Columbia photographed unusual lights on final flight

Though I was tempted to put this in the UFO section, this seems to fit in with some sort of unusual natural phenomena that scientists have been looking out for for about a decade:

www.livescience.com...


"Researchers reviewing data from the fateful Space Shuttle Columbia mission have identified a strange flash over the Indian Ocean that they have called a Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red, or TIGER, event.
The unusual discharge was recorded on Jan. 20, 2003 by the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, using an infrared video camera from the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX).
Less than two weeks later Ramon and the rest of the crew were lost during the shuttle’s reentry."

I think it would be great if Columbia was involved in a major scientific discovery during her last mission... but I also realize that some people will argue that she was destroyed BECAUSE one of her crew made this observation.

Originally posted by onlyinmydreams
I also realize that some people will argue that she was destroyed BECAUSE one of her crew made this observation.

i don't know about you guys but i smell tesla howitzer here....

i believe its was manmadea accident, columbia destroyed by 'someone'


is it just me thinking that?

Well, Titus,

I think it's interesting that no one spotted these ELVS and TIGERS before about ten years ago. If they really are a natural phenomena why were they not recorded shortly after the introduction of intercontinental commercial jets?

Also, isn't it unusual to see an Israeli officer conducting an experiment on a NASA spacecraft that is aimed at finding what, by definition, are UAFs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) or UFOs? I mean... the man's mission was to look for unusual lights in the sky... he found one that wasn't connected to any storm or natural activity... and then his spacecraft went down...

To be honest, I'm surprised that more people on ATS haven't jumped on this one.

Originally posted by onlyinmydreams


I think it's interesting that no one spotted these ELVS and TIGERS before about ten years ago. If they really are a natural phenomena why were they not recorded shortly after the introduction of intercontinental commercial jets?

Actually, they have been spotted for quite a while. Due to the short duration of these phenonema, however, official recording depended on high-speed equipment and the right situation.

Transient luminous events

For at least a century there have been occassional eye-witness reports of transient optical flashes above thunderstorms. Wilson (1956) described discharges that he observed above a thunderstorm as ``diffuse fan-shaped flashes of greenish colour extending up into a clear sky''. There are numerous reports from pilots who have observed flashes extending above thunderstorms (Vonnegut, 1980; Vaughan and Vonnegut, 1989). Many other observations of brief optical flashes above thunderstorms have been reported in the literature going back to 1885, as summarized by Rodger (1999).

Hell, Ive never even heard about this.

That is interesting. As is israels involvement. Whats their trip with UFOs?

It was just Israel's first man in space..Ilan Ramon, an Israeli Airforce officer who was just unlucky to be on STS-107...
Just like the Soviets sent up India's 1st man in space onboard a soyuzT11 in 1984..

Next you guys will claim that Kalpana Chawla, 1st woman of Indian origin to go up to space, was proof that the Indian govt. was in on the whole deal too!! Esp. since the TIGER event was spotted over the Indian Ocean

[edit on 20-1-2005 by Daedalus3]

WW, I was just reading this article too,was gonna do a thread on TLE's but I'll post here.I watched the entire(Columbia) tragedy live on CNN with Miles O'Brien and with all the speculation & debris clean-up that day,can't believe this did not get any mention-I would have remembered.Around year 2000 PBS aired an incredible program on these TLEs(Red Sprites,Blue Jets,Elves,Sprite Halos,etc).The footage was spectacular,I couldn't believe this incredible natural fireworks display was occuring in the upper atmosphere above the storms,sadly hidden from us below.I remember scientists attempting to capture images from aircraft saying they had to be at precise angles & distances to even observe them,lone enough record them-they basically became aerial stormwatchers/chasers.This Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red or TIGER event is fascinating how its glowing red light arcs,paralleling the curve of the Earth.Although the heroic Ramon & crew could not be saved & perished doing what they love,I'm very grateful that their brave work & footage of these ever-elusive events was salvaged,ranking them discoverers as well.I have much to learn about these phenomenon & MEIDEX,but found another initial link mentioning how the earliest eyewitness accounts of these events are from 1895, & how the Taiwanese government funded an instrument called The Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL),built by a collaborative team of Taiwanese, Japanese and UC Berkeley scientists,launched aboard ROCSAT-2 (Republic of China Satellite 2) back in May,04 to specifically record these events, whose images are now flowing steadily to the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory for further study.Very,very interesting indeed.

Amazing