deano
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by deano on Aug 5, 2018 23:52:18 GMT
Hi all, new here..... im an avid astronomer and astrophotographer based in my backyard observatory near Manchester uk. i am currently on holiday way down the south coast in Cornwall and the skies are incredible here looking over the ocean. being able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye is rare for me because of light pollution at home but here is great. Over the last few nights I have been sat gazing upwards taking a few wide files shots of the Milky Way and I have noticed random flashes of light, just single flashes like a camera flash, very bright and very noticable.... But no object, no iridium satallite, no plane, nothing, just a single stationary localised flash..... This has happened in various parts of the sky not the same place twice. has anyone any ideas ?
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Post by swamprat on Aug 6, 2018 0:33:56 GMT
Welcome, deano! It sounds like you've already checked every thing you can! My first guess would have been iridiums. Don't know, unless it might be other satellites that normally aren't visible that happen to catch a ray of sunshine. I assume you've checked a tracking site like Heavens-Above. Let us know if they continue.
Swamprat
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deano
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by deano on Aug 6, 2018 19:57:36 GMT
Thanks for the reply, yes checked heavens above nothing fits the bill, I also see a few satellites both normal and iridiums and metiors over an evening so I'm familiar with them, plus they are obviously moving. What I'm seeing is different than everything I've seen before as they are stationary and just a bright flash, that's it..... I'm seeing at least one an evening here where sky is so clear, I even had my son out last night to make sure it wasn't a fault in my eyes !! He saw the same..... I take a lot of long exposure shots at home of the sky but if any of these occurred it would literally just look like a bright star on the shot as they don't appear to move . The only logical explanation I can think of is maybe a geostationary sat catching the sun ?? I will look further into these.....
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Aug 6, 2018 23:20:44 GMT
Welcome Deano,
Crystal
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Post by skizicks on Aug 7, 2018 18:29:20 GMT
Welcome Deano. I assume you are talking about a bright flash that seems to last just a brief part of a second, almost like a blink in reverse. Early in my military service I spent a couple years in South East Asia. At the time there was a war going on and many of us spent our time deep in the bush well away from the lights of the cities. These flashes were common out there. I remember having several discussions with my fellow soldiers about them. Theories varied, one being a tiny incoming meteor that burned up in a flash of light and another was a high flying aircraft using some kind of light to take pictures of the area. One thing we noticed was that they never seemed to happen if someone was looking up. Another was that there was no running lights visible from any aircraft, but then again it was a war zone.
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deano
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by deano on Aug 7, 2018 21:37:14 GMT
Thanks for the welcomes ....... Yes skizicks that's exactly what I mean, apart from they definatley happen when I'm looking, and I can pinpoint where they happen when they do, like a star just got 100 times brighter for less than a second. I know what you mean though and have experienced this also many times when not always looking up, a flash that seems to light up everything, the blink in reverse way you explained it is a very good description but what I am seeing is definite and localised, from one specific point in the sky but always a different spot. I did notice last night a bright one followed by a meteor, I'm wondering if the flash is the object initially entering the atmosphere followed by the streak as it burns up, but, that one was the only one I've seen followed by a meteor and I've seen plenty this week....."
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Post by skizicks on Aug 9, 2018 20:52:28 GMT
Hmmmmmmm. Aren't we due for a meteor shower soon? could this be a precursor?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 0:20:51 GMT
The Perseid meteor shower is happening now and will max out this weekend (looking forward to it ). If the object Deano (welcome btw) is the same Ive seen (and many others) on occasions through the years than it is definitely not a meteor.
Cliff
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Post by HAL on Aug 10, 2018 19:20:45 GMT
Well, it rained today and the sky is much clearer. Maybe I'll get a chance to do a bit of meteor watching. wrapped up in a blanket with a pair of binoculars and a big mug of coffee I must present a strange vision to anyone who happens to notice.
HAL
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Post by supersidufo on Sept 22, 2018 17:57:35 GMT
Hi all, new here..... im an avid astronomer and astrophotographer based in my backyard observatory near Manchester uk. i am currently on holiday way down the south coast in Cornwall and the skies are incredible here looking over the ocean. being able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye is rare for me because of light pollution at home but here is great. Over the last few nights I have been sat gazing upwards taking a few wide files shots of the Milky Way and I have noticed random flashes of light, just single flashes like a camera flash, very bright and very noticable.... But no object, no iridium satallite, no plane, nothing, just a single stationary localised flash..... This has happened in various parts of the sky not the same place twice. has anyone any ideas ?
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Post by supersidufo on Sept 22, 2018 18:02:15 GMT
I am in Cullercoats NE UK ! I am a member of the Cornwill ufo group ! Keep in touch with them as they have a lot of sitings in that area !
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aero
New Member
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Post by aero on Sept 24, 2018 12:50:08 GMT
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Post by skizicks on Sept 25, 2018 1:37:54 GMT
There is an issue with the human eye that can cause that effect when looking at the sky. The receptors in the eye over time loose some sensitivity. If you look straight at a star the light may look dim but when you mover your eyes slightly the light from that star hits receptors more to one side of the eye and it suddenly looks brighter. Look back and it dims again. This is the same effect that makes peripheral vision more sensitive than direct vision in low light conditions.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2018 2:17:32 GMT
I estimate -4 to -6 mag. or greater at times.
Cliff
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Post by HAL on Oct 17, 2018 21:35:47 GMT
Re the flashes.
Tonight (17 October 2018), at around 20:00 Hrs UK local, I was sat out in the garden. The weather is unseasonably warm and it was (is) a pleasant evening. The Sun had set about an hour and a half ago. Sky is slightly hazy, with some wisps of high cloud. Could see the stars coming out and one or two satellites passing by.
There was a quite bright flash to the North East at about 45 Degree elevation. At first I thought it was a plane strobe. But it was just the one flash, and the sky was clear enough to see any other light that may have been attached to a plane.
About three minutes later there was another flash. This time more to the North.
This happened four times, each about three minute apart and each from a position along an imaginary line from North East to North on a descending elevation.
At this point I ran out of sky behind the house.
As the flashes were apparently on a line, It would give the impression it was either a high flying plane with no normal light configuration, or maybe a rotating satellite reflecting light from a solar panel.
But the flash was very short and quite intense.
End of report.
HAL.
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