A man who photographed a mysterious object over the Tasman Sea near Kaitaia in April wasn't alone in seeing something strange in the sky.
Ninety Mile Beach Surfcasting Club members Ann Hallett and her brother Mike Scott were driving to a club function at Ahipara on April 28 when they noticed a 'mirror bright' light in the sky.
"We were coming into Wainui Junction and there it was in the centre of the windscreen," says Ann of the oval-shaped object they first saw at about 5.40pm.
"I said to my brother, what the hell is that?"
They told other club members about the object when they arrived at the function.
The half a dozen people who saw it said it was just the evening star.
Ann and Mike estimate they watched the object head towards the western horizon for 5-6 minutes before it disappeared.
The Sunday of the following week, Ann and Mike were fishing off Ninety Mile Beach, north of Ahipara, when they saw and photographed a bright smoke trail in the sky at about 5.15pm.
"At first, we thought it was a cloud, but it was moving," says Mike of the object which appeared as the sun was setting.
They did not think the object could be the contrail of a plane because they had never seen one heading in that direction, at that time of day, in the years they had been fishing at the beach.
"Whatever it was, I've never seen anything like it," says Ann.
Two other people have contacted The Northern News to report similar sightings around April 28.
An Opononi couple saw a bright, vertical line above the western horizon one evening as the sun was setting.
An Ahipara man saw a bright object with a tail, which shortened in length as it got closer to the horizon, on at least two nights.
The man, who watched the object through a telescope for about 10 minutes, says he hasn't seen similar objects in the sky since.
UFO Focus New Zealand member and air traffic controller at Hamilton Airport, Graeme Opie, has studied Ms Hallett's photos and concluded the object is likely to be the contrail of an aircraft.
UFOCUS coordinator Suzy Hansen is not commenting on whether the object photographed on April 28 is more likely to be a contrail, given the later sighting of a contrail in the same area at the same time of evening.
The two sightings are separate events, she says appealing to others who saw the bright light in April to contact the group with information.
United States UFO specialist Dr Bruce Maccabee has told the group the object photographed in April could be a contrail viewed end on.
Photos of the object on the UFOCUS website show two vapour trail-like objects which change shape and converge during the three minutes the photos were taken.
UFO Sightings New Zealand
UFO Sightings New Zealand
