The strange lights moving in Cromwell skies at the weekend might have had a terrestrial source rather than an alien one.
An Alexandra stargazer who saw odd lights the same night as a Cromwell man spotted an unidentified flying object believes they could have been Chinese lanterns, released by someone in Bridge Hill, Alexandra. Ross Hansen, of Cromwell, was looking through a telescope at the planet Venus when he saw a light northwest of Cromwell which moved then disappeared. Mr Hansen, an amateur stargazer, was baffled by the light.
Barrie Wills, of Alexandra, said he did a ''double-take'' after spotting four bright objects seemingly coming from the southeast the same night.
''... there they were, moving silently approximately above the Alex bridge, glowing orange-yellow and flickering slightly. Weird, as they looked to be coming towards town, but in fact were probably rising, '' Mr Wills said.
After about five or six minutes, first one, then the other lights faded and slowly disappeared from view.
His conclusion was that someone was releasing Chinese lanterns.
''What surprised me was the altitude that they reached - at a guess several hundred metres above town - before burning out.
''However, it was a beautifully still and clear night, so there was little drift.''
Mr Wills mentioned the incident the following day to an acquaintance and that person said his wife had also seen the strange lights.
''That's one mystery probably solved. Not sure, but maybe Ross saw something similar.''
