Colorado Phoenix - June 21, 2017

[Wonko]

https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/2017/06/fiery-angelic-being-circling-over.html

Witness states: We were on our front deck watching the sunset and sky when my husband saw bright lights coming from the west I ran into the house to get my phone and my husband ran into the house to get his canon camera we took pictures of the 1st one.

I took video with my phone while he took still pictures a second one came from the same direction we have pictures and video, best description as a phoenix or angelic form.

Looking at the linear trajectory of this thing and it it's constant rate of speed in the video, I sure have to think this thing is simply a plane passing through. And yet how to explain the bird like wings and flames? Some kind of artifact of the camera from attempting to capture a high speed object? Possibly the setting sun bouncing off the plane's wings?
View attachment 72584

 

[Mick West]

I think we've seen this before, but I can't find a thread on it. As I recall, it was contrails at an odd angle. [Edit, It was a sunlit plane]

 

[deirdre]

I think we've seen this before, but I can't find a thread on it. As I recall, it was contrails at an odd angle.

can you post a pic? the attatchment doesnt work and i dont want to click on that link. used wayback machine.

 

[John J.]

From the OP link, https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/2017/06/fiery-angelic-being-circling-over.html:

Witness states: We were on our front deck watching the sunset and sky...

...so maybe something reflecting sunlight from its sides/ undersides from the sun at a low elevation.

Could be an airliner-style aircraft, travelling (from perspective of photographer) from approx. 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock and away from the observer.
The sun could be low and to the left, so it's not catching the underside of the right wing.
Possible anti-collision lights at the wingtips (admittedly I can't see any tone of green/ cyan at right, just a light).

Edited to add: I've been saying "anti-collision lights" when I should have said "position lights" or "navigation lights".

 

[JMartJr]

(admittedly I can't see any tone of green/ cyan at right, just a light).

Agreed, but the pic such saturated reds/oranges, I wonder of the color has not been adjusted to make the angel look more fiery. IF so, might that have squashed the green? (Edit to add -- there does not seem to be a boatload of orange and yellow inside the orange circle showing where the whitish smudge of the UFO is in the zoomed out image...)

 

[jarlrmai]

I cannot download the video.

And it's way too old for ADSB.

 

[JMartJr]

Looking more at the "light" on the starboard wing, it seems to be living pretty comfortably in the blue family of much of the sky, might it just be light from the sky reflecting of a white or neutral inner surface of the winglet, rather than a light?

 

[John J.]

might it just be light from the sky reflecting of a white or neutral inner surface of the winglet, rather than a light?

Maybe, I'm not sure.
That dot of light is more prominent than the other speckles of white in the image (excluding those around what I think is the fuselage front).

My knowledge of cameras is practically zilch, so I don't know to what extent luminosity/ colour in our images is reliable.
Perhaps a coincidence- or indeed irrelevant- but on a different thread I put

I don't often see the green navigation light unless the aircraft is low, don't know if that's a physics thing or a perception thing.

...something I've thought about since, watching aircraft lights at night. I first see a light, then the flashing anti collision lights- initially apparently white- and as they approach, the red (port) flashing light becomes evident before the green; sometimes I can't detect the green colour of the starboard light although I can the redness of the port light (my colour vision is fine!)

Green light is more prone to scattering than red (but less than blue) and the closer the hypothetical aircraft is to the horizon, the more scattering occurs.
Some countries use almost exclusively blue lights for their emergency vehicles (unlike e.g. red-white-and-blue lightbars), reading a link supplied on the Skyquakes thread, I was genuinely surprised to learn this is because the blue lights are less visible to aircraft:

...cobalt blue was regulated to replace the red color used until 1938 in German emergency vehicle lights. Due to the scattering properties of the blue color, it is only visible to lower altitudes and is therefore less easily spotted by enemy airplanes.

-From Wikipedia, Emergency Vehicle Lighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_vehicle_lighting.

I guess the greater scattering of green light compared to red might play a role in our images?

 

[NorCal Dave]

Looks kinda like a South West 737. The old standby livery was red and gold:

The newer one uses red on the bottom and tail:

But they were also known for special state flag livery on some aircraft, with this Tennessee and Arizona ones heavy on the reds and oranges:

 

[John J.]

Agreed, but the pic such saturated reds/oranges, I wonder of the color has not been adjusted to make the angel look more fiery. IF so, might that have squashed the green?

Re. what I think might be lights near the wingtips, I confused myself (and forgot something I'd posted on another thread):
When I mentioned "anti-collision lights" in post #4, I should have said "position lights" or navigation lights
(red on left wing, green on right), which is what I was thinking about.
And I had forgotten that rear-facing position lights are white, not red or green.

The lack of green/ cyan in the white-ish dot near what could be the right wingtip might be explained if it is a rear-facing position light which is white, not green, or if it is an anti-collision light, also white:

What I interpreted as shine from a red left wingtip position light might just be "flare" from reflected sunlight on the left winglet.

Interesting that I managed to convince myself that the absence of green light near the right wingtip was due to Rayleigh scattering

.

 

[JMartJr]

Re. what I think might be lights near the wingtips

The image you posted mentions logo lights briefly, I wonder if that might be what we are seeing? If mounted on the wingtip, they'd be backwards-facing to an extent, to shone on the tail, but I have no idea if they would be visible from below...

Logo lights are usually mounted on the horizontal stabilizer and light up the vertical fin. Older aircraft, like the DC-8, DC-9, and MD-80/90 variants have logo lights mounted on the wingtips. Airlines love to show off their logos at night – that's exactly what logo lights are for.

Source: https://aerosavvy.com/airplane-lights/