I think I may have seen "outgassing" or some other unusual phenomenon tonight while looking at the moon.

It is Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008. I am located in Toronto. A few minutes ago, at about 8:15 PM, I was outside looking at the moon, which was located ten degrees or so east of due south and at an elevation of fifty-five degrees or so.

The moon's phase is almost half way between full and new moon. Near the top of the lighted portion of it's face, at about the two o'clock position, I suddenly saw a spark of light, then another one a couple of degrees lower. These sparks were very bright, but only shone for a fraction of a second. In total I saw four or five sparks, each one lower on the moon's circumference than the last.

They appeared to the right of the face of the moon and were bright against the blackness behind the moon. The location of each successive spark shifted as if to go around the moon's image in the sky but only made it to about the five o'clock position. After that there were no more of them.

Is that outgassing? A meteor shower striking the moon?

I watched for a few moments to see if I had been watching airplane lights, but there were no more flashes. I don't think it was fire flies either or sparks from someone's barbecue. These sparks were bright, like stars.

Anyone have any ideas.


[edit on 9-10-2008 by ipsedixit]

ive got my telescope on it now.. I will keep watching for a while.... have never heard of that term... but would like to see it,, sounds pretty cool.

I am in TN and I have to believe I saw the same thing when I went out to feed my dogs. Initially I thought I was seeing things, so I just waived it off. Glad to know I am not the only one who saw it

But I have never heard of out gassing...this is a first. Aside from that though I would not have the slightest clue as to what it was.

No, you're not crazy... It's normal... Just the Reptilians moving it into position. Thanks for the update.

Hmm. Your post time says 8:11. I am going to assume that is for my time (US Central). I am located here in Iowa. Around that time I had just gotten off work and was riding home with a friend. To the left of the moon from where I was at that time, I swear I seen 3 meteors. Two were pretty close and nearly parallel but slightly off, the last one was right behind them. I did some googling when I got home for meteor showers, but the closest I found was Orionids, and those aren't supposed to peak until the 21st of this month.

It was pretty cool. I never used to watch the sky much until early in this summer, and I have yet to see something like it, even during the Perseids.

I hope either someone else see's something, or someone can explain what it was.

Thanks for the links guys. The stuff I saw was on the outer edge of the moon...hard to describe though...kinda like bright pumes. At any rate, atleast they have a scientific explanation.

Thanks to Phage and ProfEMeritous for the links to TLP pages.

What I saw was not cloudy or colored anything but bright, a bright white, like a star. The first spark that I saw was closer to the surface of the moon than the others. It was followed almost instantly by the second spark, which was very close to the first but further off the surface.

I thought the first one had jumped/erupted/risen from the moon's surface, but all the others spontaneously appeared and disappeared, so I wasn't as sure about the first one, except to say that it was closer to the surface when I saw it. It was also smaller, I think.

Is this what you saw Taledus?