For a number of years now I have been using a Watec 902H low light CCTV camera for monitoring lightning related phenomena. Over the years I’ve recorded many “single flashes of light” that are NOT airplanes. I’ve purposely setup my capture software to record 30 head frames and 120 tail frames. This is to ensure that when I record a flash, I give the recording long enough to record any subsequent strobe flashes from the airplane, if that’s what it is that I’m capturing. These flashes only occur once during the recordings. Usually they are seen during clear nights. This would imply that they are most likely satellites or space junk. When I record a flash I always check on Stellarium (planetarium software) to see if there were any known satellites at the spot of the flash during the time recorded. In some cases I find a match (usually an Iridium satellite) for the flash confirming that it was a satellite that caused it. Other times though, there is no known satellite near the location of the flash. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be a satellite that isn’t in the NORAD element files used by Stellarium or a piece of space junk.
Here are a number of satellite examples. The first two are Iridium flares and the rest are of other satellites. In every case you can see a trajectory for the object. In other words there is movement evident while it’s visible.
Here is a recording of airplanes flying overhead.
The flashes in question are not cosmic rays hitting the CCD chip. Cosmic rays only last ONE frame as opposed to the hundreds of milliseconds for the flashes. Cosmic Ray example (https://youtu.be/y6gtkJ3s-70).
Here are a number of flashes that do not fit any of the above examples. On the first clip there is a cosmic ray detected by the CCD as well. Can you spot it?
Sometimes though I record a flash during overcast conditions like this example. (https://youtu.be/8qQJ2g5h9q8):
I’m not sure what to make of some of these flashes, particularly the ones that occur during overcast conditions. They are most curious indeed.
If anyone has insight into what these might be please leave a comment.
I finally had binoculars handy and tracked one. I saw two extremely bright flashes near each other (I perceived the flashes as stationary at first), tried to line up my binoculars and got lucky and could see it. It was extremely dim and actually was moving at a steady slow pace in one direction, and while I didn’t see any more brilliant flashes, it was periodically getting suddenly and quickly much brighter and then back to dim and barely visible as I followed it (over about 50 degrees of the very clear sky almost directly overhead, South to North over the course of about 30-45 seconds), basically mimicked the time between the two extremely bright flashes that got my attention in the first place. It eventually dimmed beyond what I could see, probably moving out of the sun’s light. This was near midnight. My thinking is that they could be high orbit spinning satellites, or even tumbling, that are reflecting the sun at intervals, maybe enhanced with antennas or panels. I have seen fairly ‘normal’ looking satellites that can slightly pulse between being bright and then brighter as they visibly move through the sky, but it’s barely perceptible. I know I’ll get a ‘NOPE’ from the nopesters on this, but it’s what I saw. Next goal is to try and track one again with binoculars to see if I get the same result. I would never have seen the other flashes outside the first two if it wasn’t for the glass. let alone the dimmest phase.
I’ve been watching the skies nearly every viewable night, for thr past 3 years, in Tucson. I’ve seen two types of mystery lights, the first were brilliant, single strobe-like flashes brighter than anything else in the sky and the other type, I refer to as slow movers are about as bright as the planets and brightest stars. The slow movers are similar to a car’s headlight a quarter mile away; they turn on, move a short distance and turn off again. Usually the slow movers will be turning in an arc. I have clear unobstructed view of the north by northeast sky over the Santa Catalina mountains where I observe the slow movers and the single bright flashes. I’ve also seen the slow movers north by northwest occasionally. One evening an hour after sunset II observed the local county sherrif’s Cessna Citation flying a large rectangle over northwest Tucson while a slow mover would come on for a second, in almost the same place, evey time the county Cessna approached it. That pattern was repeated 4 times as I watched and leads me to consider the slow mover as possibly a drone controlled by the Cessna’s crew.
The slow movers don’t make any impossible manuevers nor speeds. I hope to have my binocs ready someday to watch for what they do after they “go out”. They will curve sometimes in a short tight arc that does not match any sattellite’s movements and don’t appear to be in high orbit.
The single bright flashes aren’t numerous like they were in 2022 and I haven’t seen any in recent months, while the slow movers seem more numerous now. I watched two slow movers this morning, one was at 4:30, the second at 5.
I haven’t seen the slow movers you are describing myself, but yes that sounds like it could be drone activity (maybe border patrol near your area? I’m in PA so we don’t have a window into how that may work which might make my guess complete nonsense born out of inexperience). I was able to repeat my observation the other night with binoculars and basically watched the same thing I described above. The flashes can look like they are not moving in a straight line, or are stationary, when I see them with the naked eye. But I did track the same dim satellite like glow and flashes in similar intervals that diminished in brightness as it went basically in a straight line from SW to NE. The first two or sometimes three flashes are easily visible without glass (which is when I bring the binoculars up to the location), but as it moved across the sky you couldn’t see the flashes without the binos. Once the continuous dim glow had vanished from view, I could still track the dim flashes by moving my sight along the line they seemed to be following until they disappeared. Seemed similar to how a visible satellite fades after it moves out of the sun’s light as it moves through the sky. May be a different phenomenon from what you’re seeing.
Try tracking with night vision goggles
Dude I get this viewing my cctv footage… naked eye the sky is clear, no star, I’ve tried honing with a telescope, binoculars … nothing
Only cctv picking up IR
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a41dwyhcLNW5nR4hoDjdFOFg
This is going to sound nuts… my wife and I witnessed what I could only describe as a flying jellyfish. This happened in September 2023 in Northern Nevada on a clear sunny day at around 530pm pacific time. We watched the object thru binoculars for about 25 minutes before it went out of sight. It had a stretching undulating like motion, with bright white pulsating lights around the perimeter. It moved like it was something biological. Just like watching a jellyfish in the ocean. It was about the size of a pickup truck. We have video from an iPhone 11 but sadly it’s just a white dot, and too distorted when you zoom in.
After researching ‘jellyfish’ ufo sightings and all the latest uap info… I’m wondering if they’re plasma entities occurring in the Earth’s troposphere?
Told you it was nuts.
Maybe it’s the plasma phenomenon described in this paper? I posted separately but that post is still being reviewed. Forgot to include the reference link below.
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=131506
Exactly the same near Lincoln on the east of England tonight, August 12/13. 2 bright flashes of light within about 15 minutes just after midnight. Could they be impact flashes of something hitting earth?
We saw a flash tonight, in the California desert. About 10:00 Pacific Time. My thought it was a meteor streaking directly at us. We’re used to seeing meteors streaking from side to side. They burn brilliantly for just a second or two. Why not see a meteor come our way, burning out just like a regular ‘shooting star?’
I must admit that was my thoughts. But other more experienced seem to think not.
Until I see credible evidence to the contrary, it seems plausible to me that as there are meteors coming in all directions, that includes the ones that directly approaches us as we view them. I have noticed them over the 20 years I lived under the clear skies of the Mojave Desert, where there is little interference of city lights.
Just experienced this phenomena last night in Cheshire England, 28th July 2024, about 23.30 (22.30 GMT). First flash was about magnitude 1, electric blue in colour, half way between Kappa Ophiuchi and Beta Ophiuchi. It lasted less than a second. I didn’t think too much of it except for the colour. About 30 seconds to a minute later there was a second flash, closer to Beta Ophiuchi, far brighter, maybe magnitude -3 to -4. It didn’t increase brightness to reach that magnitude, it just suddenly was there and then was gone. With my full attention now on the area I could just about see a very dim pinpoint of light magnitude 4 to 5 moving very slowly west to east, there was then a third flash, far dimmer than the earlier ones, possibly magnitude 3 again of an electric blue colour. Very soon after I lost sight of the moving point and didn’t see any more flashes.
I’ve checked on satelite passes and nothing seems to fit. I know aircraft of a night, after over thirty years of astronomy and time in the Fleet Air Arm, this wasn’t any civilian aircraft lights. I saw a couple of Delta Aquariids while I was out, this wasn’t like any meteors that I’ve seen before.
My thought is that it was space junk making a slow transit and probably spinning.
I have seen on two separate occasions flash of a blue line.but both were near ground level.
One was in the day I saw a blue light flash beam across the road of the opposite carriageway.
Two ish years later kn a dark jold morning I saw a flash of blue light at ground level about 100 or so yards away from my traveling car .the beam went right across the road for a split second then disappeared.
I have been scouring inter net to hind out what it is.
I think my friends don’t believe me.
Hi. Last night at just after midnight I saw something that I’ve never seen before. Searching online brought me here!
I live in Cranborne Chase (Dorset, UK), which is a dark sky reserve. I’m not a stargazing expert by any means, but I know what meteors, satellites, planes, helicopters, shooting stars etc. look like.
I can’t really explain what I saw particularly well if I’m honest. There was a burst of light (white I think) which stayed in the same position but then shrunk from the outside inwards. The flash & subsequent shrink out all happened within a few seconds. The initial flash circumference was pretty decent. Far larger than a star..
Hi….I live on the most Easterly point of England…a Town called Lowestoft.
Last night 18th July at around 2am in the morning, I was looking out of my bedroom window as I couldn’t sleep…..I’m very used to seeing aircraft, helicopters etc going up and down the coast…….I saw exactly what you described, a single extremely bright flash, maybe 1 second, that looked like the brightest star you’ve ever seen, being turned on and off….I have seen many shooting stars etc, but never seen anything like this.
Some of these flashes could be geosynchronous satellites reflecting the sun as they rotate. Because they are geosynchronous, they would appear as flashing lights that remain stationary. I have seen these while stargazing..
Nope, that has already been ruled out. These are definitely not that.
What is the craziest thing you have ever seen up there?
replying to you, as yours is the closest date to today (7th June 2024) I just saw a very bright flash in the Southern sky in the UK, 15 mins past midnight. Definitely not a plane or a satellite, but like others have said, like a camera flash- very bright. I wondered if it could be space junk burning up?
I saw 4 or 5 flashes a few seconds in between them with varying brightness but at least one or two of them were brighter and larger than any star or satellite or plane; obviously the moon was bigger. But the flash was shockingly bright white, maybe a faint bluish hue, but the flashes were in the exact same spot. The sky was as clear as it could be, and we were in Montana so we could see every satellite and meteor. We were looking in the southern to southeastern sky. I saw this sometime after midnight on either June 7th or June 8th 2024. I love stargazing and always look at the night sky but I don’t know what I saw but I was so stunned and dumbfounded by it that I couldn’t take my eyes off of that spot in the sky for a half an hour after until I couldn’t look up any longer. I saw this with my naked eye probably 50° above the horizon. I don’t believe what I saw was space junk tumbling nor do I believe the sun could have lit this up the way I saw it. I don’t claim to know enough to say what it was, but I think I can rule out these typical options. I would love to know what it was because it wasn’t normal. I had hoped a scientist might say “oh you saw a star exploding.” But why would that flash multiple times the closest thing I heard just now was a reference to a fast radio burst that has been seen before. It’s probably not that, but it’s nice to know I’m not crazy and other people saw something like it.
