Rose Green resident believes she was cause of UFO sightings

UFO fans around Bognor Regis should stop reading now.Because the Observer can reveal what one reader believes is the identity of the mysterious orange objects in the night sky which have intrigued readers of the past two editions.

Sadly, for fans of little green men, the reader believes the answer is more ebay than The X-Files. They are nothing more exotic than sky lanterns.

And Rose Green resident Dane Packham is one of those responsible for getting the phone line and email link to the newspaper buzzing with extra-terrestrial theories in the early part of 2009.

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Mrs Packham released four of the lanterns on the evening of Christmas Day and another four late on new year's eve, she told us last week.

"I had my family round on Christmas Day and I bought some sky lanterns off the internet because they looked a nice thing to have," she said.

"I had some friends round on new year's eve and I let the rest of them off then. They are really good and they look lovely as they float up into the sky. They can go for miles and miles. They were some others in the sky above Rose Green at the same time. So, I wasn't the only person in the area lighting the lanterns."

Mrs Packham added that she had followed the debate of the past two weeks about the 'flying' objects with interest.

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The sky lanterns are properly known as Khoom Fay sky lanterns and can also be called UFO balloons and night lights. They originate from Thailand.

They are usually made of bamboo, rice paper and rolled wax paper. When the wax paper is lit, the air inside the sky lantern heats up and the lantern rises into the sky.

One website says the lanterns can lift to a height of between 500-1,000 metres before extinguishing and floating gently back down to earth like a parachute. They can cost as little as 3 each.

"When in the sky, these sky lanterns can be seen for miles around and are often mistaken as UFOs because of the gentle light they give off as they float through the air," it states.

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Lisa Pilling is another resident who let off the lanterns rather than fireworks. She said: "These are large white balloons and when you light the fuel cell, the air heats up and the balloon rises '“ reaching up to two miles in the air and drifting and dancing depending on the wind. When the fuel cell runs out, the light goes out.

"I would like to know if anyone got one of these landing in their garden afterwards, the white treated paper balloon is about a metre in diameter."

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