SUBJECT: UFO ON THE DANISH NORTH SEA OIL FIELDS FILE: UFO2455 * Originally In: FIDO Astronimy * Original To : Veikko Makela, 2:220/861 * Original From: UUCP, 2:220/861 * Original Date: Nov 11 10:24 Date: 10 Nov 93 20:32 GMT From: DK0179@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Amtsgymnasiet,Sonderborg,DK,AGE) Subject: Important request ATTENTION, PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EUROPEAN AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS... A VERY BRIGHT OBJECT WAS OBSERVED RECENTLY ON THE NIGHT SKY BY A LARGE NUMBER OF OBSERVERS , PLACED ON THE DANISH NORTH SEA OIL FIELDS. THIS NIGHT, OCT. 20, EARLY MORNING HOURS, HAD A QUITE CLEAR SKY, FROST CONDITIONS. SOME AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS MIGHT HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE, PHOTOGRAPHING THE ORIONIDS, WHICH WHERE QUITE BEAUTIFUL, AND IN MAXIMUM , ON THAT TIME. ERIK HOEG, WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ANY OBSERVATIONS, PHOTOS, ETC. OF THIS UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARLY VISIBLE FROM MOST OF NORTHERN EUROPE. MOGENS WINTHER, ASTRO BBS, + 45 74 426307 REPLIES TO ERIK HOEG, ADRESS BELOW.. OR APPLE LINK, DK0179. ------------- Sub: A mysterious -9 mag object ========================== The object `Tygorm' ------------------ An object near zenith was discovered and observed by the weatherman A on the Danish oil rig Tyra-East in the North Sea at position 55 deg 43.5 m north, 04 deg 48.2 m east. The observation was taken between 3:50 and 5:15 UTC on 20 Oct 1993 and was reported to the present author from 7:00 UTC the same morning and in several phone conversations since then. Its integrated brightness was about -9 mag. I would be grateful for your assistance. It should have been seen from elsewhere since the night was quite clear and observers within a radius of 1000 km would have seen an object brighter than -6 mag at a zenithdistance of less than 60 degrees. Observations ------------ The object was watched by observer A for 85 minutes, interrupted then by clouds. He saw a diffuse circular orange disk of the moon's diameter without structure, but he was much disturbed by background light from a big gas flame on the rig. He saw no change of brightness or appearance during that time. The ship Preventer 500 m south of Tyra was called by radio and the object was observed by officer B for about 60 minutes. He could see much structure which did not change during the time. It looked like a drop pushing a bow wave in front of its but end. A drawing will be provided to me. Both observers used naked eye and good binoculars. By binoculars A and B report to seeing a granular surface, a large number of small points inside the object. The object stayed at nearly constant distance to Capella which was seen at 10 degrees to WSW at 3:50 UT and at about 7 degrees at 5:15, the times of first and last sighting. This indicates a westward motion among the stars of 3 degrees in 85 minutes, although this figure is uncertain and could be zero. The first position is RA, Dec 1950 = 6h 10m, +50.0 deg. The constant appearance and the celestial motion indicated an astronomical object, perhaps a comet. But a report to B. Marsden on the same morning did not bring any further observation, and it was concluded that the object must be local. This hypothesis has however led to no acceptable explanation of the phenomenon. The object was also observed by two persons, C and D, on the oil rig Gorm, 18 km south of Tyra who had overheard the radio conversation between A and B. They saw two orange drops close together, near zenith, both drops being about one square degree. From their drawings and from phone conversations the declination 48.0 deg and the same RA as above were derived. This corresponds to a parallax of -2 degrees. Permitting very generously a total error of 5 degrees, the maximum parallax is -2+5=3 deg, and the minimum altitude therefore 340 km above sea level. The surface brightness was estimated by a simple visual photometer to one percent of of the moon. The photometry was obtained by A five days later on my proposal by watching the first quarter moon through the two acryl plates of an empty tape cassette. He estimated that the object was considerable brighter than the twice reflected image of the moon. Since this image has a surface brightness about 0.3 percent of the moon, the object has had a surface brightness about one percent of the moon. Since the integrated brightness of the full moon is -13 mag and the total area of the object was at least one square degree as seen by the other observers a total integrated brightness about -9 mag is inferred. No explanation found -------------------- Explanations in terms of noctilucent clouds, chemical experimental clouds or space craft exhaust are not consistent with the long duration of constant appearance and the nearly constant position relative to the stars. Aurora seems to be excluded for the same reason and because their was no special event on 20 October. P. Suesmann, Deutsche Telekom, reports: The sun was quiet with no flares or other events, the geomagnetic field was unsettled and from the view of HF propagation there was nothing extraordinary as well. Sincerely yours Erik Hoeg Copenhagen University Observatory Oestervoldgade 3, DK 1350 Copenhagen K erik@astro.ku.dk Telex: 44155 danast Phone: +45 35 323999 FAX +45 35 323989 to Observatory Phone: +45 35 323975 directly to Hoeg --------------------- End of message ----------------------------- ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************