I was not able to see it for myself. I probably would have come to the same conclusion. I have never seen a contrail so short. Or, maybe I just never paid attention (most probable). If any have seen the movie "The chronicles of Riddick", it looked like the approaching comet of the bad guys. Dale ________________________________ From: Robert Taylor <rob.taylor@digis.net> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Fri, September 3, 2010 6:26:32 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO? Dale: Fascinating footage, I tend to agree with Kim about the Contrail though. Due to time of day, direction and shape it looks like a short contrail with great reflections off the setting sun. Note Patrick comments about the stars being pin-point which would be a good clue that the air was very dry which would lead to very short contrails as well. Thank your wife talking the video and being quick enough to grab a camera. It's great footage and a good mystery. Bob -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Kim Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 11:48 PM To: 'Utah Astronomy' Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO? Dale, From your original post I suspected that your wife recorded a jet contrail. Coincidentally, tonight at around the same time of evening (maybe a bit earlier) my son and I were returning home from a trip to Ephraim and I saw two jets in the western sky, both with contrails virtually identical to what you and your wife saw. When the weather is like this (and I don't know the technical terminology to describe it; warm, dry air mass?) contrails will appear very short, but may still be there. They rapidly dissipate. You can see the split in the contrail due to the plane's fuselage in the images. Anyway, still interesting and fun that your wife was observant enough and acted quickly enough to get images. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Dale Wilson Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 11:37 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] UFO? Here it is. Pardon the editing. The time and date are correct. My wife recorded this last night. No news was made on the stations and I am shocked nobody else has reported seeing this. It looks like a comet or a meteorite in slow motion. It was orange and went south-west. I'm open to ideas. Dale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmicX7SNR_c _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

Dale: If I were you I would keep digging. There is a chance that Kim is working for the government. (You know a Project Blue Book kind of thing). I'm not sayin' it is so I'm just sayin' it could happen.:) Steve

From: kimharch@cut.net To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 11:27:59 -0600 Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO?

Dale, if you haven't looked through Google "contrail" images do so and you'll see several that are virtually identical to your wife's images. For example, look at the following links (I have and the websites appear safe): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/contrail.html

http://www.kolumbus.fi/jimenez/photos/misc/contrail_030304a.jpg

http://www.brianwhittaker.com/Photo-of-Week/Archive/05-11-01-A340Contrail/05 -11-01-A340Contrail.htm

I even found a similar newspaper story from Newfoundland. Residents there also thought they saw a UFO, but one person who took a photo processed it and said she could clearly see an airplane. As I explained last night, I saw the same phenomena from two different planes last night, just a little before sunset. It was still light enough and the planes near enough that I could clearly see the fuselage and wings.

Kim

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Well, to true believers Project Blue Book was nothing but an Air Force misinformation campaign.

Check out Robert Dean, a retired Command Sgt Major in the Army who was the adjutant for the Supreme Commander of NATO, I believe in the 1980's. He had security clearance that only a handful of people ever have.

Dale:

If I were you I would keep digging. There is a chance that Kim is working for the government. (You know a Project Blue Book kind of thing). I'm not sayin' it is so I'm just sayin' it could happen.:) Steve

...

From: kimharch@cut.net To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 11:27:59 -0600 Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO?

Dale, if you haven't looked through Google "contrail" images do so and you'll see several that are virtually identical to your wife's images. For example, look at the following links (I have and the websites appear safe): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/contrail.html

http://www.kolumbus.fi/jimenez/photos/misc/contrail_030304a.jpg

http://www.brianwhittaker.com/Photo-of-Week/Archive/05-11-01-A340Contrail/05 -11-01-A340Contrail.htm

I even found a similar newspaper story from Newfoundland. Residents there also thought they saw a UFO, but one person who took a photo processed it and said she could clearly see an airplane. As I explained last night, I saw the same phenomena from two different planes last night, just a little before sunset. It was still light enough and the planes near enough that I could clearly see the fuselage and wings.

Kim

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On 04 Sep 2010, at 17:16, Chuck Hards wrote:

That is plainly a jet contrail. I've seen hundreds exactly like it in my 50+ years of life on this planet.

