THANK you, Staines family, for your theory that the lights I described could have been the International Space Station, pictured above, with the Shuttle Discovery. It would be good to have the enigma explained.

However, having been a keen astronomer in the past, I am very familiar with the night sky, and have often watched artificial satellites as they pass overhead. They always shone with reflected white sunlight. They always disappeared instantaneously as they went into the shadow of the Earth. They were never brighter than 2nd Magnitude, much less bright than Venus. The identical lights we saw were the apparent size and brightness of the warning lights one sees on the top of tall cranes, 6th or more magnitude in astronomical terms. Travelling at a constant parallel distance from each other of about 5 moons (150 minutes of arc) they dimmed & disappeared. They were at about the height of a light aircraft.

The complete silence was the only factor indicative of an artificial satellite.

It has since been suggested to me that the episode was some sort of elaborate prank, using balloons with lighted candles, if so it was extremely clever. If this is the case, would the culprit please own up?

S ARTHUR, Bitterne Park, Southampton