JANUARY 2002
01.01.02 PERTH (MUNSTER), WA 0004hrs (NL)
(Source: Journal of Alternative Realities Volume 10, Issue 1, 2002)
Sharon J. and six other witnesses, celebrating the new year, watched two bright orange balls of light travel East to West, one behind the other. No sound was heard. At one stage the leading light moved backwards to align itself with the other, coming alongside. They then rose into the night sky and appeared for some time like stars. Total sighting time was six minutes. There were other revelers in the street who saw the objects. According to Sharon, none thought it was anything conventional.

01.01.02 SHOALWATER BAY (nr.ROCKINGHAM), WA 2230hrs (NL)
(Source: Journal of Alternative Realities Volume 10, Issue 1, 2002)
Several witnesses claimed to have seen, over two nights, a light rise up from low over the horizon in the West, over the Indian Ocean, and grow larger and brighter to a pale yellow. For an hour and a half the light performed amazing aerobatics, zipping from side to side, up and down, and zig-zagging in every direction. Sometimes the light would slow down, speed up or come to an abrupt halt. When it finally left the area heading West, the whole ocean lit up.

05.01.02 SYDNEY, NSW 0430hrs (NL)
(Source: E-mail report 01.02.02)
I had an amazing sighting on Saturday 5th Jan. About 10.45pm I went out on to my back verandah for a smoke. The verandah is high and faces North. I have a great view of the sky from East to West. I often stand out there stargazing. Straight away a brilliant orange light caught my eye in the NorthWest between the trees. I walked up and down trying to get a good view of what it was, hoping it wasn’t fire. I could only see it clearly from one spot. It was above the far tree line between two near trees. I had a good view and it definitely wasn’t supposed to be there. I live on acreage fairly remote and I am familiar with the usual lights in the area. It was the size of a five-cent piece held at arms length squashed to an elongated shape and as it hovered it gently moved up and down and side to side like a swinging motion. I could clearly see the silhouette of the trees framing it as it moved. There was no sound it was not a plane or helicopter but it definitely was suspended in mid air unattached to its surroundings. I watched it for maybe a minute and it just blinked out like someone switched it off. I have since travelled the general area where I saw it and have found nothing that could have been responsible for the light and I have looked for it every night since and seen nothing. Zot Fester e-mail: larralien@email.com

06.01.02 PLUMTON, NSW 2250hrs (Identified as Meteorite)
(Source: 1800 Freecall National Hotline Number - Callin Code: 1903)
At 10.50pm Sydney time Elaine went outside for a smoke. She was standing on her back verandah facing north looking at the stars when she noticed one of the stars was moving. It was very high up and shot straight over the top of her traveling from her right to left, which would have been east to west. She said it was too fast for a plane or satellite and appeared to move around a star on its course. She was mesmerized by it and followed its course. Suddenly it descended in a half moon shape bend and blinked out. Elaine estimated the duration of the sighting to have been 10 or 20 seconds. She has looked for it every night since but has not seen it again. She told me it looked like a bright star and had no tail or trail. Elaine is a 34 year old mother of 3 and seems quite sincere. Larraine Cilia UFOSWS

12.01.02 TURRAMURRA, NSW 0230hrs (Identified as Stars)
(Source: 1800 Freecall National Hotline Number - Callin Code: 1908)
On 12th January 2002, Paul ventured out into his back yard in the early hours of the morning (2.30am) and gazed at the night sky with admiration. While gazing he noticed an unusual phenomenon: two small star-like objects (which I’ll refer to as SLOs), both on opposite sides of a much brighter star. The SLOs were independent to one another and occasionally seemed to move towards and from the much brighter star (Jupiter). Then suddenly the entire event faded away for a few seconds (transit cloud) but reappeared in its full brilliance once again. Paul added, ‘they (SLOs) seemed to be 1 or 2 cm from the bright star and appeared to flash on and off at times’. Paul watched the SLOs trail Jupiter until 4.30am, only then losing sight when an overhead cloud barrier blanketed the night sky.

Conclusion: Over the next few months we’ll see Jupiter in the constellation Gemini. Paul mentioned that although the SLOs were bright, their magnitude did not exceed Jupiter’s (-2.7mag). After Paul said that the SLOs were trailing Jupiter at the same pace it became suspicious to me that we might be dealing with stellar objects. After consulting my bible (Astronomy 2002) for advice, it gave perfect explanation to our SLOs. The two stars that fit the description "like a glove" are Mebstuba and Tejat in the constellation Gemini, situated only 2 & 3 degrees from Jupiter (at opposition to each other). Their brightness has a stellar magnitude of 2. And as the erratic maneuvering is concerned, we can most definitely put it down to optical scintillation. Doug Moffett AUFORN NSW

14.01.02 LAUNCESTON, TAS 2110hrs (CE1)
(Source: Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre)
Just what did Mr P notice for about 6 minutes in the clear evening sky over Launceston? It could have been an aircraft but air Traffic say there were no movements in the area at that time.

Approaching from the north-west at a very slow speed was a round dark blob. It looked to be moving up towards a bank of dark cloud over the city. Prior to entering the cloud it became stationary and a solid red light came below the blob. It then moved up through the cloud and was lost from sight. Mr P waited 20 minutes for the object to reappear but nothing further was sighted. Whilst waiting Mr P saw a commercial flight heading north through the same cloud then out and beyond the same cloud. The evening sky was bright with the evening sunlight which made a sharp contrast between the dark cloud and surrounding blue sky. Case unexplained. Keith Roberts TUFOIC

17.01.02 WYNYARD, TAS 2315hrs (NL)
(Source: Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre)
The witness reports watching three star like lights crossing his eastern sky. The lights as they moved away to the north seemed to change position relative to each other. Keith Roberts TUFOIC

30.01.02 SORELL, TAS 2050hrs NL
(Source: Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre)
Mr S had decided to take some photographs of the clouds lit up in the western sky by the setting sun. Using his digital camera he took a number of photographs as he moved his camera from north-west around to south-west. Later when inspecting the pictures he noticed on the photograph to the south-west a bright spot of light below the clouds. A round white spot with a suggestion of a light patch above can be seen, it stands out well below the middle layer of orange clouds in the background. The hills and lower clouds below are by this time in the shade. Nothing was noticed at the time the photographs were being taken. Due to the passage of time, follow up on aircraft movements was not possible. It is known that light aircraft from time to time perform evening or night circuits of the nearby airport, some pilots keep their landing lights on whilst on their circuits. The spot is sharp and clear suggesting little if any movement whilst the photograph was being taken, this seems to indicate that an astronomical explanation is remote. The picture is puzzling but with the lack of visual observation we are unable to log the case as unexplained. Insufficient information. Keith Roberts TUFOIC