Howdy guys, I'm out of Western North Carolina obviously. I live near the VA border in the piedmont area.

For at least three or four years now I've been observing "moving stars" from my farm. While the lighting conditions aren't perfect I do has less light to content with than city dwellers and as a result star gazing is possible and I do my fair share of it.

What I'm basically seeing are things that look like stars but are much brighter in most cases. These "moving stars" stay still most of the time, but often times they will move in odd ways. They will ascend and descend rapidly and move in ways that I've never seen an aircraft do..although I'm far from an expert on aircraft... What I'm basically saying is they don't move like the planes, jets, and choppers I see all of the time.

The "moving stars" that I'm seeing come and go. Sometimes I'll see the same one in the same place for a few nights in a row. Other times I can't pick out any at all. Most are *bright* white/whiteish blue and I've also seen red and blue ones that "flicker". I've never seen one that "flickered" by itself..it is always in the company of a bright white "moving star".

Whatever they are...I think they are miles away and flying *very* high.

I've seen them more times than I can remember now. I've seen them in the company of others (family and friends mostly) and have pointed them out to people fishing at our pond. My father watched them with me one night and even he was at a lost to explain what it was. There is one outside right now if you're in the area...at least it was there when I registered a few minutes ago. Look towards the southern sky and you might see it!

So basically I'm here to find out if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing. I found this place via google BTW, some guy posted a video here that was from the Carolina area and it looked similar to what I'm seeing up here at the VA border.

I'd like to get these things on tape so I also wanted to ask you guys for any advice on that front. I know how to edit/encode video already...I just need some advice on the best way to shoot things so high in the sky. I already know most cameras have problems focusing in when shooting the sky at night so I'd like some tips on avoiding that if possible.

This post has been edited by WesternNC: Jun 5 2008, 12:48 AM

By first focusing the camera on a very distant object you can get it to recognize that focus to infinity is required.

With moderate magnefication such as zoom camera lens and binoculars you can see structure in large objects in lower orbits. This is the case for the international space station which looks like a moving star and is often the brightest star in the sky.

When objects such as the space station are observed they may appear to vanish when they move to where they fall in the earths shadow. While we are in darkness objects in orbit are lit by sunlight and that is the only reason we see them at all.

Holy hell, I've been seeing one of those for the past few nights and really wondering about it. It looks like a hallogen lamp up there- really big and a bright bluish white. It is stationary most of the time but occasionally it will move or other flashes of light seem to come off of it. I'm guessing it might be a planet or space station? Maybe venus? That doesn't really explain much but it doesn't behave how you would expect a UFO to, either, so who knows?

Yes you probably saw UFOs.

The bright glow you see (that makes it look like a star) is the very hot plasma field that surrounds the ship.

It sounds more like a satellite then a UFO. Just because you say you can see it in the same place on different nights and it stays stationary but sometimes moves. Satellite's do that are they are brighter then regular stars because they are closer.

I live in Lake Worth, Florida. On May 16th, my fiancee and I were at the beach. We both spotted what looked like a star out on the horizon. It was definitely not moving because there were sailboats moving below it and the Lake Worth Pier gave us perspective. After about 15 minutes another "star" appeared slightly below and to the side of the first one. This one was not as bright as the first. We then also started to notice flashing blue streaks moving in the sky in random patterns. These came and went over the next several minutes. After about 30 to 40 minutes, the second "star" began decending at a fairly rapid pace. It took about 10 seconds for it to disappear at the horizon. A few minutes later, the first "star" decended in the same way and disappeared.
Just wondered if this sounds anything like what you're seeing.
Duff

Just read another post about this same kind of experence. I read in his that they are alive. My thought here is maybe they are alive E.T. and with the changeing color of lights is there way of communicating. Some that are described is like they are playing. Like a parent and child play.
Something to think about.