Shannon,
I had to answer your question because I saw what I thought was the beginning of “The End Of The World” lol
Long story:
I was in south Florida, September 1970ish, outside, at little league football practice, about an hour after sunset when I noticed a light above me that turned into a bright spinning star with green/blue ripples spiraling outward from the points of the spinning star. The spectacle went on for at least a full minute The star suddenly exploded in a bright flash, leaving the green/blue ripples spreading across the entire sky and fading as they spread outward.
It was a failed rocket launch from Cape Kennedy. I’ve researched several times without success to find any reference to the event. It was, and still is, a military secret.
I have posted previously on this thread. My husband and I live on the west side of Oahu and witness these flashes almost any night we stargaze. What really shocked me the other day, is that I happened to be looking at the sky in the afternoon at about 4:30, and I actually saw a flash just like those I see at night. It happened in bright daylight with very few clouds. Of course it’s not as noticeable in the day and had I not been looking at the exact spot it flashed, I probably would have never noticed it.
It’s space junk reflecting the Sun in flashes as it rotates. They are usually seen at low angles after sunset or before dawn, as the Sun illuminates them from beyond the horizon, although they can be seen at higher apparent altitudes well after sunset, or well before sunrise, if they occupy higher orbits.
That would account for some of them, but we have seen flashes at all hours of the night and we cannot explain seeing 46 flashes in the exact spot over the course of 5 or 6 minutes.
Nope, not what these are. I saw this very late at night when the sun was on the other side of the planet.
December 15, 2023 – All employees of the remote Arizona ranch I work at were able to see a phenomena like this. The “blinking star” does not move in the night sky with the other stars. It has been there for two nights now – unmoving. It blinks obce every 80 or 90 seconds like a distant camera flash. We see plenty of satellites and meteroites and this is nothing like them.
I don’t don’t know how to add my own comment, so I am just replying to the first one.
I saw a single flash as well, January 3, 2024, 6:33 AM New York. I don’t know how to get the exact correct ascension and declension, but if you look at the Big Dipper in its position at this time, it was a bit south of east of it. It was also a bit overcast, but the flash did not appear in a cloud. Any Ideas?
I see this “strobe star” on many nights from the hot tub. Amongst a spectrum of very interesting phenomena, I witness lots of iridium flares from orbiting satellites, but this is most certainly NOT that. Searching for an answer brought me here. I too, live in SE Arizona with very dark night skies.
11 Nov 2023, saw a single flashing point in sky SE from my porch. Around 3:15am in Palm Coast, FL. It was a little east of where I can see rockets launch from Cape Canaveral. Like everyone has said, bright single flash caught my attention. Thought falling star but no trail, so shrugged it off. Then happened again. I watched for a little bit & it never seemed to move. I started counting between flashes and the next was after 21 seconds, next after 31 seconds, next was 29 seconds. At first, too, Thought it was a cell tower based on flash, but there isn’t one in that direction & it was too high. I was out about 3-4 minutes then went inside to find an answer. Went back out about 3:45 am to see if still there & video it, but it didn’t happen again. Never seen anything like it. Not plane, heat lightening, not satellite, not helicopter, not falling star, etc. The night is cold for us at 48° F and the sky was clear. Maybe someone should track where, when, etc sightings have happened…..
I had exactly same experience as you explain in Australia east coat. I can only think it was some kind of meteor travelling directly at me, see the flash, but not the tail..
I am on Bribie Island and saw this tonight 20 May 2024. It’s been 2 hours and it still happening every minute to 80 seconds apart. Definately not a plane as we see heaps coming into Bribane over the Island. Way to high up, not moving at all, just a single flash like a camera.
Comments going back at least 18 months confirm the sake things I’ve been seeing since late October 2023 in North Texas. Glad to at least know I’m not going crazy and seeing things that aren’t there. Still tho, it’s a mystery that needs to be adequately explained and resolved. Thank you all for this great post and thread.
We have been seeing flashes of light next to Vega here in Houston, TX. Five within the last week. Tonight we saw a light moving across the sky and then just disappear to nothing. I don’t deny that these very well may be satellites. I personally feel that this UFO uproar we’ve had lately is nothing more than something to distract our attention from everything going on in the White House. However, I do believe that there is life out there in the cosmos. 100% without a doubt. BUT, what we should all be asking here is why all of the sudden are we all seeing these lights so often? I can tell you that 4 months ago I was living in Galveston and I sat outside literally every single night and watched the sky. I never saw these flashes or these disappearing lights. So why all of the sudden am I seeing so many now. Also, has anyone else shined their laser at the stars and noticed how they will move and follow the laser light. How is that possible? We’re being lied to about what’s really up there folks. We’ve never been told the truth. Not by a long shot. Happy sky watching to all.
I’ve recently seen flashes tonight it flashed 4 times in the same spot, spaces in-between the flashes and I’m in the UK on a very clear night! Have been seeing them since August but not 4 flahes in a row!! I believe its off worlders of the loving kind lol
The Whitehouse only sends out blue flashes.
Then why is our economy still in the red? Or are those astronomical numbers a psyoptical illusion?
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
I have also observed the flashes, and most of what’s being described on this thread can be attributed to space junk. There are hundreds of thousands of pieces that will occasionally catch sunlight and appear as a camera flash. If a piece is tumbling in a regular manner, you can get the periodic flashes that some are describing. Often larger pieces of space junk are grouped together from a collision, and that is why you may see many flashes localized to a small section of sky. Depending on the size, material, atmospheric conditions, etc., the flashes can sometimes take on a different hue. Other explanations on this thread are also valid, but have distinct characteristics such as the Iridium flashes, straight-line meteors, “skipping” meteors off the atmosphere, high altitude aircraft/balloons, and yes, even lack of oxygen.
My wife and I again saw flashes last night. This time, I was able to lock onto the flashing object with my 12×56 binos almost immediately. My wife continued to watch with her eyes. I saw what appeared to be a satellite that was beyond the visual detection capability of my wife (without binos). Every time she would say “it flashed again!”, I saw the object I was watching—which appeared like a satellite—get significantly brighter and “flash.” We saw it flash multiple times; I saw it through binos, she saw it with naked eyes. She could not see it in between flashes, but I watched it continually. It was a satellite or space debris of some kind, I have no doubt of it.
I also started getting my (super old) binoculars out. And until yet, including yesterday, i could also follow a little “light” two times, which after the first flash, seemed getting brighter sometimes (through the binoculars – but not viewable by eye). Seemed like a tumbling something which would reflect the sun more or less. This however would not explain all the moving lights i’ve seen near big dipper. (I will order a telescope soon actually… – any tips?)
Lately i also seen quite some not so flashy lights – more like “pulsing”, but only once.
YES, OMG I i have been seeing these weird pulsing flashes of light, my first thought was that they were iridium flares or something but there was no trail it was only in one spot. right now, where there is a large comet (i forgot the name of) that causes meteor showers. but these weird flashes of light are singular no trail before nothing after. I’m still trying to figure out what they are.
We saw these exact same things this week at Great Basin National Park in Nevada. We were watching the Perseids and thought they might be meteors that we were seeing straight on. However, there were so many flashes and some were so bright they lit up the trees around us. We figured they had to be something different. So glad we found this thread since I thought I was having an issue with my eyes or brain.
Just came inside from witnessing a few flashes. Random pattern grouped in the same small area of sky. My wife and I have been seeing these for years (about a decade since the first time we saw them)
Like a camera flash in the sky and I can’t even figure out what they might be. This is the first place I’ve ever seen online that has seen exactly what we’ve seen. I see them all the time within minutes of looking up in the night sky.
We’ve also experienced the whole night sky lighting up like a lighting flash when we’d go camping in a very remote area. No sound, no clouds. The night sky would just light up. What could cause this?
I posted earlier that we too have been seeing the flashes like a camera flash, and we continue to see them. But we have also been seeing some other pretty amazing, unexplainable things when we stargaze here in New Mexico.
We also experience the whole night sky lighting up like a lightning flash with no clouds and no sounds. In fact we usually only see it on clear nights when there aren’t any clouds in the sky. We have nicknamed them “sky flashes”.
Hi Sam I too have seen small flashes, but also large flashes here in the UK. I couldn’t understand why as there were no clouds and obviously no thunder !!! So glad someone else has seen this!!
My wife and I have recently seen these flashes, too, since we began our avid nightly sky-watching about six weeks ago. We are in Central Texas between Temple and Waco on a rural place with a big sky. We primarily use 12×56 binoculars for our sky-gazing. We are intrigued, to say the least as regards the origins of these unidentified flashes. As described by various other observers above, they appear to us as bright and distant large camera flashes. They often appear in small groups before ceasing. I counted five one time, about two-three seconds apart, from different locations within a relatively tight area from our perspective. The first four were of significant brightness, and the final one was more subdued. I am former USAF and highly trained to identify aircraft. These are certainly beyond the profiles of known conventional aircraft, and they appear to be beyond the atmosphere. I wondered if they are some sort of flashing satellites, but I have found nothing thus far to support that. They’re mysterious, to be sure.
This happened to us last night (8/17/23) in Alabama. Same little area of sky but 5 separate “camera” flashes not in a row, just sporadic and random and all within 1 minute. We are avid stargazers and never saw anything like it. Recently we have saw single flashes but assumed they were straight line meteors that appear without a streak or tail because they seem to come right at you. But now that we’ve saw this multiple times we knows that isn’t the case. Last night we saw a total of 9 flashes but those 5 were the most strange because they were concentrated to one small spot in the sky. At first we assumed maybe a satellite caught the sunlight just right and blipped but the ones we saw last night didn’t move in a straight line like a satellite would have. Intriguing for sure.
Now I’m very curious. I just googled flashing single lights in night sky because I experienced this phenomena the other night. I was sleeping out on our trampoline with my kids and something woke me up. I looked up above me and witnessed two lights flashing almost in response to each other. They were within a small area directly above me. It was like camera flashes. They both alternatively flashed five times or so and then stopped. I stared up in that area for another 15 minutes waiting to see if it was a plane or a satellite but I never saw anything again. I should note, I live approximately 2 miles north of Skinwalker ranch as the crow flies.
Nate.. I live in Rock Springs WY. I have also seen these “camera flashes” in the night sky, here and in western Colorado on several occasions over the last 5 years.. Very strange.
Curious if you’ve seen anything else odd in the skies near you?
I’ve seen these at random over the past 35 years or so but always at sea and always no more than 30 degrees or so above the horizon. I’ve never seen it in the direction of land or we were hundreds of miles offshore. The ‘camera flash’ description is exactly how I would describe it as well. No pattern, no trail, no repetition, just a single super-white (like 6000k) flash. I took to calling them a ‘spack’ because they seem so well defined and close that you’d think you’d be able to hear it — and that’s what it would sound like.
