Red Light on Aircraft (???) Before Temple Burn

[polyresin]

Hi guys, just curious as to whether or not anyone else noticed an aircraft (or something) with a bright red light drifting around before the temple burn. It seemed to be about the same altitude as an aircraft, but it had no other lights and we could not make out a defined shape, we could only see the light. Also, it did not seem to be on a deliberate course. It drifted roughly from east to west above the temple, then further northeast until it seemed to be too high to see anymore. We lost sight of it minutes before the temple burned. Our thoughts were that it could have been a very sturdy lantern with a red LED, or a blimp or a hot air balloon... It just seemed a little too high up to be any of those things.

Does anybody have an idea?

Just for the record, we were sober.

[AntiM]

We saw it too, from Terminal City. High up, in the east. At first it looked like an aircraft until we realized it was not moving. It slowly appeared to grow larger. At one point, it dropped a red light directly down to earth. Then it moved west over the temple, then, grew smaller and smaller, as if moving away and gaining altitude.

Our thoughts were military dirigible, but that is unlikely. Perspective out there is very deceptive, so I'm pretty skeptical. I feel sure it was something done by a burner, but what and how I can't explain. Movement and apparent altitude makes me doubt a kite or remote controlled device, but within logic, that's probably what it was.

Hey, UFO doesn't mean alien spacecraft, it means we don't know what the fuck we are looking at. UFO works for me.

[dBrew]

Wifey and I were sober, too, and we saw it as well. My best guess was a weather balloon with a bright red beacon on it. Or an alien spacecraft. Whatever.

[edrabbit]

We saw it too. We were sitting northwest of the temple and noticed it coming from the east. It appeared to be dropping small red lit things which we thought at first might be skydivers, but they didn't behave like skydivers and the light faded rather quickly. It ended up hovering behind us and we assumed it was a helicopter, however it stayed there for quite a long time. I commented on how they must have a ton of fuel to burn because it's expensive to keep a helicopter just hovering there.

No idea what it was, curious to find out though.

[mzfarhangkha]

My friends and I saw it too. Also, I have friends who watched it doing the same thing over the temple burn last year. I'm curious! I don't know about previous years to 2010, but if you search for red light over temple burn you can find accounts of last years red light UFO.

[mzfarhangkha]

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?p=591177

[mzfarhangkha]

Oh, sorry, meant to paste the older post. Anyway, you have to scroll down a bit to klone138's post.

[polyresin]

Amazing feedback you guys! Thanks! Glad we're not nuts. I think this warrants some investigating. I'll return if I find anything worth sharing... who knows.

[notnate]

You are def not nuts. We were also sober and approx 300 yards East of the Temple in a sparse, quiet, and dark area of open playa. I lined it up with several stars and noted that it did not move AT ALL for quite some time. Not a weather balloon nor anything else I could identify. We did see the red light dropping as well. Finally, just before it disappeared we say another white light traveling in a linear path but MUCH smaller (looked like a satellite) but it flashed as it passed the red. Really weird.

I would say burner prank but a little too subtle and WAY too high of altitude. So now I am guessing military or Marvin the Martian. Doesn't really matter, whatever it was it was the strangest thing I saw after a week at the burn and that says something.

[thelionking]

I saw it too. No strobes to make you think it was a commercial helicopter. I would like to find out what it was too.

[eldorado12345]

We were camped about 7 miles north of Burning Man. We watched the light for about an hour and a half. When we first saw it, it was in the Southwest (bottom right of the moon and that time, approx. 2 hours before the Temple Burn) It hung for about 40 minutes then slow moved to the Southeast where it stayed about 30 minutes durinng which time it droped a "red light". The "red light" droped straigt down as if in a dead fall. The falling "red light" disappeared right above the horizon. It the morning we figured it was about where the mountain range is, most likely having fallen behind it. The original red light then slowly traveled Northwest until directly overhead where it disappeared. The orginial red light, stood still, did small circles and snaked back and forth slightly as it traveled. The most interesting being standing still of course, it was at a very high altitude. I have some video I'll post.

[theCryptofishist]

Not only did I see it with AntiM on Temple Burn night, but I saw it again on Monday night, in a different direction.

Seriously, none of us has any way of measuring how far away it was. We don't know what it is, either, so we can't judge by size.

[Rohm]

Rune saw it first when she laid down waiting for the Temple Burn. Several burners behind us then witnessed it as well. We tried to figure out what it may be.
Balloon? : no, since it was remaining stationary for a long time and then moving opposite the wind direction
Aircraft? : no, since the light was not flashing but remaining steadily lit
Helicopter? : again, should not be since aircraft's lights should be blinking and it stayed there a long time
Satellite? : nope, the path and the movement should be constant
Ooohhh they're lighting the temple... Squirrel!

[eldorado12345]

Knowing that all things fall at the same rate, the smaller red light fell for approx. 18 secs (before it went out / out of site behind ridge line). Everyone I've spoken with agrees it looked like a dead drop. Math anyone?

