the object is made quite clear in the last picture. it is a handglider or micro light with the sun reflecting off its canopy.

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Yes, I think it’s a hang-glider or something.

I certainly wouldn’t discount the likelihood of other life forms in the universe, or even that they might be making surreptitious visits, but why would they be hovering over a tiny hamlet just outside Shrewsbury? :-)

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To me that looks like a parachuter

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*head hits desk repeatedly*

Grow up.

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You bunch of numnuts did you not read the story, these photo’s were taken an 10.30pm (which is night time for those stupid enough not to realise) handgliders and microlights wouldn’t be flying at that time.

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Looks very much like a microlight /powered hang glider / paraglider to me. I reckon I can see the dangling pilot on the second shot !!
OK so it’s ‘night’ but there’s plenty of light around – look at the blue sky and white cloud.
Another possibility is a miltary UAV (pilotless plane)

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Even as UFO pics go, this is pretty unimpressive. Someone needs to go out and do something newsworthy because the Star is obviously stuck for things to write about!

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ET phone home

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“i suggest contacting nick pope a well known ufo expert “.

How exactly does one become a ufo expert? Did he get a certificate with a box of cornflakes?

marco (expert in multidimensional-transgalactic-birds)

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marco obviously does’nt keep an open mind and probably spends most of his time playing computer games and watching girls aloud….

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“marco obviously does’nt keep an open mind”

There’s a difference between having an open mind and accepting paranormal explainations over far more likely prosaic ones.

There probably is life on other planets but I’m sure that the aliens were to pay Earth a visit, they’d do it in something more substantial than a hang-glider.

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I love me some good UFO photos, but this could easily have been the ISS (international space station) which is now the brightest object in our night sky. that thing is also the basic shape of the ISS from the side. I recently saw it a full hour before the sunset. it moves slowly on constant observation, but slips out of view after 20-30 minutes. it looks almost identical, I shot very similar photos with my canon 5D MK II camera and zoomed in the same way. I can see how it might be confusing, it’s certainly startling to see a celestial object before the sun sets completely!

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I agree with Bob – it’s a wierd subject for a professional photographer and the lens is set so wide you can see the peripheral darkening. The Exif data on the photo should give an exact time for the photo – why “about 10.30″?

Sunset at Fitz on 12 July was 21.30Zulu, so hangliders could be up legally until 10.00pm. And if you’re enjoying yourself and not too worried about the CAA….

I’m afraid I have to disagree with Ricardo, depite envying his camera. The pink tinge on the base of the cloud suggests the camera is pointing more west than south, so unless it’s a VERY wide lens it’s not likely to be the ISS.

Of course, I could be wrong and it’s little green men – got to keep an open mind ;-)

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good to see the sceptics are out in force on this one, however could i just mention that i have it on very good authority that RAF shawbury and other bases were tracking an “unidentified aircraft” at approx the same time this picture was taken. and yes darren is right the MOD are aware of these sightings to some degree. so thats put a spanner in the works then….

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Beings from outer space no doubt about it

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So Shawbury were tracking an “unidentified aircraft” at about that time – like a microlight stooging about over Sleap, perhaps, with no transponder, no height information, no radio, only a primary return on the radar? Lyneham once told me they were tracking an unidentified object in my vicinity – it turned out to be a lorry on the M4, not a UFO!

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marco said: Jul 21st, 2009 at 09:55 “i suggest contacting nick pope a well known ufo expert “.

How exactly does one become a ufo expert? Did he get a certificate with a box of cornflakes?”

Nick Pope – Formally an investigator for the MoD (Secretariat of the Air Staff 2a) who’s job was to specifically look into reports of UFO activity on behalf of the government. By no means a crank he worked for the MoD for 25 years but was the appointed as the UFO investigator 1991 – 1994. When he took up the position in ’91 he was a self confessed sceptic but by the end of his time with AS2A he admitted that although 99% of cases had a rational explanation there were a number that could not. He also stated that there were foreign objects entering our airspace without authority.

I think that given his experience in the field he is an expert, maybe even the only credable one willing to go on record.

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