Apologies for the typo – I can,t see the text I type. The strange word in the first sentence should be ‘saw’ and I wanted to add that we were waiting from Vancouver Island in Canada. I have seen this flashes in the same spot for the last two nights…
We were out star gazing tonight and apsaras a series of flashes in the same constellation north of the Big Dipper. They were like camera flashes, at first they moved a short distance within the constellation, but then flashed repeatedly in the same spot, roughly every 20 seconds or so. Some times the flashes were brighter than other time. Definitely not a satellite, aeroplane, or and probably not meteors (extremely unlikely). I know what I think they were! 🙂
I saw 2 this morning directly over head while watching the Persiod meteor shower……strange??? My theory is that they are what you could call direct line meteors, perfectly perpendicular to the Earth
I am in Southeastern Pennsylvania, US, and I have seen these for a few years. Very distant camera flash is the best way to describe them. Last night I saw about 6 in the same location of the sky, almost directly overhead. Couldn’t see a trajectory, but they seemed to be grouped but not in the same exact spot each time. The last one was faded compared to the others, which I hadn’t seen before. Never saw this many at once, usually I see one or two, and have always wondered what they are. Not Iridium flares, and about as bright as the brighter of the visible stars. Super clear night.
Same here. Cyprus tonight. A lot of single flashes. Must be the angle of the Persides meteorites
Great thread here! Just chiming in with the EXACT same observation. We live in Northern Michigan and have been out for hours over the last week of the Perseids, laying in a field under clear, unobstructed Northern Michigan sky. over the course of 4-5 hours total, we observed this phenomenon probably a dozen or more times while counting shooting stars. We are avid sky watchers. These are super bright flashes, like a camera flash. Brighter than any star for a split second. I have been “researching” this online, assuming that there must certainly be an explanation. I’m open minded, but was hoping I’d find some kind of practical and simple explanation as there are tons of things going on in the sky that I’m unaware of. Thanks to all of you for sharing!
Saw 5 last night (8/17/23) in Alabama within a minute in a small area of sky. Sporadic and random and very bright little camera flashes. Craziest thing I’ve saw. Didn’t seem to have any direction. Just randomly flashed 5 separate times. Was crazy for sure.
Saskatoon SK, about 1:30 Sunday AM. Looking straight up just north of Vega with a flash about as bright as Venus lasting ~200 mSec, right where I was staring. I have seen similar flashes in the night sky in my periphery but brushed them off as visual anomaly. This was vividly real, though unfortunately just out of camera view. What I understand of a satellite flair is they fade in and out over a second or two and move like a satellite would, so I’m going with the meteor right at me theory. That or a distant nuclear explosion.
I originally thought a straight line meteor also until I saw 5 in a small area of sky all within a minute in totally random places. To have that many straight line meteors in the same little area all within a minute or less would be very rare. Definitely wasn’t a satellite blipping because it didn’t flash in a straight line. We saw a total of 9 flashes last night but those 5 were concentrated to that little window of sky. Very strange.
This is exactly what me and my husband saw on 16 august in lake distict. About 5 or 6 flashes moving about not in a straight line but up then down just west of the plough at about 1150pm. The sky was the clearest I have seen for a very long time and over course off 2 hours saw many satellites and shooting stars and this was definitely not either of those things! We both watched in awe!
I live in western Massachusetts and noticed the flashes last night after doing meditation breathwork outside. I thought that maybe I was hallucinating! The location was in the Big Dipper constellation as everyone else seems to notice it. What is going on up near that constellation? For everyone around the globe to see it in that location must mean that it is happening in space. My first thought was a satellite flash, as I have seen those in the past but this flashed 3 times at me. The location made me think of the recent pilots report witnessing UAP near the big dipper flying around in an almost racetrack like formation. Here is a new article about it: https://nypost.com/2022/10/20/multiple-recent-ufo-sightings-reported-by-pilots-over-the-pacific-ocean/ , I feel like this needs more investigation! Would love to get a telescope centered in that location.
Thank you for the news article link. Indeed this looks to be the same thing being reported here, but from a much better vantage point.
I’ve seen this same thing quite a few times over the past couple of months. Several flashes, in random spots in the same general area of sky. I have been doing some research today and it looks like a lot of people have seen these and have been seeing them for the past few years but there doesnt seem to be any explanation for them. If these things don’t have a prosaic explanation then….the only thing I’m left with is what Chris Bledsoe says they are. I suggest looking into him and reading his book if you are interested in the UFO topic and meditation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69xbb0MgvE
I live in rural iowa and am an avid skywatcher, I frequently watch the iss go over whenever it’s in view. I have and still am constantly seeing single flashes of light in random areas of the sky but I can also add that back in February I was watching the space station coming into view from the northwest when my eyes were diverted to a bright light illuminating from the bottom of the Big Dipper and upon focusing on that point of light it began to get intensely brighter and brighter before just going black! It was awesome to witness whatever it was.
Came here to say I saw the same! West of the plough
I just was google searching the internet to figure out what I just saw and stumbled on this article very quickly. So I was star gazing for about an hour near the constellation scorpius when I kept seeing a distant flash as bright as any star, so I stared at it it flashed it seemed to flash in a pattern about every 30-40 seconds. I checked the apps for anything close and nothing was, I got my phone out to try to record it but it was to focused on trying to find light to capture it, as I’m looking at this out of my peripheral I noticed a shooting star type phenomenon but slow enough for me to glance over to it then it was gone. And I never saw the flash again this is very interesting to me and will be following this article!
Same, I usually see these alot where I live usually only seeing it a few times in the same location, but tonight I was counting it down to flashing once every 40 seconds or so for an hour or till I got tired of looking up
Was in same small area in the sky, checked flight radar and satellite tracker
I live in the Pilbara of Western Australia, I’ve got other unexplained lights that go for hours out here where we live pretty far from any major towns
Southern Oregon, USA – I see these almost every night while soaking in my hot tub. I can see the big dipper to the Northwestern Sky and it’s always to the left and above the constellation. Quick flash like a camera, like others say.
So I dug the telescope out, but before I ever honed in on the flash areas, I saw small dots darting incredibly fast over the night sky. They are there every night. Way too fast and high to be planes, not satellites, and I have no idea exactly what they are. I can track them go from one side of the sky to the other so quick they are hard to follow.
Fascinating! Are you seeing the objects darting around through the telescope or naked eye? How bright are they, the non flashing ones that is? At what time in the evenings are they most active? This sounds like something others could monitor for.
I’m in willamette valley and my grandma and I each saw a quick flash just near the Big Dipper tonight (8/12/23) at about 10:15p! Weirdest phenomenon, and of course had to try googling just to stumble upon this lol! I’m so curious to try and find out what the heck it is!
I saw the same thing last night in about the same area of the sky (I’m near Seattle). At one point it was about 30 sec between about 4 flashes and the flashes moved in a trajectory. Then nothing, then a few minutes later in close proximity but not in the trajectory, then irregularly ever 2- 5 minutes. About 1030 PM.
I’ve been seeing these flashes as well. They are definitely not satellites, not meteorites or bolides (shooting stars) and, not aircraft. I’m in eastern Washington State just north of Spokane. I’ve always been fascinated with space and star gasse every chance I get. They’re as bright as a star but extremely quick, like a camra flash, and I see them mostly in the eastern sky. I’ve seen them at different times throughout the entire night and they seem to be completely random. I’ve also noticed somethings that appear to be satellites but they change their speed and sometimes change direction. I have a fairly powerful blue lazer rated for for 900 miles, and whatever they are, they seem to react when I point my lazer at them. Usually they move away from the lazer beam, but sometimes they move towards the beam and sometimes they vanish completely. I’m completely perplexed as to what these things are and I’ve been seeing more than usual lately. I’m just very grateful that other people have been seeing strange things in the sky as well. I was starting to think that I was hallucinating or something. Thank you for starting this forum.
Hi Colin. Here’s my observation from a while back I had put on the forum probably buried away now. Sound familiar?
I run an astronomy club so am pretty experienced with the night sky. Back in Dec 2021, I experienced something (luckily with another person to make sure I wasn’t going raving mad) that basically scared the **** out of me!
Astronomy club had ended but the conditions were so clear I stayed with a friend a little longer just chatting and we both saw the flashing light in the NW sky, described exactly by so many on here. First we saw it out of the corner of our eyes and then managed to see it locked on with our eyes. I put it down to a bit of space debris catching the Sun but we decided to get our powerful laser and flash it in the direction, jokingly saying we’d see if we could make it flash back. What happened next? Well here’s the crazy part – nothing from that area of the sky…
We then got the lazer and pointed it directly up at the Milky Way and flashed it a couple of times and right where the laser was pointing, I mean the exact place there was a light that flashed back, like the photo flash. This sent a chill down my spine. We then flashed the laser again and the light responded, this time staying lit. I estimated what ever this to be low orbit, certainly not in Earth’s atmosphere. The light then started moving and stopping heading in a northerly direction and every time the laser touched it, it seemed to energise and get brighter and move a little faster. At times the light would stop and then speed up like it was almost playing with us. It then shot off at an incredible rate further north where it then again stopped and then disappeared.
I’m still none the wiser to what it was and to be honest, it freaked me out so much I’ve only got back into astronomy recently. I saw the photo flash again tonight looking for the comet, so it’s all come flooding back!
Anyway, there’s certainly something going on up there and I hope in my lifetime it’s revealed.
I’m here because I just witnessed the same exact thing! I too was using a laser and this little flash that kept going off and on in the same exact spot would move away from where I had the laser pointed! I’m curious as to what it is! 2am central time in Texas
Thank goodness I found this article. I was stargazing last night for around 4 hours and I witnessed around 10 of these flashes or blinks. Sure, I might have seen things like this in the past every once in a looong while, but the way I saw them so many times last night has me quite perplexed.
What are they???
I was going through radiation and chemo last summer. My sleep pattern was almost upside down and I found myself wide awake during the witching hour(s) of 3 to 5 am.
I noticed the flashes in the area next to Orion? north and east of the Big Dipper. I began asking people who were night owls and night shift workers if they’d seen the flashes and got zero confirmation.
I attended a local astronomy club viewing event a few months ago, asked almost every amateur astronomer there about the flashes and got zero affirmative responses.
I was beginning to feel that perhaps I WAS hallucinating!
I’m stoked I finally found this topic and forum!
Thank you for posting this topic!
Maybe I’ll get a camera, but the good ones are several thousand dollars and I have other priorities first.
Again, thank you!
~ Witness
I have seen flashes in the sky near the Big Dipper several times in May and June 2023 (which is when I started looking at the night sky in depth, because my son told me he had seen flashes in the sky). A few times it has been 4 flashes, but more often one flash, like a camera flash bulb. Stunning!
