How did you measure the size and distance of this thing you saw?
I will assume for the moment that you just guessed (feel free to prove me wrong). What you might have seen is a smaller object which was closer to you than you guessed, in which case it didn't cover that huge distance in one second.
How did you rule out this possibility?
Hey Brain ...
Sorry about the delay responding to your questions. I wanted to finish up with Akhenaten and John Albert who only proved that the skeptics last stand is ridicule. I really hope to change this place for the better. Anyway, to answer your questions:
Question: How did you measure the size and distance of this thing you saw?
Distance: The object was spotted as it came up from behind a mountain and descended down into the valley across the lake from us. I lived there and know the terrain. By getting a map and measuring the distance from where the object landed to my observational position, I could get a fairly accurate distance measurement ( plus or minus about 100 meters ).
Size: The distance was known and against the backdrop of the mountian and other landmarks, it was easy to visually estimate the size. Specifically, it was at night and the object was illuminated. As it descended to the forest floor, it lit up the tree tops, so it was possible to determine its width based on the density of the forest and the size of the trees at that point.
Plus I was used to watching things in the valley, including light aircraft, boats on the lake, hang gliders, car headlamps across the lake and so on. I had done hiking in the valley and looked down into from above. I'd driven the highway near where the object went down numerous times. I had also been in aircraft in the valley twice. Judging the size and distance of things in a closed environment like that is something you get pretty good at. Plus I cross checked my estimates against an actual map.
Question: What you might have seen is a smaller object which was closer to you than you guessed, in which case it didn't cover that huge distance in one second. How did you rule out this possibility?
Answer: It was plain that the object had descended into the foest floor across the lake because:
A. It came up from
behind the mountain across the lake. There was a glow behind the mountian which was
blocking view of the object until it came up over the mountain top. Then the object appeared and descended into the forest
in front of the mountain a few hundred meters from the lakeshore,
on the other side of the lake and as it landed, you could see the light shining through the trees on the
other side of the lake.
B. It was observed three times. It came up out of the forest where it had landed, and then performed a tilted figure eight like maneuver, then settled back into the forest in the same spot.
It did that twice. The repeated observation helped to confirm the initial observation's location and distance.
C. Before it did it's instant accelleration maneuver. It came up out of the forest and stopped. At this time it was dawn and the surrounding landscape was clearly visible. I was outside, looking straight across the lake at this thing with nothing but air separating us.
If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.
j.r.
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