Orange lights in a row in the night sky: how to recognize sky lanterns
A few orange, flickering lights float slowly and silently across the sky, one behind the other, as if flying in formation, and then disappear one by one. This is one of the most characteristic “UFO sightings,” and almost always the same thing is behind it: Chinese lanterns, or sky lanterns, released at a wedding, a birthday or on New Year’s Eve. We show you how to recognize them.
What is a sky lantern?
A sky lantern (Chinese lantern, wish lantern) is a lightweight paper shell with a small burning container or waxed sheet at its base. The flame heats the air inside the shell, and the lantern rises like a small hot-air balloon. As long as the flame burns, the lantern climbs and drifts with the wind. When it goes out, the lantern goes dark and slowly comes down somewhere, often kilometers away.
What does it look like?
- Orange, reddish or yellowish light, like a fire. Its color is warmer than that of stars, aircraft lights or satellites.
- It flickers and wavers. Because of the flame, the brightness of the light fluctuates slightly. From closer up, the tongues of flame may also be visible.
- It drifts slowly and steadily, in the direction of the wind. No sudden changes of direction, no high speed.
- Often several lights in succession. If a group releases lanterns one after another, they travel in a line, one behind the other. The same wind carries them, so it looks as if they were flying in formation.
- Complete silence.
- They go out one by one. The lanterns disappear one after another, unpredictably, as they run out of fuel. Sometimes they flare up before going out.
- In the evenings, on holidays. They are especially common during summer weddings, on weekend evenings and on New Year’s Eve.
Lanterns released one after another are carried by the same wind, so from a distance they look like lights flying in formation and going out one by one. Sky Glitch chart
Why is it misleading?
- The shell isn’t visible. In the dark only the light is visible, not the paper shell. The observer sees a floating fireball with no visible “carrier.”
- We don’t know how far away it is. A lantern floating a few hundred meters away and a large object flying kilometers away look like the same size point of light. Anyone who thinks it is large and distant also overestimates its speed.
- The “formation” is a coincidence. The lights travel together because they started from the same place and the same wind carries them. If one or another goes out, the remaining ones may form a triangle or another shape.
- The disappearance seems mysterious. A lantern doesn’t pass by; it goes out in the middle of the sky. This is where the “suddenly disappeared” or “sped up and shot away” descriptions come from.
- The eye and the brain fill in the picture. If a light suddenly goes dark behind tree branches, or the shell flares up, it is easy to see a “craft” around it.
Real cases
- Washington Terrace, Utah, 2011. On the evening of October 1, more than a dozen orange-red lights floated silently across the sky, and cars stopped so the drivers could watch and photograph them. It turned out that students from a local high school had released about 16 lanterns.
- Bornel, France, 2014. A retired couple saw an orange, flaming fireball floating silently, and the husband also saw a gray triangle. The French GEIPAN classified the case as unexplained, but according to the report’s own data the light moved away exactly in the direction of the wind and gradually faded out.
How can you check?
- Check the wind direction. In a weather archive (or in the data of a nearby weather station), look up where the wind was blowing from at that hour. If the lights moved with the wind, they were almost certainly lanterns.
- Watch the color and the flickering. A warm, orange, wavering light points to a flame. The lights of aircraft, drones and satellites are white or colored, but they don’t waver.
- Look at how they disappeared. If they went out one by one, unpredictably, in the middle of the sky, that is characteristic of lanterns.
- Look for an event. Was there a wedding, birthday or festival nearby, or was it New Year’s Eve? In a local Facebook group it often quickly turns out who released lanterns.
- Watch the flame on video. On a good recording, zooming in often shows the light wavering, and sometimes the paper shell itself.
A harmless sight, but not without danger
A sky lantern flies with an open flame, and no one controls where it lands. In dry weather it can start a fire, and the falling remains with their wire frames are dangerous to pets and wildlife as well. For this reason, several countries restrict their use. If you do want to release one, first find out about the local rules and any burn ban.
Quick identifying signs
- Orange, wavering, flickering light
- Drifts slowly and silently with the wind
- Often several one behind the other
- Go out one by one, in the middle of the sky
- In the evenings, on weekends, on holidays
Seen something strange in the sky? Start with our decision tree, and if you can’t find the answer, send us your footage!