UFO over the UK - early hours of April 30th 2022

[pdk42]

Well, here's an odd one. I was out at about midnight on the evening of Fri April 29th/Sat April 30th near to Reeth in North Yorkshire. A little after midnight (local time), I noticed a diffuse but fairy bright object in the sky - you can see it in the shot below at the top centre. The object appeared to the naked eye as a perfect sphere about the same angular size as the moon might appear. It had a bright central spot and diffuse circular zone around it. The atmosphere was clear (witness the stars). There were no additional lights on it (say from an aircraft) and there was no trail as might be expected of something generating heat entering the atmosphere. The length of this exposure was 13s, and it moved this distance in that time (i.e. quite fast). The shot is with a fisheye lens. It reduced in intensity as it moved towards the horizon.

I'm perplexed to know what it is...

a) I don't think it's an aircraft since there are no additional lights shown.

b) I don't think it's a meteorite since there's no trail and its speed of movement wasn't sufficiently fast.

c) It looks almost like some sort of ionisation cloud.

My initial thoughts was that the Russians had lobbed an ICBM at us!


UFO - April 30th 2022 by Paul Kaye, on Flickr

[MJ224]

Wow, didn't hear a bang...but who knws what's going on up there at these strange times...Well caught anyway.....:-)

[blackfox]

If you as a thinking person doesn’t realise that all the stars in the universe have planetary systems and that some will have developed advanced civilisations capable of reaching us then think again . Thing is would they want to show there hand given our warlike ways . It’s like you walking in to the Donbas and saying good morning can I have a coffee .. yes I fully believe we are being visited and watched some may already be here for who knows the human form may be the building blocks of life universally ..

[Phill D]

Very mysterious it even disappears if you click on it!
What about a little firefly close to your lens?

[Barr1e]

Space Station?

[BDennis]

Could it be anything to do with a Starlink satellite launch on the 29th?

https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/04/29/falcon-9-starlink-4-16-live-coverage/

[linus1884]

A great photo, reminds more of a caterpillar crawling across your lens! But yes i think more likely some kind of satellite launch..