June 2023 saw bright singular flashes below the constellation of the big dipper. Occurred roughly same time around 11:30pm in Bristol,UK over 3 consecutive nights. Need to figure out if satellite moving is catching the sun rays
I’m in Bristol and at 3am (25/6/23) I have just seen the same. It was a very bright slow flash then disappeared
Saw 2 flashes that was so bright all of outside lite up as well as my house June week of the 19th approx 1:45/2:00 a m in Tucson Az. Was able to see a bright white dot fade away at end of flash. A friend also witnessed it from his home several miles away. Not lighting, a flash. The strangest part was how EVERYTHING lite upas far as the eye could see. Freaky to say the least.
Me too!
I first saw them in July 2022. From my pov they’re most noticable over the Catalinas, high up, at least 45°.
I’ve seen them dim and move a short distance a few times.
We attended an amateur astronomy club viewing event at Brandi Fenton Park and none of the stargazers I asked had seen the flashes.
Me too, I usually see them near the big dipper, over the Tortolittas, or the Catalina’s. Oro Valley
There have been a few this week. This morning at 02:26 one appeared about 60°-70° up over the Catalinas. They’re slower to appea and dim out rather than the more strobe-like flashes of 2022.
20/06/23 11:55pm
Watching the night sky in Edinburgh tonight and saw a single flash. White. Lasted about a second and appeared to be moving, but slowly. Not a shooting star. Not an aircraft (checked flight radar). Not sure what it was.
About 6 months ago I saw something similar but this time it was 2 white flashing lights side by side. Not planes and too close together to be planes, anyway.
Very odd.
The last weeks i have seen plenty of the single flashes.
But now some seem to “start moving”. Like the ones i saw on 30th of May:
Close to big dipper – clear sky – First a single flash. Later 3x times flashing while moving quickly from left to right. After some minutes the same thing but from right to left. Later 2x flash moving up. Later a single flash again.
Same category but for much longer: 13th of June – Flashes just as the single flashes (bright and short like camera flashes) – moving from big dipper all way to south-east. 42x flashing. But not so evenly, there were different time intervals. Then suddenly stopped.
I have seem iridium flares – this did not look like them at all. But might have been a tumbling satelitte (could the reflections be as short as a camera flash?)
Add another inexplicable flash to the list! This evening ( June 14th, 2023) some time after 9 p.m. (timey whimey stuff) in Perry County, Central PA.
Slight haze to the sky, but still starry.
It appeared like a bright flash bulb. No movement. Very bright, very white and what appeared to be about 6 times visually larger than the biggest star in the sky.
I am a lifelong star gazer. This was not a satilite, airplane or any other celestial occurence that I have experienced.
The light came from what seems to be deeper in space which made it even more unique considering the intensity of the light.
This was unlike anything I or my friend who also saw it has ever seen.
Totally perplexing….and stunning.
A moment I will never forget.
We saw it at 2 am on June 15 2023. It lit up the horizon. About every 20 seconds it would flash and it lasted for about an hour. It seemed to be consistent I. It’s location and intensify..
I finally found someone else!! I think I saw the same thing this morning 18th of June 2023 at 5:27am in NSW, Australia.
It appeared to be like a flash of a camera. It was noticeably larger than the surrounding stars. And also appeared to be quite far away. At first I thought I witnessed a supernova but I can’t find anything to confirm this theory. Just like yours it had no movement and bright and white. But mine was on a clear dark sky on the new moon.
Hopefully someone has a theory to put forward cause I’m invested in this mystery ????
A super nova is brighter than a galaxy for days. You can be sure that this isnt one.
10:40 PM 5/27/2023 I just saw the lights do something I’ve never seen them do before. They moved, and backed up.
I saw a sequence of three flashes, thought it was tumbling space junk first two flashes. First two were slightly different locations.
Third flash was same location as second flash. Fourth flash backed up and was in the same location as the first flash. So it moved down and back up in the sky. Either this was different origins of the flashes, or one origin that was moving through the sky. No flashes seen after the fourth.
The first flash was white. Second was gold. Third was red. Fourth was green.
Last 2 nights I saw 2 flashes below the big dipper looking west from Bristol. Tonight I saw 3 flashes without movement. Prior to this in the same week I saw what could have been a tumbling satellite as the flashes were uniform and following a constant trajectory. But the double and triple flashes were much different
That’s interesting. “Dipper” – or as i put it in my notes “Ursa Major” seems to come up often.
Seen the exact same from eastern Washington, 3 flashes near the big dipper.
EAST ANGLIA, UK. Seen a few inexplicable fast flashes in discreet areas of the night sky. Also on many occasions seen infinitesimal short and very bright (area illuminating) flashes. Like a camera flash but much faster. First noticed in dark skies of West Wales in early ’80s but here in East too.. Witnessed by colleagues. Clear skies, not lightening. Not localised but widespread. I don’t expect an explanation, just reporting.
Im in Booneville Ms and I had my webcam on and in near the College. Suddenly I seen 1 small white flashing light, then looked at there were 3 more. All 4 in a line about the other. They were all flashing and were white, reddish yellow, and light orange. I do not know what they were but after 10 minutes they disappeared. I believe possibly drones. My opinion.
I have been watching for over an hour what looks to be lightening but it’s not. It’s flashing through the trees and lighting up the sky above it. I thought at first it may be lightening but there is no thunder, the stars are out, and it has stayed in the same area for over an hour. Not sure what to make of this flashing light. There is nothing behind my house but trees and a field.
Saw the same thing on June 15 at 2 am in Southeastern Idaho
I’ve seen these flashes in the night sky many times. The most recent was at the Charleville cosmos centre in outback Queensland. One of the guys manning one of the telescope’s saw them as well. One of the other guys there told me it was flare from a Russian satellite. I have looked up iridium flares and these flashes are not even remotely similar. Still have no idea what they are.
I see these flashes of light often. Usually the size of a satellite. But very quick like a camera flash. They seem to be coming from space and not from within the Earth’s atmosphere ..they are very interesting to me because something is doing it and the what is what makes me so intrigued. The possibilities. I only started to notice them the last six or seven years and that’s interesting cause I’ve been obsessed with watching the sky since as far back as I can remember. Never seen these before .
I just saw something similar last night. Central PA, 2230, overcast, I was the passenger, husband driving in his car. I love astronomy and am always looking up. I happened to see 2 flashes, about 5 minutes apart. They were bright orange, like “heat” lightning on a summer night, but only appeared slightly larger than a full harvest moon, and visible for 1-2 seconds. I don’t know what it was, but I’m very familiar with the night sky, iridium flares, etc. I can only assume some atmospheric phenomenon.
I have been observing this same phenomena the past 3 or 4 years in Tucson, Arizona. Exactly as Andrew describes. I am not an astronomer but often sit out at night observing the clear night sky we have here.
I just saw what appeared to be a pulse of stationary white light during a night walk in Bairnsdale, Eastern Victoria Aus. I like to spot satellites on our evening walk so I’m often walking with my head pointing up at the stars. I’ve been looking more closely too since the recent speight of balloon incidents in North America. Tonight what I thought was a star being revealed from behind a cloud caught my eye. As I looked at it grew in brightness to appear brighter than any other object in the sky then faded back down to nothing. I would say it only lasted for about 1 full second. I kept my eye on the area for the remainder of our walk but didn’t see it again. Time was approximately 9.40pm AEDST Feb 15 2023. Location of the light was west, at a vertical angle of approx 50degrees.
I am in Greece in an RV parked in a dark sky area. North of Poros. Last nighyt was sky gazing. Around the Rigel area I saw a flash of a small ‘object’. İt then flashed once every 80 seconds as it moved very slowly. Tonight I went out again and located Rigel.. I saw the same effect… Flash every 80 seconds… This implies given the position, that it is an object in that area of space… Utterly baffling…
I saw the same thing tonight directly overhead in palm beach county Florida at 12:25 a.m
JS. I saw similar thing. I’m in Tyers, Gippsland, not far from you. I am on Google, looking for answers, and saw your comment. I saw 3 bright flashes. I have the app Skyview, and it showed nothing of interest (satellites, etc) in that area.🤷
This is called Iridium Flare. It’s pretty common and there’s even apps that can forecast when and where to look. It’s the light reflecting off the Russian Iridium satellites. Most of the content discussed in this thread is of the strange pulse like flashes that seem to be a nightly occurrence and coming from something stationary.
Your experience matches mine down to the exact details. How you described looking up because you were satellite watching is how I noticed this pulse of stationary light. I was looking at the Jupiter/Venus alignment and another light similar in magnitude and shape caught my eye around 75degrees to the west. I am in Central FL near Tampa. I walked in the house and told my wife what happened and then I shrugged it off. It still has me perplexed what it was I have never seen anything like it. Very interesting thanks for sharing!
I’ve seen similar flashes in multiple locations here in Brazil. The first time I saw something like it probably happened 8 or 9 years ago, and the last time was yesterday. Sometimes they are completely stationary and sometimes they move, but much slower than planes or the satellites I am used to see. Maybe they are weather balloons or spinning satellites which are father than the low orbit satellites. Anyway, I didn’t find a definitive answer for these lights yet.
Seen single flashes for about the last 10 years over Perth WA, Saw this year 14 Nov around 9.30pm, single flash to the left of Jupiter(about 5cm in my site) bright flash repeating every 30 seconds, even my son saw it and I got 4K video. Then again a few days later but this time 2 flashes???
Hi Steve, have you linked your footage anywhere? YT for instance.. thank you!!
Hello all, this post has generated a substantial amount of comments and it might benefit from a better platform to discuss the subject. To that end I’ve added a forum to the site here: https://backyardastronomy.net/forum/. This is just an experiment, but might be found to be useful.
I’ve been seeing these flashes for quite a few years now, I’m wondering if it’s at all possible that it’s meteors which DONT make it into earth atmosphere, but are bouncing off due to approaching at the wrong angle?
Much like a re-entering space ship would do if it was at the wrong trajectory?
I saw one of these flashes this morning, around 6am Eastern Time here in Central Virginia. This is one of the brightest ‘blinks’ I have seen. I wonder if they are small meteors observed from my position head on…hence I only see the small ‘blink’…not the tail and not any apparent motion or trajectory. Very curious…but also, in a mysterious, quiet kind of way, very beautiful.
Hi mate, I doubt they are meteors, for it would mean they are all on exactly the same perfect front on projectory at every angle all over the world. I dont think that’s possible?
Just saw an unexplained flash 8:09 pm Arizona time, Nov 2 2022. I saw something on the security cameras went outside and knew it was a plane. Looking straight up and stretching my neck I saw what appeared to be like a “camera flash?” Too my uneducated space brain that what it seemed like. However I’m no fool, and my depth perception is pretty legit, I knew this flash was VERY far. Possibly further than a satellite. One of my hobbies is trying to catch them on a clear night and watch how fast their cruising. However the “camera flash” also appeared to be about 3 times the size of a satellite to the naked eye. I thought it was very strange but hopefully my experience can help out in any way. Happy finding.
