Flashes of Light near Sirius

I need to know if anyone can give me confirmation on something I saw 1.23.06 at 22:35 Central. Small flashes of light very near to Sirius in Canis maj. It went on from the time I noticed it until around 22:45. I've contacted several ovservatories; only one replied and wasn't observing in that direction. It looked like some battle taking place far away. There may be a plausable explaination but in all my years of observing the heavens, I have never seen anything like it. My location is in West Texas and I have witnesses. I checked the star charts and satellite locations and was unable to explain it. Any help with inquiries is appreciated!

Are you sirius?
Have you seen anything else, can you elaborate?

The flashes of white light were located from my vantage point very close to Sirius in the souther sky. They were faint but I was still able to see them with the naked eye in town. At first when I glanced up I thought they were on a jet but as I watched. they were random, not moving, like little explosions far away. Very quick probably not lasting for more than .03-.05 seconds. I am 99 percent sure I also saw a green/blue streak, very faint that looked about 1/4 of an inch long. These were not meteors, not Irridum flares, not like anything I have seen before. Seriously, (no pun intended) it looked like something you would watch on tv like a space battle far away.

About a year ago my friends and I observed something very similar to what you are describing. We were having a smoke in a nearby park at around midnight when my buddy points up to the sky near Orion and says "what the **** is that?" We saw red flashes occuring intermittently and lasting for only fractions of a second. This went on for mabye five minutes. We even commented that it looked like someone was having at it in space. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Any theories?

Sounds like an Iridium Flare to me... Where in West Texas are you, specifically?

Also, it may help to read this: Astronomy: So You See a Bright Light?

[edit on 1/25/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

There was a vortex that opened from Sirius to this planet in 1984? to speed up communications from there, as far as a fight, if there was/is one there is no danger that can harm this constellation.
Wonder if it was a signal of some sort.
We are talking LONG ways away..
Do you or any friends have a powerful telescope?
Interesting post..thank you..

OK, once again, this was not a flare or flares. I've spent enought time observing to rule out aircraft, satellites, meteorites, moon dogs or whatever. I'm in Midland, Texas, half way between Dallas and El Paso: 31.95N -102.11W (Elev. 2821 ft). The night was clear and there was very little wind and I was able to see them even with the light pollution from the city and without optics. I don't believe that the "explosions" were as far as Sirius (8.6 light years), that would have made them huge and they would have taken a lot longer than 1/2 a second to burn out. From my vantage point Sirius was directly in my line of sight.

From my vantage point Sirius was directly in my line of sight.

Still very interesting and something to watch further.love all things sirius

Originally posted by MrMicrophone
I need to know if anyone can give me confirmation on something I saw 1.23.06 at 22:35 Central. Small flashes of light very near to Sirius in Canis maj. It went on from the time I noticed it until around 22:45. I've contacted several ovservatories; only one replied and wasn't observing in that direction. It looked like some battle taking place far away. There may be a plausable explaination but in all my years of observing the heavens, I have never seen anything like it. My location is in West Texas and I have witnesses. I checked the star charts and satellite locations and was unable to explain it. Any help with inquiries is appreciated!

I would like to confirm that I saw something like this too, but the time was 7:15 am while I was driving to work, the sun was in process of rising but had not reached the horizon yet so the star I was looking at was the only one I could see in the sky (I think this is the star Sirius?), The altitude was about 50 degrees and the azimuth was between 120 and 130 degrees, the location is vancouver, washington.
I was driving and trying to look at the star so my observations could be skewed because of that fact, it appeared to me to look like the star was flaring light kind of like the sun and it's solar flares, also when driving the star gave an appearance of being in the shape of an arrowhead, at first I shrugged it off as being an airplane because it was so bright, but came to realise it had not moved , except for the earth's rotation making it seem like it is rising in the horizon. It was a cool sight nontheless!
Anyways nothing to be concered about unless the fish people of that system are fighting with another race that wants info on our location,
and they are trying to send us a warning!

Originally posted by MrMicrophone
OK, once again, this was not a flare or flares. I've spent enought time observing to rule out aircraft, satellites, meteorites, moon dogs or whatever.

I'm remaining skeptical, still.

I did look up on Heavens-Above though, and there wern't any Iridium Flares at that time or that location for Midland, Texas.

As no one else has seen this, and here in Michigan we didn't see it either, it must have been a local event. The only thing I can think of is that there must be a military operations area, or an MOA, nearby, some of which are approved for lights out conditions. Under lights out conditions, the military aircraft have full permission to fly with no lights on, much as they would in a real combat situation. Military aircraft routinely fly training missions in these areas, some of which include mock dog fights. When they do these mock dog fights the pilots routinely drop flares, which appear to just hang there in the sky on their parachutes.

The best thing I can say is that there was a military training operation far enough away so that it would appear to be about 36 degrees above the horizon. (36 degrees up was the altitude of Sirius on the date and time and at the location that you gave.) Then jets in the MOA dropped flares, which you saw. That would explain why it was a local event and here in Michigan we didn't see anything.

unfortunately the east coast was covered in clouds on the 23rd, as i was actually planning on setting up the scope that night (and sirius is one of my normal alignment stars). i'll keep an eye out for anything peculiar in that area.

You are not alone! I am a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, UK. Have you managed to take pictures?
Contact me at Tanasyuk(at)hotmail.com



[edit on 7-8-2009 by tanasyuk]

[edit on 7-8-2009 by tanasyuk]

Perseid shower perhaps?

It's happening right now.

Originally posted by Astyanax
Perseid shower perhaps?

It's happening right now.

Quite likely I think.

I'd suggest the OP spend some time watching the Perseids if he/she has never done so before. See the thread I started here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Meteors can be very variable in their characteristics and appearance, so unless you have spent some time observing them, chances are you haven't seen it all. I know I haven't, and I've been observing meteor showers for the last decade.

There are also other meteor showers active at this time, so be aware that not all meteor observed are Perseids!

I participated in many field trips where we studied meteors, so.. it has Nothing to do with meteors! Trust me. Events are very different in nature and also it was observed in January..




[edit on 7-8-2009 by tanasyuk]

Dear MrMicrophone,
Could you please explain what do you mean by "very near", can you approximate the distance?

Originally posted by Astyanax
Perseid shower perhaps?

It's happening right now.

The OP was three years ago, in January.
No perseids at that time.

[edit on 7-8-2009 by ngchunter]

Well, I was referring to what the OP observed, not you.

And if I had a penny for every time someone claimed to have seen it all (and obviously has not ), I'd be a rich man!

What are you talking about anyway? Are you saying you observed something similar in January? If so, what?

Many people have been seeing flashes in the sky, which I think are mostly (if not all) due to junk/satellites in orbit: www.abovetopsecret.com...

I suppose you are aware that the Quadrantid meteor shower is active in January?

Edit: OK, the I just saw it was the OP's observation in January. Thanks NGC.

As I said above, the Quadrantids could be responsible, but there are meteor showers active throughout the year, so meteors could be seen from many sources on any given night.

Originally posted by tanasyuk
Dear MrMicrophone,
Could you please explain what do you mean by "very near", can you approximate the distance?

How is someone supposed to approximate the distance of an unknown object seen in the sky? In most cases this is impossible since there is no frame of reference/visual cues.

People often mistake celestial objects for UFOs because of this.

What exactly did you read at Cambridge? Astronomy? Don't they teach you that guaging the distance of a light in the sky is near impossible?

I'd suggest you read the following page, which explains:
DID I ACTUALLY SEE A FIREBALL LAND NEAR ME?

reply to post by Astyanax


you guys relize this thread is three years old right?just pointing that out.