Strange objects hanging in night sky over Iraq

Originally posted by IvanZana
Ive seen these multiple times in my travels.

It could be 3 things. One I know what it is the other is still a mystery to me.

The first one: I've seen similar effects in the sky when spot light are used. The light is being diffused on the clouds and is brighttest when it hits the cloud ceiling, giving the impression the light is comming from the clouds.

The second: Sometimes when I look at the sky, I see oddly bright stars that just dont have the far-away star look. As i stare at them, sometimes they start to move steadily while dimming and appearing travel down the horizon like it was orbiting. That the mysterious one.

The third: Dont know


[edit on 3-1-2008 by IvanZana]

I've seen the second so many times. This is assuming that what I used to see is the same thing you're describing. The description is dead on though. The explanation I was given is that they were satellites.

They are Light pillars:They can provide quite a show in the colld nights.

Colorful Light Pillars

Explanation: How can an aurora appear so near the ground? Pictured above are not aurora but nearby light pillars, a local phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. In the above picture, the colorful lights causing the light pillars surround a ice-skating rink in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"Credit & Copyright: Walter Tape (Alaska Fairbanks), Figure 8-1, Atmospheric Halos "




[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

Originally posted by the seeker_713g
perhaps Mr Ritzman could take a lok at these and give us his opinion.

I think theyre really cool...almost reminds me of angels standing in the clouds. What could they really be? Moisture, ice, spotlight diffusion, ground pollution effects...or, angels.

Seriously, who knows...we dont get to see them without NV, so it's anyone's guess. I've seen sun dogs that look similar...but I've never seen one with NV.

There's some very odd atmospheric effects out there.

reply to post by jritzmann


Humm..Have you seen my last post?

It is Iraq, what about UAV's or stationary sattellites? - Just a thought

Interesting vid though

Originally posted by Zenem
It is Iraq, what about UAV's or stationary sattellites? - Just a thought

Are not people reading nothing posted here? Or you guys just read the topic tittle, the OP post and hit to answer?

...I give up!!




Light pillars site

[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

reply to post by Umbra Sideralis


I live near Fairbanks and have seen similar lights, but nothing to that extent

But I never thought of mentioning it, because I wasnt sure how cold it got there in Iraq.

That picture is awesome!

[edit on 4-1-2008 by greeneyedleo]

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
reply to post by Umbra Sideralis

 

I live near Fairbanks and have seen similar lights, but nothing to that extent

But I never thought of mentioning it, because I wasnt sure how cold it got there in Iraq.

That picture is awesome!

[edit on 4-1-2008 by greeneyedleo]

Yes , true! With the proper conditions it is quite a show.
I am amazed with the plethora of possible colours (see the last pic i posted)
May be the Irak ones could be smaller due to the amount of ice cristals, but they are lovely

those lights are what the government want you to believe as the light reflecting off venus thru swamp gas

All kidding aside if you look closely you'll see a plane moving right to left probably an ac-130 gunship. the lights could possibly be IR flares dropped by the gunship to help the targeting sensors locate a target on the ground.

Thanks to Kruel for the original image.

You can see that there seems to a physical object here?? It is appears to be a long cylindrical shape?

Embossed:












[edit on 4-1-2008 by lazer1]

How cold does it need to be for the light pillars?? It hasn't gotten below 32 yet this this year in Baghdad.
Granted, this could be north Iraq. To me it looks like aurora through a night scope.

Notice the 'red' haze.

[edit on 4-1-2008 by Viszet Oki]

Just something to interject here. Not really of this thread, but that is the way I am. When I was in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq I was amazed at how many soldiers I served with thought the Milky Way was some sort of sign from God, or at the very least, some cloud that formed every night over the desert in the same way. Heh. Oh, how many people don't know what is going on in this universe! Me included.

several people have asked :

" how cold can it get in Iraq ?"

it is heavily dependant on which area of the country basra [ extreme SE ] is mild year round , but the western desert @ night is frigid - winter or summer with sub zero temperatures recorded and people have died of hypothermia

example - vince phillips during the bravo 2 zero patrol in 1991

EDIT TO ADD :

light pillars are not dependant on temperature , but reflective particles in the air - be those ice crystals or sand grains / dust

if they reflect light - then in the right lighting conditions a light pillar may be visible

[edit on 4-1-2008 by ignorant_ape]

I'm going to bite on this one..

If it was a light pillar, which sounds perfectly reasonable, then why would it show in my embossed image up the top to have a "bright" spot..

Would it be possible for a light pillar to be brighter in certain parts? Or should it be its brightest at the beginning and fade out as it gets higher?

not sure on the science of this one but i guess its an important fact to consider.

reply to post by lazer1

You can see that there seems to a physical object here?? It is appears to be a long cylindrical shape?............Embossed:

apperences can be deceptive , and " emboss " is worthless as a forensic tool

please take the time to educate yourself on how the " emboss " feature works , it makes assumptions that are invalid

i think ufo. if natural phenomenon these guys would have noticed or heard of it before. it comes as a surprise to them and i would doubt the conditions over iraq are right for such naturally occuring phenomena.

the GI who posted this would have asked around before it was posted. if he suspected it was military/black-ops at all he wouldn't have posted it due to natl security.

this is def ufo imo

All the light pillar pictures shown so far, to explain this show a light beam extending all the way from the ground upwards.

These lights do not.

The are just up in the air, no vertical "pillar" coming from the ground.

I'm not buying the light pillar theory yet.

But it is still a possiblity, because we don't know what they'd look like through night vision.

I wish he woulda switched the camera to regular mode if it had one, or pulled out a regular camcorder/camera.

First thing I thought(as a few other have as well) was the 5 sun thing that was shown a couple months ago , created by sun dogs.

I dunno, the did just look like sentinals, something eerie about the whole thing. Not easy to spook troops. I also believe the video is genuine.

Is it possible that those who have been observing us for centuries, now want us to know for sure, that they are watching?
Just a thought, those soldiers sounded genuine to me, and I hope they all come home safe and well sometime soon.
Horsegiver.

Originally posted by Umbra Sideralis


Are not people reading nothing posted here? Or you guys just read the topic tittle, the OP post and hit to answer?

...I give up!!

[edit on 4/1/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

Unfortunately that is the way the believers operate in ATS. They saw the thread title, make up assumptions without researching, assessing and analyzing and just confabulate 'facts' before posting, devoid of logical thinking, practical wisdom and minimal brain thought processing.

Sometimes they would also blatantly ignore entire post consisting of hard facts simply because they want to believe what they want to believe. I call it brainless ignorant conjecturism. It's prevalent here in ATS.

You might as well talk to a chimpanzee...

reply to post by omnicron


lol you see maybe people were reading but do not agree with the statement of light pilalrs . So just because somebody thinks its light pillars and shows a nice photo of pillars of light streaching from the ground to the sky (very nice looking phenomen imo) , dosent meant that this is it ..

So yea I guess people did read and look at the photo but did not agree with it .

For me the two do not look alike , why ? Well because one shows a pillar of light streaching from the ground to sky and the other shows a definite shape (not saying its material shape) which emits/reflects/makes/conjures/ take your pick light arround it , and to me the do not look alike ..

Could it be light pillars (the phenomen) , yes it could .
Could it be sun dogs , yes it could
Could it all be a hoax , yes it could
Could it be ET , yes it could
Is it light pillars for sure , hell no it is not for sure unless you give me scientific proof that it is and not a biased opinion based arround a picture.

So next time you try to be a smart ass about something and insult people on ATS just because you think they should agree with somebody elses opinion (and yes it was just an opinion and not a fact , because nobody can honestly say he/she knows 100% without actually beeing there and researching it , and having the knowledge to do it) that has been posted , maybe think twice before you hit the "reply" button .




[edit on 4-1-2008 by Thill]

[edit on 4-1-2008 by Thill]