Strange lights in the sky

[marks]

I've just seen two strange red lights in the sky, at 8.20pm. Any idea what they were? I'm very close to Derry City Airport, but its to the north east of me.

One rose upwards from the horizon, in the south west then stopped around where Zaurak would be (below right of Rigel in Orion). It started fading but remained in that exact same spot.

As the first was fading away, a second red light rose upwards from the horizon and stopped slightly below the first one. Then it faded away in approx 5 minutes.

I caught about 20 seconds of it on the camcorder, turned that off and looked through my 20x50 binoculars, and it looked like a very bright red star with a red haze around it. At a guess, both lights were mag -4, easily brighter than Mars or Rigel.

I can get the camcorder footage onto youtube if the Vista drivers behave themselves.

So, what did I see? I've never seen anything like it before. Definitely not an aircraft of any sort.

[marks]

Hmmm, I'm now thinking its possible the lights were chinese lanterns in the distance. However what amazes me is how stationary these were, despite fading away.

[Paul Evans]

Hi Mark, and welcome to the forum!

I have to say my first thought was Chinese Lanterns too, though I've never actually seen them myself, the description matches that of many reports I've heard before. The wind patterns at different altitudes can cause these things to move in very strange ways, but that's my best guess.

Clear skies,

Paul.