[Timezone LaFontaine]

Knowing that all things fall at the same rate, the smaller red light fell for approx. 18 secs (before it went out / out of site behind ridge line). Everyone I've spoken with agrees it looked like a dead drop. Math anyone?

Object has fallen 1588.6773 meters after 18 seconds of freefall on Earth, which is 0.987158307981 miles.

Thank you to this site for making me look all brainiac... http://www.gravitycalc.com/

[ibdave]

Knowing that all things fall at the same rate, the smaller red light fell for approx. 18 secs (before it went out / out of site behind ridge line). Everyone I've spoken with agrees it looked like a dead drop. Math anyone?

Object has fallen 1588.6773 meters after 18 seconds of freefall on Earth, which is 0.987158307981 miles.

Thank you to this site for making me look all brainiac... http://www.gravitycalc.com/

my head hurts lOOking at that......

[MooseJoose]

Nice to see so many people saw it too! My whole camp saw it (sober), and while it was still in the sky, people were coming up to us asking if we happened to know what it was. Weighing the odds between it being a UFO and it being a burner's prank, I'd still like to say it was a prank unless there's good enough reason to think otherwise. If it's a tad less than a mile in the sky, it's perfectly doable knowing all the huge elaborate camps and art pieces that are constructed every year -- a simple fake UFO is within any witty burner's grasp. The light it dropped fell straight down, but the falling light faded away about 50 feet before it hit the ground. My best guess: 1-3 burner(s), 5000' fishing line, red orb of LEDs, balloons, simple quick-release system for the falling orb, and a timer to have it go out before it hits the ground.

Added note: when I first started watching the red light, it was at a really low altitude, then somewhat quickly moved its way side-ways and upward before holding its position high in the sky for a while. Sounds like a balloon on string to me. XP

[notnate]

Figured it out. Apparently all just an elaborate viral marketing campaign... or, an alien.

[eldorado12345]

While a burner prank is the quickest answer. We were camped 7 miles North of Burning Man and it traveled over and past us.

[polyresin]

So I've been scouring the internet for more information about this thing, and it's all over UFO forums and shit like that. There's really no feasible explanation that I can find, but certainly a lot of sightings, mostly in rural areas of CA, NV, AZ, BC Canada and Bulgaria... Kinda frustrating, I'm not much for alien theories at all and I am kind of tired of scrolling through forum posts about how we'll soon be united with our intergalactic brothers and sisters. There IS an answer, I just can't find it.

My opinion is that the most likely explanation is military--rural Nevada is home to all kinds of craft testing. Maybe somebody down at Area 51 has a sense of humor and isn't fond of hippies (wouldn't that be a surprise?)

[TT120]

Here is a time lapse video and you can clearly see the red light.
http://vimeo.com/grantkaye/bm2011burnlapse

[Part Time]

Bubble bursting time.... What people were seeing was a vary kewl RC hover craft. Had one buzz my head and follow me on my bike (dering the day) , it would a appear it had a camara on it and was going to all the CORE project art pieces one after another the time I could see it..

[theCryptofishist]

Actually, that is pretty cool, and I'm much happier with that explanation than with the ufo one.

[muffins]

I got a quick video of it dropping a blinky red light before I headed over to the Temple burn.

[peace]

The strangest part is all the posters here that claim to have been sober

[AntiM]

As we drove to BMan on I-80, we saw a large, a very large, dirigible or blimp hovering over the test grounds/air facility in the Utah west desert at sunset. Genius has pictures of it. Not moving, and capable of moving in the ways the red light thingy did. Would be why I thought dirigible/blimp initially, I'd seen one on Friday evening.

[junglesmacks]

Why is that strange? It was Sunday night. I was sober as could be, and believe me while at BM I'll be the first to admit that the poster boy for sobriety I am not.

The strangest part is all the posters here that claim to have been sober

[polyresin]

As we drove to BMan on I-80, we saw a large, a very large, dirigible or blimp hovering over the test grounds/air facility in the Utah west desert at sunset. Genius has pictures of it. Not moving, and capable of moving in the ways the red light thingy did. Would be why I thought dirigible/blimp initially, I'd seen one on Friday evening.

Oh cool! Where can I find pictures?

[theCryptofishist]

I dunno. Start searching on flickr or photobucket. Just because she saw it doesn't mean that she knows where to find pictures. She didn't say that she or any member of her party had...

[joycem137]

I seriously doubt it was an R/C aircraft. I brought my R/C Superfly to the playa and was flying off between the pier and Thunderdome both day and night. To fly at night, you really need lighting on the craft to indicate its orientation in space, so you know what direction it is pointed in. Additionally, even with the most modern of batteries, unless you're flying a glider, your power is only going to last for 10-15 minutes tops. Finally, if that *was* an R/C pilot out there, that's incredibly irresponsible to be flying at night, without navigation lighting, around so many people! You're liable to get someone hurt! Even with a VR system, you're taking a major risk by doing that.

I'm more inclined to think that the light was one of those chinese candle lantern things that someone released just prior to the burn. The falling light was probably the falling of the candle. It only looked higher than a balloon could go because of the odd night-time perspective... At least, that's my take on it.