Two flashes of light in the night sky. I'm stumped...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Do you think it's possible that it was a flare from a satellite that normally would have been white but instead appeared yellow because of the smoke in the atmosphere from the bush fire? The reason I ask is that smoke can make white light take on a orange'ish/yellow'ish hue. But then again, if that were the case, all of the stars in the sky probably would have appeared to be the same color as the flash...

Just though I'd mention it, although I doubt that explains what you saw.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by camaro68ss

 

Meteor doesn't fit, there was no movement, no tail. Just flash flash.

As jankopernik says, head-on or "point-meteor" is a possibility.

It could also be a meteor that is too dim too see over most of it's path, but the brightness increased momentarily during a partial or total disintegration. These types of flashes are quite common for meteors since meteoroids are usually composed of quite fragile material that easily breaks up during passage through the atmosphere.

Also, whilst it may not have been a satellite, there are also many thousands of pieces of junk in orbit which can create flashes, and quite often a series of flashes. This would be my bet, although either of the possibilities above is also plausible.

For more info see my two threads which have examples, and photographs I've taken myself of this phenomena:
How to view, track, and identify satellites
Flashes and Star-like objects that move strangely in the sky explained

reply to post by FireballStorm


A meteor did cross my mind, which is why I kept watching the area to see if I could spot more movement.

This thing was bright, brighter than an iridium flare by a long way.

Can't rule out a meteor like you say, but it seems unlikely.

Cheers for dropping in

reply to post by Chadwickus


Im inserting a link to my photobucket to go have a look-see at what I saw around januray 23rd(ish)
the first two show the suns location to the light the 6th pic is also to the right of the sun, the other pics are the 2nd bright light I saw to the left of the sun, one of the pics shows the location of the sun to the left side bright object, im wondering if you saw simular?

s1297.beta.photobucket.com...#/user/lbndhr1961/library/?&_suid=136079426012407621357731182599

reply to post by lbndhr


What you have photographed there is known as a sundog (or "parhelion"). This would not have been what Chad saw since it was nighttime and sundogs are only visible when the Sun is above the horizon.

Originally posted by carbon6
ive seen plenty of shooting stars and even a meteor

Welcome to ATS carbon6.

FYI - "shooting star" is the common name for a meteor.

You are right though, chances are it was an optical illusion rather than the meteoroid traveling directly downward. It is actually almost impossible to gauge the true direction/heading of a meteor since there are no visual cues (clues that help us subconsciously work out direction, speed, size, etc).

Did you know that meteors can appear to move upwards and away from the ground? They do not (of course), but due to Earth's surface and it's atmosphere being curved, as well as the angle of entry, and the perspective of an observer who is in the right place at the right time, it can appear so.

I also have witnessed something similar a few times here in London in the last months I think. But mine was not yellow but more the colour of normal lightning. It was very fast. But the sky was clear.

reply to post by Chadwickus
Do satellites not go by at night?

reply to post by Chadwickus


I too noticed something similar last Feb. while walking my dogs. I thought I saw a flash in the night sky. When I stared again I saw it 3 or 4 more times about 15-25 seconds apart. It was in an Eastern direction at least 50-70 degrees above the horizon. It didn't appear to be close either. No Sounds and it seemed to be in the same spot each time. The highly unusual thing about this flash was it started small became larger then disappeared from the center to the outside. It was a perfect circle about the size of my pinky fingernail held at arms length. Again it went dark from the center towards its edge which I'm still baffled about. I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff in the sky in my lifetime and this certainly ranked right up the top of my list. This occurred in NW Florida. And before the drones started flying locally.

Heat flashes.They appear just like that, and it does have to be warm out.

Last week in Michigan, we had a couple inches of snow, it was kinda cold...and it was thundering out...with several repeating quick flashes as you described. Ive seen them all over the US even with no rain.

I've seen something similar. Except it would (from my view) turn off, brighten, dim, brighten, turn off, brighten, etc. It was weird. I did get pics, but they don't capture what I saw. It got pretty bright. I don't think pulsars behave that way, do they?



EDIT: I forgot to mention that it had a white color to it. If anyone can explain it, I would love to hear their opinion.

reply to post by LEL01


New member here, so be easy on me. Just figuring things out and jumping right in all at once. I think I've seen several of the orbs you mention. The first was rooftop height (about twenty feet over the house) that flew through the treeline across the street and sort of "popped." Like you said, almost like a light switch flicker.
All the ones I have seen seem to be about the size of an earth globe (as in school) from perspective, and varying in speed, numbers and one color variance instant. The only thing I can come up with as far as anything matching description doesn't really sit well with me, but I thought I'd share it.
Google--"58 symptoms of Alien Abduction," most of the different lists mention varaitions in the "tracer orbs" as well as other flashes of light, for crosspointing.
Sorry about butting in so soon, but your description sort of, eh. Popped and I thought I'd offer a new view to think over..if nothing else, for stimulation and flights of fancy. Interested to hear opinions.

Newb silenced for now. ^_^

Longshot here, but any chance it was just a quick back to back firework someone lit off? At a distance you may not hear it, but it would definitely be a quick "pop" of bright light with no tail.

reply to post by Vasa Croe




The only time it could have even remotely been fireworks was new years of last year, but there were three traveling at high altitude formation and a.k. fire in the area pretty much had most of the neighborhood in doors that year. Been a few months since the last one, still hard to describe. Just white balls of pure energy, no body whatsoever, no tail.
Only thing that sets em off is the hue around the outside, either a "nonexistent" blue,
A slightly stronger mixture of yellow and white, or just plain white. Also a lot of other, ehh. Goings on during and since that time I'd rather not go into atm.
Just glad to find others discussing similar experiences. :-)

reply to post by Chadwickus


Iridium flares I think peak around -6 magnitude, which is probably within the brightness range you describe?

Could be that, or possibly another satellite at the right place/right time.

EDIT to add: I've seen one before that was a beer-dropper it was so bright.

How close together were the two flashes?

reply to post by Chadwickus


I'm in central London and had the same thing the last 2 nights about 22;30. I'm used to aircraft strobes and train track arcing, but these were different, just flash, flash. Thought it was (or I was) a bit odd.

Originally posted by ThrasherBamBam
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

The only time it could have even remotely been fireworks was new years of last year, but there were three traveling at high altitude formation and a.k. fire in the area pretty much had most of the neighborhood in doors that year. Been a few months since the last one, still hard to describe. Just white balls of pure energy, no body whatsoever, no tail.
Only thing that sets em off is the hue around the outside, either a "nonexistent" blue,
A slightly stronger mixture of yellow and white, or just plain white. Also a lot of other, ehh. Goings on during and since that time I'd rather not go into atm.
Just glad to find others discussing similar experiences. :-)

Why is that the only time they could have been fireworks? I know I have fired off plenty of mortar style fireworks in Atlanta on many non-holiday days....have done it at the beach quite often as well. Just wondering if the particular incident looked like a mortar style firework at all?

He said he saw it through a mosquito net which if the firework itself lit up a possible smoke trail, the trail may not have been visible through the net, only the light burst.

We often get a lot of non holiday fireworks as well, but people around here usually set them off in the day to prevent tracing during non holiday hours (illegal here.) The new years thing had three of them flying in a bee line, very slow that time (others they were fast) with no pops. I just watched em until they were out of range, if I remember correctly.

Also I live around three or four airports (military, commercial and city), which helps debunk. Non flight patterns, no normal bodies, or take off/ landing rumbles. Just quiet, bright, and deliberate flights.

reply to post by ThrasherBamBam


Hi, I haven't been here very long myself.
What I saw was just a flash, I thought it was about the size of a football but it was so quick it's hard to say exactly, I can't remember the size of the globe at school it was a long time ago for me. The first one was very close to the houses but the second one was out over the road a few feet away and a little higher. I would have thought I'd imagined it if there hadn't been a second one.
I don't believe I've been abducted but I will look at 58 symptoms to see what's there.