Greetings from Australia Russell, mate that’s exactly how we saw them here too just a week ago, just like you describe. We saw multiple, at least 3 in a very starry sky around 7pm for at least an hour, same flashes, stationary, then flash and had moved a little in any direction. We were on top a mountain, can’t wait to get back there.
Hiya, I’m in Victoria and have been seeing them a lot lately. Around Orion’s belt area and further away. Got me intrigued. Cheers.
Great description, exactly what we are seeing here in The Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia on a mountain with minimal light pollution, it’s like a camera flash as far away as the stars, stationary, multiples, each individual flash around every 20-30 seconds. I’ve been a star gazer my whole life, this us completely new.
I was watching season 3 episode 4 of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch tonight and 32 minutes into the episode they also captured one of these flashes. I went ahead and recorded it using my phone to get it posted here quickly for the group. At the end of the clip I added the latest capture of a flash captured on my low light camera from a few nights ago. It’s actually a really good example of what we’ve been seeing and discussing.
https://youtu.be/dnM8Dhjbn0g
Joel
Just been browsing re my recent experience. On Sunday 30th October 2022 I was in my garden looking up at the very clear sky in a west direction but looking vertically I saw a very bright flash. Then again in the same place several seconds later. Got my camera but it never came back. Thought it was maybe a rotating satellite catching sun but it was more like a giant flash.
Hello, I found this page searching for answers online too. Last saturday night October 29, 2022 my friends and I all watched single flashes in the stars above, stationary for the most times, then the flash would appear to have moved in either direction. The flashes happened about every 30 seconds, I say flashes because at one point there were two flashes near to each other, one flashing after the other. Flashes remained in roughly same spot for about 30 minutes then appeared to move some distance and remain stationary again. It was a very clear beautiful starry night, and we were on the highest mountain in the Gold Coast Hinterland with no light pollution, at Binna Burra, Lamington National Park, Qld Australia. It was fascinating, no explanation for statiinary light flashes among the stars, something none of us have ever seen before. Ps, the passing satellites were obvious. Interesting to find this page with others all over the world witnessing this same new mysterious phenomenon👌👽👍
I too searching for answers. Saw just a few of these “camera flashes” in the night sky too. Just one, then another about 30 seconds later. Few minutes later, another three quick flashes that faded on the third flash. Sept 27 8:3pm. Pacific Northwest sky – north
Last night November 26, 2022 around 7:00 PM New Jersey I glanced into night sky while outside with my daughter. Sky was very clear. I saw what appeared to be a bright star in western sky which immediately “faded or blinked out”. I kept waiting for it to come back or reappear in a different location but it never did. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Would love to know what it was.
I started seeing the flashes this year (2022), usually between 8 and 10 PM ET. I’ve been sky-watching and tracking satellites, iridium flares and glints etc for more than a decade in four different US states and I have never seen these before. I recently relocated to a region in the inland eastern US and all of a sudden I am seeing a ton of the flashes. I do not live near or under any charted MOA (military operations area). There is a lot of air traffic, but I am a pilot and I know what all sorts of planes look like at night. These flashes have absolutely nothing to do with planes. High altitude recon drones maybe, but not airplanes or helicopters of any kind.
The flashes I see do not move nor do they have any trajectory in the sky. Occasionally they “double flash”: two flashes in quick succession in the same exact spot, again, no movement or trajectory.
These flashes do not have any “curve” to their brightness — it is ON. OFF. They do not increase then decrease in brightness at all like a sat glint would. It is like an LED light: instant on, holds for maybe a quarter of a second at most, then instant off. No motion.
I’ve seen them in mostly blue-ish white, but I have seen a couple in bright white and bright yellow.
The last few bright ones I’ve seen were the double-flashers.
Occasionally in a 30 minute sitting I will see a few of them in different parts of the sky. Sometimes just one. Most of my sky watching has been in a westerly direction recently. I am now scanning the south sky. I’ll report back after a while if anything significant occurs.
I really think they’re drones taking pictures. We spotted 2 really big ones in an area we were doing Bigfoot research in. We saw them flying grid patterns over the national forest one night.
These are not drones, you would not use a flash to take pictures of the earth from space or even at 300 feet it would do nothing, and they the ones I’ve seen don’t seem to be moving. What you saw could be drones as they are being used all over the place and have blinking lights but not like these flashes. With a lens open for 10 seconds on a camera it would most likely create a line from any movement of a drone.
10th November 11:09 pm West/South West sky from the Kapiti Coast New Zealand 7 bright flashes On /Off bright white light
Moving vertically
I have taken pics 2nd march 23 over perth of white flashes the size of the moon. Stayed for 20 plus minutes not moving. They were irregular flashes. Flash, flash sow then 3 quick flashes. Weather overcast.
Yep. The ones I see don’t move either. They are completely stationary thus ruling out satellite glints. They are brilliantly bright and turn on and off like an LED flashlight.
I saw one while traveling in the area of Fountaintown and Morristown, IN about a week ago at about 2:30 AM. This one was much brighter and larger than usual–not quite the size of the moon, maybe about 1/4 that size. This was seen in the southwest portion of the sky, south of Jupiter and Venus in the west which were very bright that morning.
Again, like you described, during the time that the flashes are ‘on’, they do not move; they are absolutely not satellites. I have seen hundreds of satellite glints in my life but these flashes are nothing at all like the glints.
Thats what I saw as well here in FL around the same date.
I saw exactly the same deep blue flash of light near Orion’s Belt and then nothing. I trained my camera on the spot and used a long exposure but could not detect anything like a plane or a satellite. Waited scanning the sky for a further 30 mins but did not see anything like it again. It was like a bright deep blue star that flashed once -similar to an LED light pulse.
I contacted Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb at Harvard University on a whim who is the head of the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science Director, Institute for Theory & Computation and is now heading up the https://twitter.com/GalileoProject1 with NASA. He responded to my emaili with my video attached, and had his colleague Richard Cloete review it and this is what he said. “I’ve had a look at your video. It’s not possible to draw any firm conclusions, as there are no discernible physical features. The white dot appears to move in a straight line, at constant velocity you will have a better idea of that than I, given it is your footage), and does not change shape, size, etc.
I can’t really tell anything more from the video than that, unfortunately.
Hopefully, the suit if instruments that the Galileo Project is developing will help provide answers, but in the meantime, keep looking up!”
I was actually surprised they responded so quickly. You can follow the Galileo Project on Twitter link above.
Thank you for trying to bring more attention to this with the scientific community Lance. These flashes happen way to often for them to go unnoticed by the thousands of academic cameras trained at the skies around the world. In my opinion this should be investigated more rigorously as it is a most curious phenomena.
I made another time-lapse which caught a bout 5 or more flashes in a two hour period over 500 photos at
10 seconds per exposure. https://youtu.be/bMAi6vuTQT8 still not sure what these things are?
I have been puzzled by these flashes as well. Iridium flares last much longer and the satellite can usually be seen moving across the sky. The flashes are all by themselves. My friends neighbor is an astronomy professor and I’m hoping to get a chance to talk to him about these mysterious flashes of light
Please let us know what your neighbor thinks about the flashes 🙂
I’ve been seeing these too. My mind went to starlink satellites because they are new and a lot of these sightings are as well. I live in Florida and they are sending up multiple rockets a month. What are your guys thoughts on this. https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/05/29/starlink-satellite-flares-part-2/
No. The objects show weak pulses of light and finally flash like a huge discharge. Plus the objects are more or less static. The musk train has a trajectory easy to follow.
I’m a teacher in a boarding school in Kenya. A curious phenomenon involving white flashes occurred yesterday Saturday 12th Nov 2022 around 7.45 pm to 7.50 pm EAT. The flashes would move in a kind of circular motion and at some point hit some of the buildings. The students rushed out to watch but were overcome with fear… I thought it was a spinning reflection from the ISS since it is being sighted in Nairobi this week and used that speculation to calm down the students. Now I’m learning that the ISS doesn’t reflect light! Wtf was that we saw?
15 MINUTE VIDEO OF LIGHT FLASHING EVERY 13 SECONDS
https://youtu.be/Ls98E2Alcvs
Current theory is Intelsat 19.
This bests illustrates what I’ve seen with one exception. I don’t see them as tightly grouped. Like if I were to hold up, say, a Pringles can with the bottom out of it, they’d happen roughly in that space.
However, I’ve seen this and also have seen one or two stragglers well outside that can ring.
I also saw 2 on the western horizon a dusk one time. Very brigh and very quick
But this, what you’ve captured? That’s a great representation of the flash phenomena as seen by my eyes.
Alberta Canada here. We are seeing flashes every evening this summer. Like a small camera flash never in the same location. Tonight we have seen about 6 already within 2 hours. Definitely not planes or satellites. Came looking for similar experiences hoping for an explanation. I have never seen so much sky activity in my life and I’m old 🤣
Minnesota here, just saw 3 last night and thought I was going crazy and then I saw one this morning on the way to work, I went googling to find the same thing
Regional Victoria, Australia a very bright quick flash (like a camera) seemed to be from a ‘tiny’ star? Can anyone shed a little light on this? Thx Mac
I’ve been seeing single flashes since 2021, though this year not quite as many. Last night I saw an odd one. I saw a “typical”camera flash one, and then a second or 2 later there was another, a tad over from the first. The second one was either pink or violet, darker in the center, and shot a pink or violet beam out to the side. Very cool!!
These are very poor videos for reference. Sometimes seeing an occasional flash in the night sky can be explained by fragments entering our atmosphere. However if you tilt your head back long enough, and you look very closely hard enough. You will literally cut oxygen from your brain and see flashes next to planets etc. kinda like seeing stars when we lose our breath or get punched… dead in the face…. With some truth
The flashes do not appear randomly in different locations. In most of my observations the falshes are literally on the very same spot. A series of flashes so to speak in a certain time period. For instance every 15seconds for 2 or 3 minutes.
