Orange UFOs Over Cheltenham!

Gloucestershire Echo
8-23-05

WHAT WERE THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY?

      Mysterious orange lights have been spotted above the skies of Cheltenham. Gloucestershire police are investigating the sightings and treating the incident as suspicious.

     Physics teacher Kevin Downes was running with his wife Alexandra in Winchester Way, Warden Hill, when they saw the lights at 10.30pm on Sunday.

     Kevin, 52, who used to teach at Dean Close School, said: "At first I thought they were fireworks.

     "Being a physicist I was fascinated what these orange lights were. There were about 12 of them and they kept moving across the horizon.

     "I then saw somebody pulling into their drive and approached him to look up at the sky, just in case we were seeing things.

     "He saw the lights too and got out the binoculars he uses for watching the horse racing.

     "The lights, which were shaped like the plough star constellation, stopped and hovered above us."

     He said they then dispersed and faded out.

     Ian Statham, managing director of Gloucestershire Airport in Staverton, said: "Lights on aircraft are red, white or green - not orange."

     Ursula Hughes saw the lights from Malvern Road, where she was hosting a dinner party with her husband Malcolm.

     Mrs Hughes, 67, said: "I looked out and saw these beautiful orange lights moving from the east. They flew in formation and look like little lanterns."

     Rod Salisbury, secretary of Cotswold Astronomical Society, said: "The only things that can be seen moving are meteors and they're not orange and they only move for a very short period before they burn up.

     "Satellites move but appear white, reflecting the light from the sun. They wouldn't appear for as long as 20 minutes."

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