What about your years on the other planet? (What was it's name?) :) Looks like a great night shaping up tonight. I hope everyone's out and looking up. patrick

Hello -- Indeed, I ended up at Lakeside, a little earlier than I had intended. It was windy for about the first hour, but nothing serious. After five hours out, I was cold, but no real complaints. About 3:00 someone in a truck kept driving up and down and shining a flashlight at me, and eventually drove over and shined his headlights. I think it must have been some kind of rangers. Quite a productive night. Started by glancing around at naked-eye objects, went to looking at some binocular objects. Looked at M77 and M33 with the scope for old times' sake. Then I got down to business. It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my first three objects: the Cave nebula in Cepheus, the Bubble nebula in Cassiopeia, and the galaxy IC 1613 in Cetus. It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my next 2 objects, the galaxies NGC 2635 and NGC 1961 in Camelopardalis. Combination of bad aiming to start, and difficulty navigating near the pole. NGC 1961 was much easier than I had expected. Then the last 2 hours was more frenetic. I picked up all the Herschels in Gemini and all the Herschels in Orion, to bring my total to 275. Splitting NGC2371/2372 was probably the biggest challenge here. Closed with Hubble's variable nebula in Monoceros, which finishes the Caldwells for me down to 73. With some horizon scraping, I think getting down to 80 is possible, maybe from Southern Utah. But for now, I took the book out of my bag and put it back on the shelf. Nice night, but no wildlife... ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu

Just plain yahoos with guns, the worst combination. We were at the Wedge Overlook (firearms are supposed to absent from there a BLM campground ) one time and one in our party got shot, luckily it was a small caliber and the bullet was lodged in his belt. They claimed accident but he was in plain view and they seemed to be taking pot shots, there are some very irresponsible gun owners out there.

Interesting report. When Jay, Daniel, a fellow we just met named Troy and

I were at Lakeside Friday night-Saturday morning, a truck was driving around nearby. I stopped my Jeep as it was driving out and I was driving in, and asked them who they were (a man and a woman, who somehow reminded me of mean hillbillies). Who are you, the guy demanded. I explained I thought they might be fellow astronomers. The guy said, Oh, that's what those people are doing. He drove off. When I got there Jay said the truck had been driving around and gunshots were going off, and the astronomers had blinked their headlights to let them know not to shoot in their direction. My guess is that the yahoos were hunting coyotes. I suspect that's who you saw, Michael. -- Joe

--- On Mon, 9/6/10, Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu> wrote:

...

From: Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Sunday/Monday -- good night! To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, September 6, 2010, 7:13 AM Hello --

Indeed, I ended up at Lakeside, a little earlier than I had intended. It was windy for about the first hour, but nothing serious. After five hours out, I was cold, but no real complaints. About 3:00 someone in a truck kept driving up and down and shining a flashlight at me, and eventually drove over and shined his headlights. I think it must have been some kind of rangers.

Quite a productive night. Started by glancing around at naked-eye objects, went to looking at some binocular objects. Looked at M77 and M33 with the scope for old times' sake.

Then I got down to business. It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my first three objects: the Cave nebula in Cepheus, the Bubble nebula in Cassiopeia, and the galaxy IC 1613 in Cetus.

It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my next 2 objects, the galaxies NGC 2635 and NGC 1961 in Camelopardalis. Combination of bad aiming to start, and difficulty navigating near the pole. NGC 1961 was much easier than I had expected.

Then the last 2 hours was more frenetic. I picked up all the Herschels in Gemini and all the Herschels in Orion, to bring my total to 275. Splitting NGC2371/2372 was probably the biggest challenge here.

Closed with Hubble's variable nebula in Monoceros, which finishes the Caldwells for me down to 73. With some horizon scraping, I think getting down to 80 is possible, maybe from Southern Utah. But for now, I took the book out of my bag and put it back on the shelf.

Nice night, but no wildlife...

---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu

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Be careful of those skunks, I know an individual who left his car doors open and a skunk went to sleep in his back seat. The skunk woke up while he was driving up Parleys and the skunk got very unhappy, if you get my drift. That was the end of that car as the skunk sprayed everywhere. Yes, when I observe alone, I like it to be ALONE, with only the sounds of

nature, or with my iPod playing on a portable player with speakers so I can listen to The Planets or a podcast by a college astronomy professor or Astronomy 365 or Bad Astronomy etc. I haven't been scared by any animal though a skunk might or a badger but I've never seen them when observing in the mountains or in the desert. The human animal is a different story all together and that encounter, when alcohol, drugs and/or low mentality with guns are involved, it's time to pack it up. Fortunately I haven't run into anyone alone yet, and hopefully that doesn't change during the coming week either.