Hello I’m from south central PA and Skywatch almost on a daily basis for short periods of time. I don’t remember the exact days or times but both were in the first two weeks of September 2022. The first time was between 11 pm and 1 am . I had just returned home and stepped out of my vehicle and leaned back on the door for a session of skywatching. It was a fairly clear night I could see maybe 1/2 the usual stars as a very clear night. After 5 minutes or so as I was looking NW a single pure white blink just to the left of my direct line of sight. It reminded me of someone clicking an LED flashlight on across the yard at 30 yds. But it was only visible for a fraction of a second. I stayed out for another 10 min or so and saw nothing else. A few nights later I walked around the side of my house just to Skywatch and it was a 3/4 clear night. I was looking NE After approximately 5 minutes again a similar flash but directly in my line of sight as if I were looking at it intentionally. This light was almost 2x as bright as the first but just as quick and just as defined. Maybe 3 minutes later I was looking almost dead N when not as bright and again just to the left of my direct line of sight and simultaneously to the extreme right of my peripheral vision a flash. The one to the right wasn’t nearly as bright as the one on the left. I could see stars directly around where these flashes occurred and had seen several planes that night also so the cloud cover wasn’t obscuring the source of the flashes and I saw nothing that would have caused them. This was the first search result when I searched this and happy to see it’s not just me. I don’t know what is going on in the world today but something definitely is and I’m not going to ignore this fact. I hope we soon get some real answers good or bad so we can make our own informed decisions on how to proceed. Thanks for your time
I have been going mad searching for what I may have seen Monday, 9/26/22. It was a very clear sky and I was looking up at all the usual planets and stars I’ve come to recognize over the past few months. I live very close to an airport so I am very familiar with anything flying in relation to that. Directly where I was looking in the sky, a single flash occurred it was very bright, but not “light up the sky” bright. It was a very defined round flash of light where nothing had been, and nothing remained afterward. It may not be connected at all, but about 10 seconds after the flash I heard what sounded like a very distant, very short road or thunder- but definitely not thunder. Every time I try to search for what it may have been, the results are caked with DART/in Dimorphus news. This is the first thing I’ve found that reads (and looks) like what I saw.
I’m currently watching two of those lights for the last hour. They randomly move around and go bright to dim. So strange
I was doing a star lapse in New York in the country where I go fishing, and I captured two of these flashes one very bright like a star and one much smaller. My lens exposure was for 30 seconds off for 5 and open for 30 for the next pic. A airplane would show a long trail of linking lights if captured at 30 seconds. When zoomed way in the flash looks oval shaped but not moving and the next frame all the stars have moved to a new position and the flash is gone. Here is my video of it, the flash is in the upper middle on Iggy’s third vocal line “YOU KNOW it looks so good tonight” very quick but if you let it loop you will find it.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChDTTeDpgDB/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Whats odd is when zoomed way in the flash has a more oval shape than the stars around it. But even stranger is it does not appear to be moving as there is not trail.
That’s exactly what I see. A tiny pin prick of light that flashes just once incredibly fast.
just saw that In Omaha Ne. about 15 minutes later again in the same approximate location.
I have seen the same thing bright flash of light so bright and fast like it a star that flashes it did it twice about 2 minutes apart in the same location.
I have been watching the night sky for about 45 years and only in the last few years I have been noticing these single flashes of light or a blip and sometimes in the same spot, even tonight at about 21:45. It is not a tumbling satellite neither do I think its a shooting star hitting head on. I have seen several of these on a single night over about 2 hours, usually in the North but also E, W and S at about a 35-40 degree angle here in the UK. They are baffling me because I never really used to see them even though I belonged to an astronomical society from the mid 80’s to 90’s and did a lot more night sky watching than I do now what are they?
I live in the US Boston area and saw this flash the other night once in the eastern sky about 30 degrees and just now tonight my son called me out he saw in the same spot in the sky so we watch for about 10 minutes and we both saw the flash that looks like a star but just a single flash like a camera flash. Very odd? I would like to know what is causing this?
I made another time-lapse which caught a bout 5 or more flashes in a two hour period over 500 photos at
10 seconds per exposure. https://youtu.be/bMAi6vuTQT8 still not sure what these things are?
I have also seen those flashes, but I wouldn’t call them flashes because they have lasted for about 2 seconds to a minute or so. My newest observation occured Thursday 13. Oct 2022 about 21:15 on Finland. I was looking at the direction of Vega when a bright “star” appeared maybe 5-7 degrees to the north of it and a bit lower from then horizon (5 degrees max.). It was clearly brighter than Jupiter, which was visible at an altitude of about 30- degrees toward the south-south east. The bright light lasted for about 3-5 seconds and then it disappeared abruptly without any visible dimming.
This year I and my friends have seen similar lights three times, all lasting a few seconds. Two times a single light and once btwo equally bright ones near each other (maybe 1-2 full moons width). We have not been able to notice any movement of the lights agains the background stars. On every occasion we have not seen any aircraft lights or heard sounds of airplanes.
The longest similar kind of a stationary bright light I have seen lasted for about a minute. It happened in the early 90’s (why didn’t I write down the exact time then?). I went out from my house to look for Jupiter. When I saw it, I thought ” wow, it looks so very bright”. After a few seconds I realized that it was not Jupiter I saw, Jupiter was quite near the light, but somewhat lower in altitude. After staring the phenomenon for some time (maybe 10 seconds or so) I decided to determine if I could see any movement. To do that I leaned my head agains the wall of my house to keep my view stationary and watched the light until it started quite slowly to dim and become invisible. There was a line of tall trees to the south, and the light was visible just a few degrees above the top of one of them, so It was easy to see if it moved visibly, but didn’t notice any movement during the time it was visible.
August 2006 I saw with my nephew a similar long lasting “flash”, which was not so bright as the one I described above. It lasted 10-15 seconds and no movement or light rail could be detected by eye.
I really liked to know what I have seen. I have tried to search info from the net, but I have not been very succesfull. What I have learned though is that geostationary satellites can’t be seen as bright objects immediately visible with naked eye.
Don’t tilt your head so far back… it’s literally lack of oxygen… it happens
I star watch in a recliner. It was a good theory though.
Doctor Mike in the house here to invalidate your observations! Really though, tons of people experiencing the same phenomenon after going our whole lives without seeing something strange like this, and you come in saying we’re not getting enough oxygen to the brain? Thanks for your input.
It has Nothing to do with Tilting Your Head Back.
Hey Jon, ive seen alot of these flashes, most are one time flashes which I originate to satellites, ive seen brighter flashes tho, that does not go in a straight line, it piqued my interest so I went in to grab my star binoculars, took me three days to see something similar again.
Im even now suprised I was able to locate it after the flash with my binoculars, found it tho and the size was maybe a rice held at arms length, with this shape and the suprising thing about it was that it was continuous low intensity flashes every second in a low blue hue colour ”behind” it.
Last I saw was just briiight white light and then it was gone.
Held my binoculars on it for about 1min.
The other weird thing ive seen in the night sky at home is the shape of this ==>>, like low intensity bright blue.
To get what it looked like, the best description is that it looked like a interstellar spaceship taking off. No idea what it was tho, just lucky it was exactly where I was looking at the time,
Cause it only lasted for 1,5-2 seconds.
Im in the UK and when I’m wild camping I naturally go to places with little light pollution. I’ll always lay and look up at the stars on clear nights. I’ve seen hundreds of satellites and hundreds of shooting stars. I also see a tiny flick of light which lasts for barely a millisecond. Sometimes in my peripheral vision and sometimes directly where I’m looking. Yet to see any pattern though. The pulses seem to me to be happening a long long way away. Always wondered what they were which is why I’m here. Still none the wiser.
So. Central Indiana reporting in. Seeing the flashes for two nights now. I live in a rural area with really decent night sky and I watch it. This is new and very notable.
What I’m seeing matches exactly what’s reported all down this page. My brother is in AZ and reported the exact same phenomena to me yesterday. We were both shocked.
Very curious thing.
I am visiting Culca canyon, Peru this week and we also noticed these flashes tonight while sitting in the hot springs. I’ve seen dozens of shooting stars and satellites over the years and this is different. We saw a series of about 4 flashes in 20 minutes in varying spots. At first they seemed to be coming from stars but then a flash appeared where their seemed to be no stars..or maybe there was a star but too dim to see until the flash.
I believe these are called Bolides? They are meteors that come directly at earth then explode when they hit the atmosphere
They apear periodically. For instance every 12 seconds at the same spot.
I’ve seen that! Had one located that I would watch every morning in the same place. Had a regular interval, but it was very long, like 2 plus minutes.
My husband and I were out looking at the Perseid meteor shower and I clearly saw a white flash, then an almost red flash and the last flash was white again. They did not move all were stationary. My husband only saw the last flash and he said it looked like a camera flash it was so bright. Before I saw it I thought to myself “show yourself” and then it happened. This was about 10pm.
We saw this tonight in MN USA around 10 m. We have never seen this before. They were all white flashes not in the same spot. Over the period of an hour. aug 16 2022
I just looked out my home office window and go flashes like a camera flash was outside almost like a strobe light that you see on the school bus so that’s what I assumed it was and I looked outside and it didn’t seem to come from anywhere. When I thought maybe it was a trick of light I saw it again.
All the recent posts on this thread is interesting.
Hi
I have been seeing bright single flashes with no trail all summer , I have never seen them before . I live in the southwest of England ,now l go out every night and sit for fifteen minutes and sure as day l see them . One night l even said to myself now show yourself and it did . Sounds crazy l know .
Yeah, me & my children have been sitting out the garden seeing these in the south east of England. I’ve always tended to watch the sky over the years & don’t remember seeing these before
I live in Cornwall and have seen them as well. they are like a flash and some times even a like blurred few flashes afterwards. fascinating.
Had this same experience Kaz. Perhaps we just need to ask for them to show themselves…
We live on Oahu away from the city. We have been seeing the flashes for years. We’ve ruled out the regular possibilities such as satellites and high flying planes. We keep wondering if it could be military.
I have stumbled across this forum whilst Googling what I may have seen this morning. Referencing the poor quality video I captured, the “star”/ object remained in the same position and flashed this sporadic light for 30 second and disappeared.
I don’t think it was an aircraft as it was way to “high” to be a plane (I think, rather uneducated) and the light itself was not coloured like an aircraft and as you can see, there is no rhythm to the flashing.
https://youtube.com/shorts/QZf3QMtJFIA?feature=share
Does anyone have any ideas on what this might be?
Private video?
I’m referring to Luke’s Youtube video link, https://youtube.com/shorts/QZf3QMtJFIA?feature=share
Same here!! Over the past few nights I’ve seen several of these ‘pings’ in the night sky… generally in the west, around 10 – 11pm but could be all the time I guess? I’m very aware of what air traffic looks like being located near an airport and beneath a major north/south commercial route. Also can rule out satellite activity as I see them all the time! I don’t have an answer at this point, just on the same journey of discovery!
I see them every night when the sky is clear and I always wonder if they are satellites or maybe something more out of this world but it always leaves me standing there watching the night sky hoping to see something incredible but I always usually end up being puzzled by these strange lights. When I was younger me and my friend actually saw an enormous UFO with large rectangular windows and could see humanoids in the windows because it was so close to us about a hundred feet above my neighbor’s house and was total silent as it hovered there shining this bright beam of light across the sky over my neighborhood in Newport Kentucky at the golden tower apartment building in Covington before Vanishing before my eyes but when I saw it I thought it was the end of the world and I have never been more terrified in my life but the crazy thing about the whole incident was that surprisingly there were no other Witnesses to photograph this thing or even make a report about the incident besides me and my friend when we got to school that morning we told everyone about it drew hundreds of pictures of it but no one believed us and everyone thought we were nuts haha but we know what we saw and it was as terrifying as it was incredible. but ever since then I’ve always been searching the internet for similar sightings and even find myself waiting at night staring at the sky hoping to see another UFO.
