UFOs over Cambridge, England?

Question

I saw some orange globes shooting through the sky last night (Aug. 30th 2008) just over Cambridge, England. These guys weren't shooting stars... and if they were they didn't look like any shooting stars I've ever seen. They were going fast and in a sideways V formation. Any ideas what they were? I've been all over the internet looking for meteor shower sitings but I can't find anything.

Answer 1

There have been a lot of reports similar to this one lately -- especially in England.  I think we are seeing a spate of home-made hot-air balloons being launched by pranksters to see how much of a stir they can make.  The only thing in your description which is inconsistent with the hot air balloon hypothesis is your description of speed.  But this can probably be accounted for by the fact that you may have thought they were much higher than they were.  They may have been only a hundred feet up, but if you perceived them as large objects thousands of feet or miles up, then you would have grossly mistaken their speed.

I'll be back in awhile with a link so you can learn more about these things.  They have been responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of UFO reports over the years.

Edit:

http://www.overflite.com/

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/make-i...

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5...

Edit:  Well, freezie and katee, despite your mutual enthusiasm for the alien explanation, I know what I'm talking about.  I have seen three TV news reports of UFO-mania, all of which were caused by these home-made balloons.  As I said, if you seriously misjudge the distance, you will seriously misjudge the speed.  This is the primary reason for Venus being identified as a UFO, especially when it is observed from a moving vehicle.

Anyway, it looks like you're here to reinforce your ecstatic hysteria.  I'm here to give rational, knowledgeable answers.  Here's a calculation for you.  Suppose you saw something at an altitude of 60 feet, being driven by a 12 mph breeze.  That would have the same appearance as an object at 30,000 feet traveling at 6,000 mph.

Answer 2

I also saw these lights over cambridge, probably around midnight Aug 30th. We saw about 40 of them in total over about a 15 minute period.

When I saw them, my first thought was they were some sort of floating lanten or small hot air balloons as suggested by the earlier poster. I've seen similar looking things at music festivals.

Anyway, whatever the origin it was a really impressive sight, and pretty much made my evening.

Answer 3

Wind wouldn't push the hot air balloons in that motion. It also doesn't account for their fast speed.