Is there a comet headed our way accompanied by an alien spacecraft?
  27. Would a bolide (fireball) look like a shiny disk hovering in the sky?
  28. When camping on the Trinity River near Lewiston California, We saw an unusual flying formation of lights. Any ideas what they were?
  29. We saw something strange in New Jersey on Nov 16, 1996. What was it?
  30. Sometimes when I look at the Moon and the Sun, the Moon's crescent isn't properly aligned with the Sun. Why is this?
  31. From Pennsylvania on 10/20/1996 I saw what looked like a star flare up at 5 AM about 50 degrees from the southern horizon. What do you suppose it was?
  32. I saw the star ANtares flare up on September 30, 1996 in New Mexico. What was going on?
  33. Was there really an alien spacecraft crash at Roswell, New Mexico?
  34. Where are Jupiter and Saturn in October, 1996?
  35. How do you tell the difference between a genuine UFO and something else?
  36. On September 29, 1996 I saw a comet-like object near Jupiter. The next night it was gone. What was it?
  37. What was the bright dancing light seen in the north from Edinburgh during the last two summers?
  38. How do you tell the difference with the naked eye between a star, a planet and a satellite?
  39. I saw a bright red object in the sky near Jupiter and the Moon in August, 1996. What could it have been?
  40. What is that bright object in the southern sky as seen from the northern hemisphere in August?
  41. I saw a fuzzy spot in the sky near Jupiter in August, 1996. What was it?
  42. I saw a small cloud over the LA airport with lightning flashes. Is this common and what's going on?
  43. Street lights near the horizon do not twinkle, but the ones a few miles away do, and nearby ones don't. What causes this?
  44. I saw something flash in the nebula Messier 8. Is there a pulsar in this nebula or something?
  45. Have you ever seen or heard something you could not explain scientifically?
  46. Why do you believe 'spook lights' are real but not that UFOs are spacecraft?
  47. What are the Marfa lights in Texas?
  48. What do you think about the Face on Mars?
  49. What is your opinion about the thousands of people who say they have been abducted by UFOs?
  50. Have astronauts ever seen UFOs while in space?
  51. I saw a double rainbow with the colors of the inner one reversed. Was I imagining this?
  52. Were there any bright objects near the moon on the 8th,15th and 22nd of March, 1996?
  53. Was there a raging fire seen on the Moon in the end of 1995?
  54. I saw a fireball streak across the sky on February 27,1996. What was it?
  55. Do you think that the strange lights seen in Sweden were UFOs?
  56. Can you explain some funny business with the moon as seen from New Orleans on January 22, 1996?
  57. What is that bright star I see in the west each evening in January 1996?
  58. Does the sky actually brighten a bit after your eye becomes dark adapted?
  59. I saw a spectacular flash of light in the sky in the Rocky Mountains. What could it have been?
  60. Why are astronomers so hostile and negative about the existence of UFOs?
  61. Were there any man-made objects in the sky on the afternoon of September 6th?
  62. We were looking in the clear night sky in 1979 and saw a star brighten and fade very fast. Any idea what it might have been?"
  63. What are gamma ray bursts?"
  64. What is a Moon Dog?"
  65. What could cause a North-South band of darkness at night in which you could see no stars?"
  66. What was the brilliant shooting star I saw in the sky on November 17?"


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