Red Orbs in Denver Sky

[jarlrmai]

For this video I have the metadata


Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1ouu9je/red_orbs_in_denver_sky/

Only to minute precision but the video is 53 seconds, but I am not sure whether the date is start or end date on an Iphone video

I also cannot identify the stars, and astrometry has failed every screen grab I tried.

Sitrec here if someone wants to try and match it up.

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...ws.com/11433/reddit denver/20251112_191250.js

 

[Eburacum]

They do look a bit like fire lanterns, but they are moving a bit too fast. Is the clip playing at natural speed?

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Astrometry is confused because so many of these lights are not astronomical bodies.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Tentatively... I think we're looking generally NE to E with Capella, Aldebaran, Mirfak, Algol, and Almach visible. The Taurus - Perseus area. But my confidence level is low.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

I'll work on a labeled frame in about an hour.

 

[jarlrmai]

If we can get a human match I can try masking the not stars out and see if Astrometry can confirm it

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

I X-ed out what I think are moving lights, just so I could concentrate on the starfield. Not easy to do with the zooming and unsteady-cam. So I'm not promising anything. I added in two more X-s after I got done with the labeling. Procrustean bed? I don't think so... but of course no one who makes that error thinks so.

After putting in the labels, my confidence level is higher. I'd bet a dollar on this.

The glow in the lower left corner is urban light pollution. Doesn't add any info as to what direction we're looking.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

My dollar is on sky lanterns. I don't think the movements are a problem.

There are quite a few "mysterious orange/red orb" YT videos to choose from. Some show lanterns drifting serenely more or less in formation.

Some show the lanterns drifting more chaotically. It depends on the wind.

This one is similar to our OP video.



A difference is that the camera in the OP video is more zoomed in on the lanterns, exaggerating the speed of the apparent movement.

The shaky camera is another difference. I think the shaky camera, the zooming and the short duration make this particular video more mysterious than others, but in the end it's just another sky lantern video.


There are two large churches in the neighborhood: Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The video was taken at ~7:00 in the evening. Prime time for "wish lantern" wedding launches.


This one is of the more serene variety.

Source: https://youtu.be/I3wemdIBRmQ?si=-WojuhdiqZV7_t8R

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

This one is of the more chaotic variety. Two groups of lanterns are moving away from each other. Wind is tricky.