Hi James, your not the only one, I believe you mate, I live in Kent south east England, on my way to work one morning around 4 am I encountered a huge black equilateral triangle slowly moving towards me, turned and went straight above me, pastel shades of pinkish blue lights, I was gobsmacked and very humbled to witness this thing. However an hour later I suffered a very intense headache almost migraine like and lasted most of the day even with painkillers and had to take the rest of the day off work. For years I’ve been witnessing single flashes, grouped flashes that seem almost communication like flashes, very close up beach ball sized illuminated things that just suddenly disappear, there’s definitely something going on. I saw this thread tonight after witnessing more tonight 31/8/22 and this came up on Google. Keep looking up.
Saw “sky-flashes” aswell. Last night around 1 AM in Switzerland.
Single flashes a couple of them happening in a approx. timespan of a minute. An hour later i tried my luck again (was hoping to see this again) – and there it went, 2 or three flashes again. I always focused on a area from my POV around VEGA where those flashes happened.
We had clear sky, i saw many satelittes also crossing that area. Spotted shootingstars and airplanes too – that’s how i had to rule out airplanes – because the blinking lights of an airplane would definitely have been seen for a longer time (not single flashes).
However – i actually also saw the flash (2 times) which i connected to a moving object (like a sat) i could follow for a couple of seconds – the it disappeared..
Super interesting sighting for me. I will keep my eyes open!
We recently held an all-night audio recording vigil for Bigfoot research. Warm clear night, but around midnight till after 5: AM intermittent flashes of light lit the sky above us. There was no rhythm or timed sequence to them. We checked radar and found no lightning flashes for 200 miles. It looked like a camera flash effect, reflecting across the sky. Do satellites use camera flash strobes at nighttime?
They are satellite propulsion bursts. Small rocket bursts that keep a satellite in orbit. If you watch long enough you will see it flash several times in a fairly straight direction.
Definitely not rocket bursts, you’d never see the light from such a small power unit, those reposition bursts probably use less energy than a regular match, and wouldn’t be so bright as to see from up there.
I’ve seen them in several different positions, not on the same trajectory, and within several seconds of each other, while being able, at times to see satellites at the same time in a different position, i see them mostly in winter due to the darker nights here in North Scotland, weird indeed.
I also saw one single flash today in Switzerland and one about 2 weeks ago in Poland. I cannot find out what these are.
2 month from my first post here.
I seen it a couple of times.. now for some days not anymore. But today 2 flashes. Not quite on the same spot, but not far from each other.
I was .. kinda needing to see them again.
@w4gon79 what do you see..?
I regularly see them on my low light camera still. During the summer it’s a little harder to make them out though due to the lightning bugs. The camera picks up the bugs and it’s harder to filter through all the videos, but the flashes are still there.
Tonight 2 flashes 2 sec apart, in POV from Switzerland Ursa Major, close to Dubhe. Minute later saw an airplane in that position, so clearly can rule out an airplane for the flashes.
I sow those point flashes for years, but i’ve no clue what they are. Would really like to point nice size telescope to take the light spectra and see if it’s sunlight or other light.
I see these too. I started seeing them in the spring of 2021, and those would glad once, usually, and were the silvery/ blue of stars. Then for many months I didn’t see them at all. Now I see them nearly anytime the sky is clear, but they are now the color of candle light instead of the silver/blue. For those on a more spiritual path ( others quit reading!)- many times they seem to respond to what I Am affirming out loud about myself. It’s as if they are giving me a cosmic hello, or pat on the back. — that sounds silly, I know, but I believe it!
I am in muncie Indiana and i saw 2 of these flashes last night around 11 pm.
I have seen flashes of light many times for the last 20 years. Sometimes it will flash off to the side of my vision as if it wants to get my attention. Sometimes it will sit in the sky like a star not moving until I look right at it, then it will begin to move slowly and all of the sudden it will light up super bright for a few seconds and fade away until it went invisible. I think It cloaked it self. Other times I would see one moving across the sky slowly, I would say out loud, LIGHT UP! and it would and get super bright and fade away slowly or cloaked itself. I felt that this thing or whatever it is….was tracking me. Any body else having this type of experience?
Yes. I feel the same about tracking me. I’ve been seeing it often then it disappears
I have these EXACT experiences almost nightly. Same thing, where I will see one flash off to the side almost like, “here we are…” I have also thought that they are sometimes stationary, then start to move. There are also what look like stars that brighten and flash aswell. They seem to respond to my thoughts; I will ask to see them, then they flash. I have also noticed the craft that brighten when I ask aswell, then dissappear. Ppl see them with me, but not on their own. I have had life long ufo encounters and feel this is connected; very happy to hear of someone else having the same experiences!
Exact same thing here kimberly! They light up when I ask them to. They appear in the sky when I asked them to. People see them with me but not on their own. I’ve been seeing them for over 6 years. They have flown extremely close over my head and I have been able to see the outline of the bulk of The Craft when they strobe off.
I got chills reading that. Yes I am experiencing the exact same thing. They flash at the corner of my vision and to get my attention. They respond by lighting up when I asked them to. I have had them fly very low over my head. I’ve been seeing them for over 6 years. Same thing with the star that you are staring at starts moving and then Fades out. Bright flashes followed by dim flashes. Also they will flash gold or yellow sometimes.
I live in Milford, Illinois (central Illinois)and have seen these single bright flashes around 10:45 pm for past few years (2020 – 2022) usually overhead. In 2017 (If I remember correctly), I believe it was when a Chinese satellite was losing orbit, almost same time in evening (9 – 9:15 pm)and nearly same track, could watch flashes (about 7-9 seconds apart) track from west to east. The satellite was tumbling and catching the sun.
Last night I saw a couple shooting stars so I kept watching the sky and just to the left of the north star I saw a bright flash that looked like a camera flash. It caught my attention and looked directly where it came from and immediately another flash happened. The flash was bright white and about the size of a dime at arms length away. It wasn’t a round flash either, it was more like pointed in several directions, if that makes sense. I watched for hours after that and saw nothing but a couple more meteors. The flashs had to be 150 times brighter than anything else in the sky. I was viewing from Green Bay, WI near Lambeau Field. Does anyone know anything about this?
I seen this same thing just tonight. But I see two different ones and it looks like it thrust towards atmosphere then getse bright one more time but further away then stays lit like it’s flying further away. It’s been super active in UPSTATE NY..
Just saw this tonight 8/30/2022 1am EST. Western PA. I went to take the trash out, and noticed how brilliant Jupiter was again tonight, so I went back in to getthe binoculars to look at it, and see the moons. As I was looking at it I saw a faint flash down & to the right of Jupiter, and it looked way too far away to be something in our atmosphere, so I watched to see if it would flash again, and after a fairly long while it did, so I decided to count the seconds in between, and counted a 20 second interval between flashes. It appears like it did move around somewhat, but not in a straight line. I went back out 20 minutes later to see if it was still there & it was gone.
I’ve been seeing these flashes for the last 2 years or so, but never before. As others have mentioned in this thread, they look like bright, white camera flashes. My initial thought was that they were tumbling satellites, but given the very short duration of the flash (fraction of a second), you’d expect the flash period to be shorter, e.g. every few seconds. Instead, the length of time between flashes can be anything from 20 to 90 seconds and in cases where the object seems to be moving NNW, you’d expect them to become brighter and instead they (sometimes) just stop. Sometimes, if the night is very dark and clear, I can see the object. Generally, it seems to be very slow moving (for a satellite… maybe it’s in a very high orbit?) and is very dim and difficult to see. When it flashes, though, it’s hard to miss. I’m in Ireland, btw. Thanks everyone for posting.
This is what I came here looking for not blinking dots have you had any further look into it?
I’ve seen the exact same type of flash in the same spot about 3 or 4 times in the last year. I literally just saw one about an hour ago which prompted me to Google it and find this article.
Same here. I watch the big New Mexico sky every night and see the strangest things. Tonight the sky is full of meteors, but I’ve seen ships up close and afar and bright flashes of light from nowhere. Satellites that appear to project a large light ring around them. It’s very busy up there.
Google the lightcube project
and
https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-satellite-blast-earth-flashes
Launch 2022 ..
Only: I have seen the flashes years before 2022
Interesting. I thought this might’ve been the answer, however on the official LightCube website under FAQ it says the satellite only has the capacity to produce one flash every 30 seconds. A few nights ago I saw this flashing phenomenon consistently happening on/off in the same stationary place for about 5-6 seconds. First time ever seeing something like this in my life of stargazing, it was on 8/15/22 and I’m currently in northern California
Could be a drone. We’ve spotted 2 big government looking ones flying here recently.
Agree – in the U.K. in Berkshire, seen the flashes on 3 consecutive days, but in different area on the 3rd day – 1st day 8pm before BST started, in the area of the 2 stars just down from the Plough/Dipper, the next day in the Plough/Dipper at 9pm after BST started, 2 days later in a different area completely and lower down in the horizon than before, different time of the evening, later on. The Flas last for about 1 to 1.5 secs and looks like a slow camera flash – wtf, never seen these in the sky. Is it a mapping satellite? Why flash like a camera flash (like a diamond shape growing and fading) do they need to flash in the night sky for photography? Just odd – cannot get any explanation on them. I see satellites also slow moving dim lights like a small distance star but only lasting for like 3 secs then disappear? They could be satellites or space junk however, the satellite tracking apps tell me they should be visible for around 11 minutes! So, any explanation on this would be a big thumbs up!
I run an astronomy club so am pretty experienced with the night sky. Back in Dec 2021, I experienced something (luckily with another person to make sure I wasn’t going raving mad) that basically scared the **** out of me!
Astronomy club had ended but the conditions were so clear I stayed with a friend a little longer just chatting and we both saw the flashing light in the NW sky, described exactly by so many on here. First we saw it out of the corner of our eyes and then managed to see it locked on with our eyes. I put it down to a bit of space debris catching the Sun but we decided to get our powerful laser and flash it in the direction, jokingly saying we’d see if we could make it flash back. What happened next? Well here’s the crazy part – nothing from that area of the sky…
We then got the lazer and pointed it directly up at the Milky Way and flashed it a couple of times and right where the laser was pointing, I mean the exact place there was a light that flashed back, like the photo flash. This sent a chill down my spine. We then flashed the laser again and the light responded, this time staying lit. I estimated what ever this to be low orbit, certainly not in Earth’s atmosphere. The light then started moving and stopping heading in a northerly direction and every time the laser touched it, it seemed to energise and get brighter and move a little faster. At times the light would stop and then speed up like it was almost playing with us. It then shot off at an incredible rate further north where it then again stopped and then disappeared.
I’m still none the wiser to what it was and to be honest, it freaked me out so much I’ve only got back into astronomy recently. I saw the photo flash again tonight looking for the comet, so it’s all come flooding back!
