flashing "star" in southern sky

Strangely enough I witnessed another flash from my back garden last night !

This was extremely bright, I would approximate magnitude -20 or so, bright enough that had I been looking directly at it at the time it would have left an impression on the retina afterwards.

Just a single flash, from approximately 30 degrees above the horizon which, unless at a fantastic altitude, would have been within the shadow of the earth being almost directly East and 2 hrs since nightfall.

No noise, no aircraft seen and, although this may be my incorrect perception, it seemed to instantaneously light up my immediate surrounding area.

The strange part was that my recent "research" had caused me to go back and read part of Streiber's Transformation and, kind of along the lines of "show me what I need to know", I had gone into the garden for a smoke and whilst there asked myself (and anyone else who was listening !) for assistance in determining whether or not I should continue along the particular path of research I was heading. If I wasn't so sceptical I would call it a sign !

By the way I was smoking a standard cigarette.

Of course I could have just caught the fiery end of a meteor but all I saw was a point of light, no trail.

hi there,
i have been trying to contact you on the hawaii thread site, quite hard to get a registration there.
my name is ash im a 25 year old male, i live in the south eastern most point of australia on the coast. i was outside having a cigarette earlier and i saw exactly what you described, at about 1.57am local time. being quite into astronomy and a very keen stargazer i have never seen this before. i have been searching online for the past hour trying to find something remotely close but nothing was the same until i found your post. your words are EXACTLY what i saw, i could not of explained it better. and i thought it very weird. i actually got a little nervous cos i have never seen it before.

at first i thought it was stationary but moving very slowly, i counted about 10 seconds between flashes some very bright, some dim. sometimes the flashes looked to be in a slight different place as if it wasnt moving on one particular path. it caught my eye just above orion, exact place and moved only slightly left in the short time before it dissapeared, bout 7 minutes i saw it for. it to me was definitely not a satellite, , satellites are gone within minutes, it is weird. few ppl have seen it, and those that have, saw it in the same place.

i am now very keen to know what it was .. i saw you had contacted nasa, any reply? hope to hear from you soon, this has very much sparked up my interest in astronomy and the unknown.
cheers
ash

that was directed for snaaake by the way in hawaii

I have spent hundreds of hours sitting in my yard, in the dark, with Binos and telescope. My greatest disappointment is that I have never seen anything unexplainable.

However I have seen the odd satellite that did not appear on Heavens-Above or any other site. There is a lot of space junk floating around out there. We humans are a messy lot.

I think the only thing that would really pique my interest would be a satellite that changed direction.

It is 2am here in South Western Australia so I'm off outside for a cig. With binos and telescope at hand on the patio.

One idea though. Is it possible the light source you saw was stationary and constant and something was interrupting the light.

I thought maybe thick high clouds invisible at night but if you could see the star field around it this is not possible.

Or perhaps a very unusual form of very high min min light (Fata Morgana). In your case a ship far over the horizon.

hey, the light source was definitely not stationary, the sky was cloudless, you could see more stars than normal being such a clear night.
being a pilot myself i am well aware of aircrafts different lights weather phenomena and that hour of the morning, orion is right above me, so it was on the horizon, i'm slightly inland from the coast.

i will go outside again tonight and have another look, 1.55am about, i know where to look though cos it seemed to centralise close to orion and moved only slightly left off it, before dissapearing. As i said before i have spent hundreds of hours stargazing as well and this i have never seen.
i find it weird though, that there arent many sightings like this ??

reply to post by mortalengine


ive seen the same thing i dont know if its a planet or space rock meaning astoroid but all i know i look up at night and see this bright round star of sorts located west south of oriens belt somtimes it moves or it appears that way it is somethin that has caught my attention

Does NOT sound like a satellite to me. I seen something similar a few nights ago but it eventually darted across the sky then descended outside of town.

To the person in Australia what direction was the flashing star.
If it was to the west or south west, I have also seen it.
Could it just be a star burning out.

well orion was above me and i was facing to the south. so it would of been moving in a south east or easterly direction, but didnt move very far before completely disappearing, unlike a satellite they move quite rapidly over much of the sky, this thing only moved quarter of the sky and extremely slowly, what did you see ? same night and time ?

i don't think it was a star burning out .. i think the consistant flashing like a light makes it a machine or craft of some sort, because it was moving, just ever so slowly ... i cannot find anything online remotely similar .. apart from the few sightings noted here ..

reply to post by mortalengine
I have been observing this light for weeks now and i can assure everyone this is not a satalite or a planet(no planets exist in the sky at the time and location of this obect). this object can be veiwed every night just after sunset at about 40 degrees south west above the horizon.(viewed from scotland)
i have filmed it with my handycam with night vision(infrared) which removes the white visible light. you can clearly see this is not a star or planet . there are many youtube videos of this object and the best i've see is at www.youtube.com...
this object is stationary like a star as it moves through the sky traviling west as the earth spins and returns the next day to the same position in the sky as the day before, at roughly the same time. . it travels faster than the stars but that would suggest it is much closer to the earth and perhaps even in the earths atmosphere. this can be supported by the fact when zoomed in 40x on a handycam it is massive and spherical rings can be veiwed quite clearly on its surface. when veiwed without the zoom it appears as a star with six spiked points as does the biblical star!
one of the most obvious features of this object is that it appears in the sky about 2 to 3 hours earlier in the sky than any other star and is very bright.
the only other object in the sky with this luminosity is the moon
if you google or youtube " very bright object(or star) in southern sky you will find hundreds of people talking about this. and also many videos.
what i would like to know is why is there no media coverage of this object and why is there no mention of this in any of the main astronomy sites?
without going into detail i have come to the conclusion this object is connected to the star alderbaron.
if anyone would like to know how i have come to this conclusion please respond to this post.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
I have been observing this light for weeks now and i can assure everyone this is not a satalite or a planet(no planets exist in the sky at the time and location of this obect). this object can be veiwed every night just after sunset at about 40 degrees south west above the horizon.(viewed from scotland)

I have come to the conclusion this object is connected to the star alderbaron.
if anyone would like to know how i have come to this conclusion please respond to this post.

I doubt it's Aldeberan, which is a distinct orange colour and located in Taurus.

I think this is the planet Venus, which is rapidly getting closer to Earth in its orbit. By late February, it will be at its brightest. Venus will then start to move away from Earth getting fainter over the following weeks.

If you will tell me your location in Scotland (the nearest large town will do), I'll render the view in Stellarium for you to compare. Also say what time in the evening you wish to compare.

WG3

[edit on 14-2-2009 by waveguide3]

[edit on 14-2-2009 by waveguide3]

i never said it was aldebaron.
i said it was connected to it. There is a subtle difference. If you veiw the object on the youtube link i posted you will see three distinct rings on its suface , with the small ring in the middle. this pattern is associated with taurus the bull ie. the "bulls eye". check out this link www.greatdreams.com...
this was just a quick google search with regards aldebaron which i noticed was the only bright star in the position of this object at the time i was veiwing it. roughly about 40 degrees above the southwest horizon looking from scotland.(Aldebaron is indeed reddish in couler as it is a red giant and is in its dying stages).
you will notice in the post is a collection of articles with regards aldebaron ,from mythology to crop circles to hitler and even a girls dream sequence.
Notice the prophesied coming of a vast alien armada coming to colonize earth fron this star and solar system.
you will notice the similarity of the patterns in the crop circle and dream picture in the posts with the patterns on the object in the youtube video
i would suggest there is a connection here.

with regards venus, any amateur astronomer will tell you venus is not in this position at the time this strange object appears as this object is too high in the sky above the horizon , its too bright, and for venus to have full reflective light from the sun would require it to be round the back of the sun which is not only too far from the earth too seen clearly but would be hidden by the suns own rays as it would be too close to the sun in the daytime and would certainly not appear at night.
when venus is closest to the earth it is in shadow obviously and all other positions it would be seen as a cresent moon like shape. this is know by all astronomers as basic knowledge.
Another venus debunker is that this strange object stays in the night sky until about 12 or 1 in the morning. at this time of the year it is well know venus follows the suns path at a low angle of degrees relative to the horizon and disappears from sight by about 7 at night (from a scotland perspective of course)
If you want to check out what is in the sky in your area at any time of the year download "stellarium". its is a free 3d sky map.
lastly, if you go back in time with stellarium you will notice venus does not even appear over the horizon a couple of months ago. This strange object has been in the same position in the night sky since at least july 2008

Venus is currently approaching the Earth and brightening. Telescopes show it as a crescent because of the position angle, however it is so close to Earth, it is reaching maximum brightness. Currently, it has a magnitude of -4.41. It never gets brighter than -4.6, so the next few weeks will show it at virtual maximum. It's a brilliant beacon in the South-Western sky from anywhere in the Northern hemisphere. Seen from Aberdeen, Scotland (or anywhere else in Scotland) it currently sets shortly after 9pm.

Venus has been setting after the sun since late December last year and continues to be an evening object until mid-late March.

As for Aldeberan, I'm not into the mythologies so can't add anything to your discussion on that.

WG3

[edit on 14-2-2009 by waveguide3]

reply to post by mortalengine
Yours is not the only sightings that have perplexed the experts. Here is another example just as weird that has stumped the astronomers for a couple of years
News Release Number: STScI-2009-04
Star Light, Star Bright, Its Explanation is Out of Sight

* Introduction
* The Full Story
* Release Images
* Fast Facts
* Related Links

The full news release story:
Star Light, Star Bright, Its Explanation is Out of SightView this image

A mysterious flash of light from somewhere near or far in the universe is still keeping astronomers in the dark long after it was first detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2006. It might represent an entirely new class of stellar phenomena that has previously gone undetected in the universe, say researchers.

Astronomers commonly observe intense flashes of light from a variety of stellar explosions and outbursts, such as novae and supernovae. Hubble discovered the cosmic flash on February 21, 2006. It steadily rose in brightness for 100 days, and then dimmed back to oblivion after another 100 days.

The rise and fall in brightness has a signature that simply has never been recorded for any other type of celestial event. Supernovae peak after no more than 70 days, and gravitational lensing events are much shorter. Therefore, this observation defies a simple explanation, reports Kyle Barbary of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, Calif. He is describing the bizarre Hubble observation at the 213th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif. "We have never seen anything like it," he concludes.

The spectral fingerprints of light coming from the object, cataloged as SCP 06F6, also have eluded identification as being due to any specific element. One guess is that the features are redshifted molecular carbon absorption lines in a star roughly one billion light-years away.

But searches through various astronomical survey catalogs for the source of the light have not uncovered any evidence for a star or galaxy at the location of the flash. The Supernova Cosmology Project at LBNL discovered it serendipitously in a search for supernovae.

Hubble was aimed at a cluster of galaxies 8 billion light-years away in the spring constellation Bootes. But the mystery object could be anywhere in between, even in the halo of our own Milky Way galaxy.

Papers published by other researchers since the event was reported in June 2006, have suggested a bizarre zoo of possibilities: the core collapse and explosion of a carbon rich star, a collision between a white dwarf and an asteroid, or the collision of a white dwarf with a black hole.

But Barbary does not believe that any model offered so far fully explains the observations. "I don't think we really know what the discovery means until we can observe similar objects in the future."

All-sky surveys for variable phenomena, such as those to be conducted with the planned Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, may ultimately find similar transient events in the universe.
CONTACT

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514
[email protected]

Kyle Barbary
University of California Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, Calif.
510-486-4652
[email protected] / [email protected]

you have obviously logged on to the wrong website. You would have more fun at astronomyforbeginners.com !!
people that view this site will be well aware of the importance of ancient mythology when investigating mysterious goings on in today’s world.
There are many clues to be uncovered in ancient texts be it the bible,Sumerian legend, Egyptian historical text etc.
As to your assumptions regarding the planet Venus, your knowledge of our solar system appears to be somewhat lacking.
Venus and mercury being the inner ring planets relative to earth follow the suns course through the sky during the day, albeit in different positions relative to it. As the earth spins, these planets and the sun traverse across the sky, and at this time of year are very low in the horizon. the sun disappears around 4.30pm with Venus following shortly after about 6pm.
This bizarre bright object in the sky appears to the naked eye at about 5pm and about 40 degrees above the horizon (the sky is still very bright as the sun has just gone down) way too high for any planet at this time of the year and stays visable way into the night. dissapearing over the horizon about 1 in the morning.THIS CANNOT BE VENUS BY ANY STRECTH OF THE IMAGINATION.
This object works its way across the sky east to west in the same way the stars appear to travel as a result of the earths spin. The only difference is this object travels slightly faster, which would suggest it is very close to the earth if not in the earths stratosphere.
it is obviously in a stationary position just like the stars as it can be seen in the very same position every day at the same time. The only difference as I said is the speed which it traverses across the sky and as I said this can only be the result of the object being closer to the earth. simple geometry can explain this effect.
With regards not being able to see the crescent effect of the suns reflection on Venus because of the dazzling amount of light! if you had bothered to look at the youtube video link of this object that I gave you in my last post you would see quite clearly there is no crescent shape lighting effect on this object when viewed with night vision technology of the camcorder. The night vision technology works by removing most of the white visible light and focusing on more of the infrared spectrum. if there was a crescent shape on the object due to the suns refection it would be very apparent even within this spectrum of light.
If you do take the time to view this object on the many youtube video footage taken of it , you will notice the very peculiar surface.(oh and by the way, when did a 40x zoom video camcoder ever focus in this close on any planet!!) As I said in my last post, the three distinctive inner rings are very similar to the symbol associated to Taurus and the eye of the bull as depicted in the Google link I gave you in my last post with regards the star alderbaron.
you and the majority of the sheepole on the planet will eventually be forced to wake up with regards this object as it is not going away . it will eventually show its true colours so too speak. unfortunately we will not be ready for it as we are an extremely stupid form of life and probably deserve to be wiped out

We are on holiday in the Golden Gate South Africa. While looking at the sky we noticed a flashing star. I looked at it using the binocular. The "star" was emitting a flash of light every 20 to 30 seconds. The position in the sky did not change much but it seems to move away from the Earth as the strobe got fainter. About 30 minutes later I could not see it any more. Date observed 17/03/2009 20:00 - 20:30 gmt+2.

if i want to see this bizarre bright ball of light in australia ? can anyone tell me when and where roughly ?? id be interested to see this.

as for the people in south africa on holiday, i posted a similar post not too long ago with something similar, no one seems to know what it was, you can read my post slightly up the page and it details what i saw.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
reply to post by mortalengine

 

I have been observing this light for weeks now and i can assure everyone this is not a satalite or a planet(no planets exist in the sky at the time and location of this obect). this object can be veiwed every night just after sunset at about 40 degrees south west above the horizon.(viewed from scotland)
i have filmed it with my handycam with night vision(infrared) which removes the white visible light. you can clearly see this is not a star or planet . there are many youtube videos of this object and the best i've see is at www.youtube.com...
this object is stationary like a star as it moves through the sky traviling west as the earth spins and returns the next day to the same position in the sky as the day before, at roughly the same time. . it travels faster than the stars but that would suggest it is much closer to the earth and perhaps even in the earths atmosphere. this can be supported by the fact when zoomed in 40x on a handycam it is massive and spherical rings can be veiwed quite clearly on its surface. when veiwed without the zoom it appears as a star with six spiked points as does the biblical star!
one of the most obvious features of this object is that it appears in the sky about 2 to 3 hours earlier in the sky than any other star and is very bright.
the only other object in the sky with this luminosity is the moon
if you google or youtube " very bright object(or star) in southern sky you will find hundreds of people talking about this. and also many videos.
what i would like to know is why is there no media coverage of this object and why is there no mention of this in any of the main astronomy sites?
without going into detail i have come to the conclusion this object is connected to the star alderbaron.
if anyone would like to know how i have come to this conclusion please respond to this post.

This is definately not the same as what I'm talking about. People when I said it was flashing I mean... It's normal state was OFF, it would flash once and then nothing..... then wait..... flash! .....

It's more like what bogossoz mentioned. Please can you all stop posting about these stupid mysterious lights that just sit there... I'm definatly not talkign about that. When I said "flashing" i really and truly meant "flashing" and not... "sparkling" or "changing colours"..