# What is a possible logical explanation for these? (Lights in the sky) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607 "2009-09-02T04:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/1 "2009-09-02T04:17:53Z")
A friend of mine and I saw these while we were driving at night around August 12 or the 14th, I do remember it was two days before the meteor shower. (Or rather, my friend remembered and told me :)) I kept insisting to her that there had to be some logical explanation for them, as I don’t think there is evidence in favor of aliens, but she’s totally freaked out. I’m not sure I could tell her what logically they could be, they are so odd. This wasn’t exactly what we saw, but very very close. When we got a little closer to them, we saw that they were stationary, and they almost had a lantern-like quality, but they were in air. [VIDEO](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntR4FGGF9v4) What’s a possible logical explanation for those? I’ve never seen anything like it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/2 "2009-09-02T04:41:45Z")
[Homemade UFO from a dry cleaner bag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRS1hWs36QI) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/3 "2009-09-02T05:03:31Z")
The fact that they are so perfectly paired makes me doubt they could be Chinese lanterns. A simpler explanation is that they are light reflected/refracted from a spider’s web or strand of fishing line. But realistically there are countless everyday possible explanations for sizeless, motionless lights in the sky before we start turning to the big eyed men. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/4 "2009-09-02T07:24:18Z")
I’m pretty certain what’s in the video are indeed sky lanterns – in a couple of the shots, you can even make out the bag as a sort of cylindrical illuminated area above the flame, [like this](http://www.monsterfireworks.co.uk/images/sky_lantern3.jpg). I’ve started them a couple of times myself, and they look pretty much exactly like they do in the video. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/5 "2009-09-02T17:26:05Z")
First of all, the Perseid meteor shower lasts for about a week or two. “Two days before the shower” probably means two days before the peak, which would still leave you plenty of meteors. But that’s just for general information, since what you saw doesn’t seem like meteors. As for the videos, there are honestly very few things that _couldn’t_ be. It could be stars, or planets, or airplanes, or homemade hot air balloons, or professional weather balloons, or anything else that could put spots of light in the sky. The motion of the objects appears to be entirely due to the camera jiggling and zooming in and out, the circular shape could be due to poor resolution or seeing conditions, and the reddish color could be due to atmospheric scattering (like a sunset). ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/6 "2009-09-02T17:44:07Z")
Uh… It was Venus? From the video, it is absolutely impossible to say. Are the lights moving or the camera? No other reference in the sky or anything on the ground. You can’t even get an idea of the size. As far as I could tell, it could be someone waving around a flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/7 "2009-09-02T21:47:55Z")
Similar thing happened to me a while back and I took very similar video footage of it (not posted online) - it was indeed paper lanterns being launched from a nearby hotel - part of a wedding celebration. The ones I saw were drifting slowly in unison across the sky, as there was a slight breeze. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-possible-logical-explanation-for-these-lights-in-the-sky/508607/8 "2009-09-03T04:49:24Z")
Thanks everyone. I think we fell for the prank in the first reply. I had been telling my friend even before I started this thread that they looked like lanterns to me, but I had no idea how a lantern could fly. 🙂 Candles inside a bag makes perfect sense.