Mysterious Blinking Lights? Help me Identify

Disclaimer: Being the normal skeptic I am, I'm not proposing these are aliens or even anything at all. But considering they are unidentified objects for now, I am placing this thread in Aliens and UFO's.

With that being said.. last night was the third time I have seen this mysterious blinking light in the night sky in about 8 months.

A little background: I am an avid sky watcher and enjoy looking up at night as much as I can. I generally step outside to look for shooting stars on nice nights (spring is the best when the mosquitos aren't out yet). I know what a plane looks like at night, I live about 25 miles from the Manchester, NH airport. I know what a satellite & the ISS look like, the best part is when they flare really brightly due to the reflection lining up just right as they travel across the sky.

What I have seen is simply a blinking white light. Here is why it is mysterious to me.

1. It never starts from the horizon
2. It's very sporadic. ie: Blinks 4 times in sequence, pauses then blinks twice, pauses twice as long then blinks 3 times. No pattern that have noticed.
3. It's white and sometimes blinks very softly while other times it blinks very brightly and almost seems to fade out into a blue until gone again.
4. It doesnt travel in a straight line. It will blink 4-5 times and you can see that it is moving in one direction. I am always wrong on judging where it will blink next. Basically, it seems to change direction when not blinking?
5. It's completely silent

From the points above, and using my own reasoning, I can say...
1. It's not a plane because it's silent, doesn't consistently blink, and has no red lights.
2. It's not a satellite because it blinks

The only explanation I can think of is it is some type of firefly. However, I see them a lot in the summer and this doesnt strike me as one. They generally "glow" and fade out This simply blinks. It's also kind of early for them here in NH and was about 50-55 F last night. Also, when the fireflies are out you generally see many of them. (I WANT to believe this is just a bug, but the previous time I saw this light was the middle of winter...)

Last night it blinked about 10 times before completely disappearing. It started at about a 45 degree angle from me (well above tree line) and once it reached almost directly 90 degrees, or straight up, it never blinked again. I watched for another 20 minutes and never saw it.

I didnt even attempt to film it. My camcorder has a low light tolerance and cannot pick up anything at night, let alone stars or tiny lights.

I was hesitant on even posting this because I dont think it can really be resolved, but it's driving me nuts. Perhaps someone else has witnessed this as well?

reply to post by samureyed


Where's the photos and/or videos for this sighting? nobody will tell you if it's a UFO or a plane if there's no evidence.

G'day,

Yep, no photo, no video, no evidence.
So it never happend.

Prove me wrong...

... You can't photograph a blinking light. I already mentioned why I didnt video tape it.

I'm simply wondering if anyone has ever seen something similar or perhaps offer new insight to ease my confusion. It's apparent I should have never bothered.

I have seen similar things, about 3 weeks ago.
3 of them at the same time, one were blinking in a soft strobe like manner, bright white light that was blinking every 8 second I gather.

It was at a high altitude and I could see the oject between the blinks, it looked like a satallite, all three of them, yet only the one in the middle did the blinking.

The two others came from north doing and eastbound turn and the other came from South/southwest going North bound.

The one Blinking came from the South and going North, all three of them met at the same horizontal line, if you imagine a line in the sky..

Believe it or not, I have seen satellites many times and I have seen Iridium flares a couple of times, I know what they look like..

reply to post by ChemBreather


Interesting. I can also see the object slightly in between blinks for a very short amount of time. Like I said, it almost seems to fade to a blue and then gone within a second or two. If the time between blinks it too slow I lose the object from my sight then when/if it blinks again it never is where I would have estimated it to be.

I don't believe I have ever seen Iridium flares that I am aware of.

Thanks for sharing!

I don't know why you say "it isn't a satellite because it blinks", because spinning satellites blink. Also, the angle between various reflecting surfaces and the sun changes as the satellite moves across the sky, so sometimes the blinking can seem to follow no apparent pattern. Finally, satellites, especially tumbling ones, can appear to move in an erratic manner, as opposed to a straight line. It is an optical illusion caused in part by autokinesis.

reply to post by Tearman


Thank you, thats the type of info I am looking for. So a satellite can actually spin fast enough to cause a bright blinking appearance?

Like I mentioned above, it's not a "fade-in fade-out" but simply a quick blinking of light, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

I've experienced autokinesis before after stepping outside from a bright lit room and it looked like a star was moving around in the sky, so I am aware of this type of illusion. It's possible, but I did rule it out last night when I witnessed the object literally travel in one direction and then appear relatively far away in a completely opposite direction a few seconds later. Using the stars as visual guides of course.. Although I suppose I have no proof.


[edit on 17-5-2010 by samureyed]

I can't find exact numbers, but it appears that some satellites spin at least as fast as one rotation per second. The sun's apparent diameter from earth is only 1/2 degree so the flash could be very quick.

reply to post by Tearman


A spinning satellite or piece of space junk is a reasonable explanation upon researching a little more into it. Much more so than any other possibility I can think of! I just had it in my head that satellites wouldn't be spinning so fast (possibly from movies & television lol).