Published: 10:33 AM 1/25/2010
After requesting New Zealand's reports of UFO sightings last year, The Press asked its readers to send in their pictures of unusual craft.
A number of readers throughout the country responded.
Jonas of Wellington who asked for his full name not to be used, spotted a craft in the sky on July 17 2008.
He wrote via email, ''My wife and I were drinking coffee on the veranda, when she spotted what looked like an unnaturally low flying aircraft travelling roughly along the Broken Hill Road at around 90 to 140km/h at an altitude of about 400 to 500 metres.
''When I took the first picture I realised that it was not in fact an aircraft. I tried to take as many pictures as possible of the object, but after the third or fourth one, it literally disappeared into thin air.
"No smoke, no trail, nothing. I wouldn't have believed it myself if it wasn't for the pictures.''
The second photo was taken near Waikari in North Canterbury in 2008.
On 28 August, Peter Hackett took a picture of the sunset.
His brother Paul Hackett, who sent The Press the picture, said, ''He was taking a picture of the sunset and didn't realise there was an object there.''
The final set of photos was taken on Sunday, January 25 2009 in Somerfield in Christchurch.
The pictures first appeared on the Ufocusnz website last year.
The site describes how a witness observed a very bright light in the sky.
A witness grabbed a camera and took 17 photos of the light.
''As the witnesses watched the light move and change direction, they noticed that the intensity of the light had not changed, as one might expect the landing lights of a turning aircraft to do,'' the site read.
Founding director of Ufocusnz Suzanne Hansen said the images could be an aircraft.
After seeking advice from experts, Hansen wrote,
''Sometimes aircraft landing lights can be distorted by atmospheric conditions, and what the observers saw as an acute turn, could have been an aircraft turning from a position head-on to the observers, creating the illusion of a sudden sharp turn.''
