| Pretty quiet in here lately...
Anyone looking at Hale Bopp recently? As I was letting my dog out at
5:00 this morning, I looked up and could very easily, very clearly see
Hale Bopp in the eastern sky. Then with simple binoculars, it was even
more impressive.
helge.
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FROM THE AYRSHIRE POST OFFICE(PRINTED WITHOUT PERMISION).
Air traffic controllers at Prestwick received dozens of calls on
Saturday night after strange objects were seen in the skies over
Ayrshire.It is understood that among the callers reporting the UFO's
were members of a 999 crew.
Sightings of one bright object,which remained in the skies over
Dundonald for several hours from around 9pm,coincided with the
appearance of the comet Hale Bopp which astronomers say will be visible
for the next two weeks.
The Met office in Glasgow was also flooded with calls ove the
sighting.
But several people remain unconvinced that what they saw was Hale
Boppwhich isn't due to be at it's brightest until March 22nd.
Colin Chisolm,27,of Bellfield,Kilmarnock and his wife first saw the
object from the balcony of their flat just after 11pm on Saturday night.
"What we saw was not Hale Bopp",he insisted."The object we were
watching was actually changing colour fromgreen to red to white and was
very bright.It was also in the skies to the west and not to the
north,as Hale Bopp.I've never seen a star that behaves like that".
"When we first looked out through the window we could see very
bright coloured lights.It stayed in a fixed position for quite a time
and then started moving away",he said.
But Mr Chisolm also saw another bright red triangular object shoot
across the sky at about 11.55pm.
Several objects were also seen by 19 year-old Craig Stewart,also of
Kilmarnock who told thi reporter:"There's no way that the main object
was Hale Bopp".
"I called Prestwick Air Traffic Control Centre and they said they
had had a number of calls about the same sighting.I saw two little red
objects shoot off from it",he said.
"While I was talking to air traffic control I told them I could see a
plane passing the object,and they said they could see the plane but
nothing else on radar.
Another witness filmed the object using a camcorder,and th Leader
has aquired a copy of the tape.
When seen on camera,the one dot of light appeared clearly as two
horizontal dots which gradually descend together around Dundonald Hill
before gradually moving away into the distance.
The video is to be forwarded to UFO researchers.
Malcolm Robertson,of the Strange Phenomena Investigations Unit based
in Alloa confirmed that it was unlikely that the object would have been
Hale Bopp from the descriptions given by witnesses.
"Hale Bopp won't be at it's brightest until around March 22nd-and I
expect it will generate a lot of reports of UFO sightings,"he told th
Leader.
"It's fair to say that the number of UFO sightings has been on the
increase in Scotland and Ayrshire has been singled out as the site of
quite a lot of UFO activity."
"Although there is a rational explanation for the vast majority of
UFO sightings,some sightings cannot be explained."
Printed in the"Ayrshire Leader" March 14th
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