Bright flashes in sky

ttaskmaster

ttaskmaster

ttaskmaster

Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2013
Posts
12,308
Nah, just some local ******** playing with the strobe mode on the Tacticool torch he just bought off Banggood... I'd confess, but I'm not even near Essix, let alone innit!
 

gord

gord

gord

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2003
Posts
19,413
Location
Midlands
Parky said:
Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
Click to expand...
You inspired me to investigate. So, aside from weather balloons being filled with helium, having nothing to do with swamp gas and not getting trapped in thermal pockets, I learned about apparent magnitude. Venus is brighter than usual right now with an apparent magnitude of -4.58, when it's usually around -4.2. Apparent magnitude is a reverse logarithmic scale with the Sun at about -26, a full moon -12 and deep space objects at 30+. We can see up to about +6, so Venus is clearly visible but won't be providing any meaningful light to reflect and illuminate Buckster's sky.
 

Puzzled

Puzzled

Puzzled

Soldato
Joined
9 Jul 2003
Posts
9,595
We automatically launched our nukes when Boris was taken into hospital, luckily Raab pushed the cancel button when playing with Boris's desk.
 

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
4,797
Location
Manchester, UK
There was a similar comment in our local Facebook group this morning. A green streak / flash last night. I didn't think anything of it but it may be the same thing you saw.

I have no idea what it could be though!
 

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2009
Posts
10,570
DanTheMan said:
There was a similar comment in our local Facebook group this morning. A green streak / flash last night. I didn't think anything of it but it may be the same thing you saw.

I have no idea what it could be though!
Click to expand...

Green streaks/flashes? The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one...
 

PCDAVE2

PCDAVE2

PCDAVE2

Associate
Joined
20 Mar 2003
Posts
88
gord said:
You inspired me to investigate. So, aside from weather balloons being filled with helium, having nothing to do with swamp gas and not getting trapped in thermal pockets, I learned about apparent magnitude. Venus is brighter than usual right now with an apparent magnitude of -4.58, when it's usually around -4.2. Apparent magnitude is a reverse logarithmic scale with the Sun at about -26, a full moon -12 and deep space objects at 30+. We can see up to about +6, so Venus is clearly visible but won't be providing any meaningful light to reflect and illuminate Buckster's sky.
Click to expand...

Parky was quoting a famous line from Men In Black :p:D Glad you were inspired as not many peeps know about app. mag. of sky objects. Venus has indeed stood out quite nicely this past month and is just above The Pleiadies. Don't forget the super moon tonight - its wearing a cape! :D:rolleyes:

To the OP - do you live near a railway line? Electrical sparks and/or flashes from trains are common due to weather and/or debris on the track - I've seen these produce a brief bright white light arching up into the sky sometimes with multiple flashes in a row.

With almost everyone indoors you may not have many witnesses if its perhaps meteorites or similar - these can produce very bright but short sky lighting as they burn up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom