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THE Belmont man who filmed a bright blue object fly over Lake Macquarie says that whatever it was, it wasn't "the weather".
"Ball lightning" and other atmospheric disturbances have been put forward to account for the object, which has been seen on at least three nights over the Lake in recent weeks.
Tom Buxton said he filmed the object from the family verandah overlooking Belmont Bay.
"It flew in from the west, went south down over Blacksmiths Beach and then went back west over the Lake again," Mr Buxton said.
UFO Research Queensland spokeswoman Sheryl Gottschall said sightings were still coming in regularly, and mainstream science was increasingly prepared to accept the idea of other life in the universe.
Astronomical Society of Australia board member Dr Marc Duldig said that if mainstream science came across credible evidence of extra-terrestrial life it would publish it - rather than suppress it, as conspiracy theorists tended to believe - because it would be one of the greatest discoveries of all time.
"Even though I do not accept that any credible evidence has been found for extraterrestrials visiting us in UFOs, that is not to say that life doesn't exist elsewhere in the universe," said Dr Duldig, of the University of Tasmania's school of maths and physics.
He said almost all astronomers would say it is virtually certain there is other life in the universe but the vast distances make it unlikely we would be contacted in person.