large glowing spheres - could they be military?

[Mary Crewkerne]

Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

OK my question is - could the objects have been something one of the
armed forces were using, and if so, what?

Thanks!

Mary

[Paul - xxx]

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.
OK my question is - could the objects have been something one of the
armed forces were using, and if so, what?

Flares.

[Peter Parry]

On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 14:26:49 -0700 (PDT), Mary Crewkerne

Post by Mary Crewkerne
OK my question is - could the objects have been something one of the
armed forces were using, and if so, what?

Far more likely to be Chinese Lanterns. eg
http://www.yorkshirefireworks.co.uk/chinese-lanterns.html

judging size and distance of a glowing object against the dark sky is
very difficult.

[William Black]

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

Parachute flares.

Possibly even star shells

[William Black]

Post by William Black

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

Parachute flares.
Possibly even star shells

And two minutes on Utube turns up

Start at about 1 minute in, the first bit is just voices...

This one is astonishing.

fancy seeing that at night...

[Mary Crewkerne]

Post by William Black

Post by William Black

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

Parachute flares.
Possibly even star shells

And two minutes on Utube turns up
http://youtu.be/LuimzF-XJjM
Start at about 1 minute in,  the first bit is just voices...
This one is astonishing.
fancy seeing that at night...
http://youtu.be/aI9OPkfXBlM

Hi William, they weren't like the second lot, released from the
aircraft - they weren't that spectacular and were much longer-lasting.
They were more similar to the first lot, the cluster flare. Can people
please describe some more what these are like and when they are used.
The items I saw lasted for at least 20-30 minutes. Most were
stationary or almost stationary for most of the time, and when they
moved, they moved downwards very slowly. This was around 1980.

Mary

[Paul - xxx]

Post by Mary Crewkerne
The items I saw lasted for at least 20-30 minutes. Most were
stationary or almost stationary for most of the time, and when they
moved, they moved downwards very slowly. This was around 1980.

Isn't it a little late to be wondering what they were now? I know my
memories of 20 year old events, like No1 son being born, are getting
hazy and lack detail .. indeed my memories are at odds with my wifes ..
;)

[Mary Crewkerne]

Post by William Black

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

Parachute flares.
Possibly even star shells

Hi all, these definitely weren't Chinese lanterns; they were far too
big and bright. But can you say some more about what parachute flares
and star shells are and when they are used. Are they slowly moving?
The objects didn't seem to be above the firing range, which was too
far away. They would have had to have been truly enormous if they had
been. The hill area and its surroundings were not flagged up as being
under military use, and as far as I know, never are. Do the military
sometimes use the items mentioned over non-military areas?

Thanks!
Mary

[William Black]

Post by Mary Crewkerne

Post by William Black

Post by Mary Crewkerne
Several years ago I was one of several people who witnessed about a
dozen slowly descending large glowing spheres close to a hill in
southern England. I was 500 metres from the hill and they were above
or slightly behind it and several hundred metres up, kind of floating
and slowly descending. Each looked maybe 10 metres across, but of
course, nobody could really tell. There was no military, naval, air
force or communications base in the area, although there was an army
firing range about a mile and a half away, behind the objects from my
point of view. It was spring and it was night time, about 8-9 pm.

Parachute flares.
Possibly even star shells

Hi all, these definitely weren't Chinese lanterns; they were far too
big and bright. But can you say some more about what parachute flares
and star shells are and when they are used. Are they slowly moving?
The objects didn't seem to be above the firing range, which was too
far away. They would have had to have been truly enormous if they had
been. The hill area and its surroundings were not flagged up as being
under military use, and as far as I know, never are. Do the military
sometimes use the items mentioned over non-military areas?

The various bits of the military own a variety of magnesium fuelled
flares that range from little ones fired from oversized pistols to huge
devices designed for night photography of large areas of ocean from
aircraft at night

As a rule they burn for a couple minutes and hang from small parachutes
which you can't see because of the light from the flare.

They seem to last longer than they really do and cast very sharp shadows.