Object Makes U Turn – Lake Simcoe, Ontario

Date: July 20, 2007
Time: 11:45 p.m.

Location of Sighting: Lake Simcoe, Ontario.
Number of witnesses: 1
Number of objects: 1
Shape of objects: Bright starlike.

Full Description of event/sighting: It approached from northwest heading south east and flew at high speed in a steady course 45 degrees up from the horizon, just below the first star in the handle of the big dipper constellation in the background sky. There were no flashing lights as on an airliner etc. and no sound audible. I observed object flying straight for 5 seconds. It made very tight up-turn at full speed, flying back (northwest) parallel of original course back about half way.

The object performed sudden and even faster 90 degree turn to the west. Accelerated and in a streak and disappeared in the sky. The sky over the lake that night was absolutely cloud free, of light pollution from surrounding town and 3+ magnitude (See Note Below) stars could easily been seen. The local geography offered a clear view from horizon west to horizon north without any obstruction to the skyline. Thank you.

Can anyone please let me know about other Lake Simcoe encounters.

(Source: http://www.hbccufo.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2755)

Brightness/Magnitude

The brightness of a star (or anything else in the sky) is called its magnitude. You’ll encounter this term often.

The magnitude system began about 2,100 years ago when the Greek astronomer Hipparchus divided stars into brightness classes. He called the brightest ones “1st magnitude,” meaning simply “the biggest.” Those a little fainter he called “2nd magnitude,” meaning second biggest, and so on down to the faintest ones he could see: “6th magnitude”.

With the invention of the telescope, observers could see even fainter stars. Thus 7th, 8th, and 9th magnitudes were added. Today binoculars will show stars as faint as 8th or 9th magnitude, and an amateur’s 6-inch telescope will go to 12th or 13th. The Hubble Space Telescope has seen to about 30th magnitude — which is nearly 10 billion times fainter than the faintest stars visible to the unaided eye.

On the other end of the scale, it turns out that some of Hipparchus’s “1st-magnitude” stars are a lot brighter than others. To accommodate them, the scale now extends into negative numbers. Vega is zero (0) magnitude, and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, is magnitude –1.4. Venus is even brighter, usually magnitude –4. The full Moon shines at magnitude –13, and the Sun, magnitude –27.

(Source: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto)