More "lights in the sky"

Since that old thread, I have still seen a few of these flashes. Twice, they were in my field of vision, and were thus not meteors or bollides etc. There's still no rational explanation for them.

Seanie.

It might have been hunters out shooting rabbits a few fields away..You know how powerful those lights they use are.

I drove to Dublin following that episode but there was nothing of that rabbit hunting nature apparent, besides We had an issue regarding those gents who lamp foxes etc, but the local constabulary took a dim view so they haven;t been around since.
I seen this before but this was very vivid, so much so that i decided to start a thread on it. Im not that well up but I still favour iridiun flashes as an explanation, only i have seen them as predicted on Heavens Above but this was different.
Thanks for the interest lads :roll:

Hi John,

Interesting observation you reported.

I haven't seen any concrete explanation for these flashes in any of the journals. The previous thread Dave links to is where we trashed out all sorts of theories but I'd definitely discount an Iridium flare. Such flares appear as a brightening of a point source rather than an all-sky flash. The glint of sunlight from the satellite's panels slowly fades over a few seconds.

A bright meteor (bolide) can certainly cause the sky and surrounding landscape to be lit up but you would have time see it disintegrating and the subsequent trail would persist for at least a few seconds to many minutes before being dispersed by upper atmospheric winds.

An electrical discharge in the high atmosphere seems the most likely explanation for these flashes though as Frank says, something "within" could be plausible too (Cherenkov Radiation being mentioned in the previous thread on the subject).

Could it be a powerful beam shot upwards from a thunderhead beyond your local horizon? Very possible as the unsettled weather conditions at the moment are giving rise to severe storms. The beams, sprites, and elves (thunderstorm phenomena) are very, very shortlived and could yield these extremely brief brilliant flashes we occasionally witness.

Another possibility could be a discharge along the Earth's magnetic field resulting from a decaying auroral storm. There was a surge in auroral activity at high latitudes over the weekend. Maybe there might have been a brief "evening out" of our magnetic field via a discharge of some sort?

I guess the only way we'll even know is if a concentrated effort was made to compile reports from widely separated locations and see if there was a correlation or clue in the feedback?

atb,

John

Heard today that people were ringing the local radio station (northern sound) regarding this phenomenon all over the weekend.
Its an interesting one

Heard today that people were ringing the local radio station (northern sound) regarding this phenomenon all over the weekend.
Its an interesting one

Now this one I think I can explain.

On my way home at c. 00:20hrs this morning close to Daingean, I spotted 2 bright blue flashes in the sky, seperated by only about 4 or 5 seconds. Considering that it was very windy (and I have seen this before, read on), my guess is that they were power lines brought down somewhere outside of Daingean (there are many hi voltage lines and pylons in the area). The power fluctuated when I got into the house all night.

Last year, in a similar windy storm, I actually saw a power line snap about 40 yeards from me in a field. With an almight bright flash (in daylight, I add), it sparked, whizzed, and fell to the ground. I guess I saw the same thing last night, but being so close (2 flashes), I'd say maybe a tree brought down one line, then a second as its weight lofted on the second power line.

Seanie.