On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 2:03 PM, <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:

...

...

Just plain yahoos with guns, the worst combination. We were at the Wedge Overlook (firearms are supposed to absent from there a BLM campground ) one time and one in our party got shot, luckily it was a small caliber and the bullet was lodged in his belt. They claimed accident but he was in plain view and they seemed to be taking pot shots, there are some very irresponsible gun owners out there.

Interesting report. When Jay, Daniel, a fellow we just met named Troy and

...

I were at Lakeside Friday night-Saturday morning, a truck was driving around nearby. I stopped my Jeep as it was driving out and I was driving in, and asked them who they were (a man and a woman, who somehow reminded me of mean hillbillies). Who are you, the guy demanded. I explained I thought they might be fellow astronomers. The guy said, Oh, that's what those people are doing. He drove off. When I got there Jay said the truck had been driving around and gunshots were going off, and the astronomers had blinked their headlights to let them know not to shoot in their direction. My guess is that the yahoos were hunting coyotes. I suspect that's who you saw, Michael. -- Joe

--- On Mon, 9/6/10, Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu> wrote:

...

From: Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Sunday/Monday -- good night! To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, September 6, 2010, 7:13 AM Hello --

Indeed, I ended up at Lakeside, a little earlier than I had intended. It was windy for about the first hour, but nothing serious. After five hours out, I was cold, but no real complaints. About 3:00 someone in a truck kept driving up and down and shining a flashlight at me, and eventually drove over and shined his headlights. I think it must have been some kind of rangers.

Quite a productive night. Started by glancing around at naked-eye objects, went to looking at some binocular objects. Looked at M77 and M33 with the scope for old times' sake.

Then I got down to business. It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my first three objects: the Cave nebula in Cepheus, the Bubble nebula in Cassiopeia, and the galaxy IC 1613 in Cetus.

It took 1 1/2 hours for me to get my next 2 objects, the galaxies NGC 2635 and NGC 1961 in Camelopardalis. Combination of bad aiming to start, and difficulty navigating near the pole. NGC 1961 was much easier than I had expected.

Then the last 2 hours was more frenetic. I picked up all the Herschels in Gemini and all the Herschels in Orion, to bring my total to 275. Splitting NGC2371/2372 was probably the biggest challenge here.

Closed with Hubble's variable nebula in Monoceros, which finishes the Caldwells for me down to 73. With some horizon scraping, I think getting down to 80 is possible, maybe from Southern Utah. But for now, I took the book out of my bag and put it back on the shelf.

Nice night, but no wildlife...

---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu

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-- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

From what I know of Chuck, I've long suspected that he's a part-time resident of Tralfamadore.

Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 8:39 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO? On 04 Sep 2010, at 17:16, Chuck Hards wrote:

That is plainly a jet contrail. I've seen hundreds exactly like it in my 50+ years of life on this planet.

What about your years on the other planet? (What was it's name?) :) Looks like a great night shaping up tonight. I hope everyone's out and looking up. patrick _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

As I was walking down a hallway at my place of work, someone stopped me to ask about a possible UFO sighting in the western sky Wednesday evening.  Obviously someone else had witnessed this same event. --- On Fri, 9/3/10, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote: From: Kim <kimharch@cut.net> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] UFO? To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Friday, September 3, 2010, 11:27 AM Dale, if you haven't looked through Google "contrail" images do so and you'll see several that are virtually identical to your wife's images. For example, look at the following links (I have and the websites appear safe): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/contrail.html http://www.kolumbus.fi/jimenez/photos/misc/contrail_030304a.jpg http://www.brianwhittaker.com/Photo-of-Week/Archive/05-11-01-A340Contrail/05 -11-01-A340Contrail.htm I even found a similar newspaper story from Newfoundland. Residents there also thought they saw a UFO, but one person who took a photo processed it and said she could clearly see an airplane. As I explained last night, I saw the same phenomena from two different planes last night, just a little before sunset. It was still light enough and the planes near enough that I could clearly see the fuselage and wings. Kim _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com