Unidentified aerial phenomena such as the US Navy Tic Tacs exhibit flight characteristics that defy explanation. A recent video from the Houston area suggests such sightings may not be limited to Navy pilots.

Late in the morning on March 8, 2021, Amanda Ewing watched a flock of birds flying in a strange pattern. She picked up her cellphone and began to shoot a video. Later watching the video the birds were gone. At first, it seemed to show only clouds. But then she noticed bright specks of light (maybe birds after all?) flying around the sky and strange streaks of light that appeared as quickly as they disappeared.

Strange

Around 27 seconds into Amanda’s video a bright speck of light moves from top to bottom in 1/3 second. Measurements reveal that it is moving at a constant speed, perhaps an object dropped from a much higher altitude falling at a constant terminal velocity (see below).

The prevailing surface winds late morning were from the east at around 10 mph. If it were an object in free fall, subject to the wind, it should have been blown away from her to the west. Instead, it was moving to the left, southward, evidently under its own control.

Stranger

An even stranger speck of light appeared earlier, about 9-11 seconds into the video. At first thinking it was a bird, Amanda realized the object was too bright and moving too fast. Plotting its relative speed vs. distance below indicates that as the object moved left to right, it was also moving away from her to the west, which was in the direction of the prevailing wind. Perhaps then it was a simply a mylar balloon being blown away by the wind.

As shown above plotting the object’s brightness reveals that it appears to be pulsating. If the object were a bright metallic object reflecting sunlight, glints might appear from time to time but their timing would be random. Could the object be a drone? Speeding across the video frame in less than two seconds would imply that it is very close, probably close enough to be heard. But there is no sound.

Strangest

Last but not least, about a minute later three sets of streaks appear. One at 1:11 into the video moves from top to bottom in 1/30 sec. Another at 1:18 moves from the top left to the bottom right in the same amount of time. A third, a second later, follows in the same direction. What is interesting is that the ratio of the length of a streak to the distance traveled between frames is the same for both pairs of streaks. These objects (whatever they are) are moving so fast that the cellphone’s camera cannot resolve them. Instead, it images a blurred version of the object in the direction it is traveling. The length of a streak is related to its speed as is the distance between streaks. That this ratio is the same for both pairs of streaks suggests that we are witnessing two instances of the same type of event.

Conclusion

Many have reported objects, lights, streaks, glows, and other unidentified phenomena in the sky. Some are hoaxes and others are ultimately identifiable as meteorites, vapor trails from jets and rockets, etc.

Sprites are high-energy discharges that occur above thunderstorms. Although the streaks do resemble sprites there are no storms nearby. Meteors are another possibility. However, early March is among the lowest periods of meteor activity.

The fast-moving specks of light could be drones (unlikely but possible). There is, however, no obvious explanation for the streaks. Like Navy Tic Tacs, the Dome of the Rock UFO, and other incidents described in Not of This World, they are moving too fast to have a conventional explanation.

As cellphone cameras continue to improve, they are capturing very subtle phenomena that defy explanation and may provide valuable clues into the nature of UAP.