Anyway, there’s certainly something going on up there and I hope in my lifetime it’s revealed.
See these flashes (flashbulbs) let´s say quite regulary in austria where i live. I saw on 4th sept. 21 different series (~6) of flashes in different time-intervals (ranging from ~3 to ~12sec) always on the same spot in the nightsky. The intensity of the flash is decreasing within a series, the start ist the brightest. But i can say it for sure, sure is the last one is the least brightest. I saw at least on this day a streak of light too. And i see single flashes too on different days.
I can rule out, defenitely: planes, geo. stat. satelites (flashes directly over my head 90deg. in austria) or any IR flares.
What i thought it is: some sort of satelite thrusters, but on the 4.th sept i saw series of flashes and therefore i suppose it´s unlikely.
And: Please consider the energy you need to produce a flash, when the object is far away if you have to see it. So .. again unlikely for a propulsion system.
I don´t think it´s a transient luminous Event like electrical discharges above energetic thunderstorms. Because of the series on different spots. I mean a series is stationary, but the next series is next to it (again stationary).
I have no clue only an unpopular idea 😉
PS: i am sorry for the typos, don´t have much time to revise the spelling
Ive seen these “flashes” every so often and last night i was able to get my husband to see it too. this set stayed near a pair of stars but was under or over the same spot. eventually my husband seen some erratic flashing off to the right with binoculars and we didnt get the flashes any further. i counted 11 total
I pick up these what I call “Point Flashes” very frequently on my meteor spotter skycam. They surely can’t be cosmic rays since they linger too long, and many of them repeat in a slightly different position with a period of close to a minute, as others have noted. A couple repeats with a slightly shifting position, and then they’re gone. Same thing the next night in a bit of a different position, or maybe not at all. My only good theory is a sat with a pulsed laser aimed at the Earth, but that’s just a good guess. A straight down vector meteorite obviously won’t repeat, and my cam doesn’t pick up the typical meteoric greenish glow of IR heat from these. Just a flash of white with a duration of just a couple of frames.
Satellites don’t stall. Last few weeks I’ve seen some flashes that repeat 3 or 6 flashes, 2 or 3 seconds apart in the exact same spot. What can just sit out there in one spot like that?
X37B unmanned “space force” vehicle? The flashes I’ve seen are bright enough that I had the idea that it was meant to be seen! Sometimes moving, sometimes stationary.
I’m a novice but, I see these almost nightly. Could they be shooting stars coming directly at a focal point?
I see these almost nightly. Could they be shooting stars coming directly at a focal point?
No. They aren’t ‘shooting stars’. They wouldn’t all come straight at you.
I’ve seen these flashes on multiple “ET Contact” expeditions with Dr. Steven Greer. He believes they are ET space craft signaling to us. He calls them “flash bulbs”. Ok a little woo-woo ,but the fact that nobody knows for sure what they are gives some credence. As many commenters have noted, they don’t behave like satellites. No trajectory, no periodicity.
I’ve seen these single flash events with my naked eye many times. Not moving, not surging, not fading, not happening again in the same spot, not happening repeatedly along a path. Just a single flash. I will say that rarely it seems to be a “slow” single flash. No one I talk to has ever seen it. I usually gaze north but have also seen it rarely in other parts of the sky that I also rarely gaze at. Thanks for sharing this.
I also see them, same like you said in your comment, no repeat of where or … Usually looking either East or north.
Wyoming USA
I am in Washington state and see flashes almost nightly. I am a retired airline pilot, so I know the difference between aircraft and something else. I assumed these to be iridium flares but they seem to happen much more frequently than I would expect them to. In an hour or so each night of star gazing in the summer months I will regularly see 6 or 7 flashes in different locations. They are sometimes quite bright. Almost like a flash bulb. Very interesting.
Been seeing these “camera flashes” around the northern Scottish skies for years now, sometimes 3 or 4 within several minutes in vastly different areas of the night sky, can’t explain it….
No satellite would use a “camera flash ” to take a picture as the light wouldn’t illuminate anything on the ground, so, I remain stumped.
Around 9:15 tonight I saw the same thing in the western sky, above the cluster of those 7 stars. (I use to know the name, forgive me). It was like a star turned on and off real fast, just once. I considered that an alien took a picture of my and forgot the flash was on. Or maybe something leaving the planet and used a “thrust” to leave the Earth’s pull. Or ..who knows.
I face the window at night, for the last two nights I’ve seen a very bright “star”. I got up at 12:30 and saw the star, I got up again at 2:44 and saw it again, as I was getting up it started to blink and move, I watched it move out of sight when I reached the window to see where it went it was gone. It was a solid stationary light for two days, then started blinking and moving in less than a minute it was gone. I don’t study the sky, I don’t. lie either. Is this something normal?
If you lived in a radio quiet area, it would be possible to use a VLF radio and put that on the Left channel and the WWV time tick on the right channel. You could then see if that correlated to emissions at those frequencies. Using two identical setups spaced by say a kilometer and carefully aimed at the same patch of sky (with really deep lens shades) could help eliminate glitches-or record them if they prove useful. Something like a blink comparator could be developed by synching the frames and viewing them on a split screen.
So I’m commenting from Queensland Australia, adding onto my last comment, it dosnt move, the constellations do but it stays in the same stop flashing every 50 seconds, sometimes it’s really bright then other it seems like it’s twice as far away, but every 50 seconds.
I’ve been watching just near Orion’s belt for about 3 hours now, it’s a consistent single flash every 50 seconds.
My boyfriend and I saw the same flashing object in Miami last week. It was in the same spot. Quick flash and it was every 60 seconds at first then every 45 seconds.we saw it from 3:30 AM. – 4;30 AM during a meteor shower. Then it just disappeared before dusk. And faintly we saw tiny dots small as a pin head move towards it and around after each flash and in between flashes. We also saw a fire ball toward the East around 3Am. We were able to catch about 25 shooting starts that night during the Geminid Shower
Sounds weird! Any photos or video shots taken?
My wife and I watched a flash coming from Orion’s Belt last night during the meteor shower. We watched it for about 30 minutes flash about every 40 something seconds. I took video of it for about 10 minutes.
I seen 4 flashes in a 10-15 min period all in one spot I have a night sky app and nothing showed up
My girlfriend and I saw this as well around 2am in keymar, Maryland. Except this single flash happened exactly every 17 seconds we watched it for about 30 minutes or so. It seemed like a small kinda dim star the flash was extremely fast if you weren’t staring right where it happened you would miss it. It did not move at all. Made me think of a camera flash. I would love to know what it was!
I saw two of these flashes a few hours ago. Looked like a star blipped in and out of existence
Never seen a flash happen that frequently before. As for what it is, there is only 1 explanation – a geostationary satellite, but as for why it was flashing lots, no clue.
See these every morning at 3am when I rise to stand under the stars before I need to get up. They flash with purpose. They are not of human origins. Usually its a round type flash I see but this morning it was a cigar shaped flash and HUGE. Last month it was a perfectly round ball, bright orange with flames at its front. I’ve seen numerous strange objects but the best by far was a rectangle with the bottom two corners turned up… it flashed accross Perth’s sky a few times then it split in the middle without splitting and both sides started to flap, like a bat or bird, and it flew like that accross the night sky (it was the brightest white colour). They are talking to us and responding to our thoughts. Rise up everyone.
No crap? They kinda remind me of when startrek comes out of hyper space
Has anyone thought of the possibility of sprites I’ve seen these also and came to the conclusion that they may be sprites like this
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://weatherboy.com/rare-sprites-and-jets-photographed-above-thunderstorm/&ved=2ahUKEwjDgfiR7fnzAhWPuJ4KHelmCM8QFnoECDkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0SOcXLNBOj9kvJjXSIDyDW
Hello Jon,
The particular flashes which I’ve imaged are not sprites, elves, halos, jets or gigantic jets. Over the years I’ve imaged all of these TLEs with the same camera which I’ve imaged the flashes in question. Sprites last less than half a frame which is less than 19ms. Whereas the flashes we are discussing here last much longer than half a frame. Also, sprites are much larger than these single flashes. In short, I do not believe that what I’ve imaged and documented in this post are TLEs. What many others have described also don’t sound like TLEs to me. It is possible that some of what people are seeing could be TLEs though, I do agree with that. I just don’t believe that TLEs explain the phenomena. I have a TLE page where I discuss my experiences with these upper atmospheric discharges.
I have seen these single pulses in western PA. also. Very bright and distant.
They seem to be randomly placed. However, I have seen it twice, maybe three times in one particular area of sky. It has been approximately 2 A.M two of those times.
The first time I started to take notice of these occurred from said area of sky, at time, about 7 years ago.
I was standing upon my deck, waiting for my dog. The flash was brilliant and singular. I watched, expecting to see another blink, scanning an area around the single flash. A streak of light passed above me at incredible speed. It seemed to me to have come directly from the area I was watching. It was so rapid, that I did not see its origin, but only passing just above me and going behind me. It quite startled me.
That whatever I had seen accelerated so fast, I only had seen the latter movement, so to speak.
I have never witness that type of reaction before or since from a pulse.
I see more than one in an evening. I watch naked eyes and it cannot be glare or optical refraction.
Satellite tracking could help me to help solve these. I have not availed myself of that yet. However, that streak of light, seemingly exiting from area of flash, definitely wasn’t a satellite and I was awake and sober. I’ve seen a few things I cannot explain and attempt to dispel what I have. I have absolutely no comprehension of what may have caused what I had seen. There is no way we make ANYTHING that fast.
I see them too, im in Sparta TN, first time was two years ago, same area of sky but not in same place. They were close together about five seconds apart brighter than Jupiter butuch more white. Like a flash. Then I saw them tonight Oct 26, 1st one bright enough to cause me to look up. Then the other two about 5 seconds apart. Not in same spot or linear, more like a triangle formation each time. Just makes me think.
I am so glad that I am not alone in this for the past couple weeks I have been saying really bright flashes of light in the sky and I’ve recorded them too so I know it’s not my eyes theyes they are very fast really really bright huge huge flashes that light up the sky really fast I really fast but there are different types sometimes there was one right behind me in my car I was just turning on my car and it looked like someone was behind me and took a picture Really close to me but there was nobody there. And. And then I constantly get huge flashes in the sky or little flashes but you can tell that they are very far away So I know that they are huge in comparison or far away in comparison to where I am. I. I’m confused as to whether it is there it is something UFO like or or a natural phenomenon every video you had was completely different than different than what I have been experiencing and I can’t find any videos that are similar to what I see I have a video and about 5 recordings of it I’m not sure what to do but I really would love to talk to somebody and get down to it. I live in Reno Nevada and I’m facing towards Area 51 and I wonder. During these times I was actually trying to communicate with UFO’s and I would tell them to make a Flash of light and it would happen and and sometimes our brains trick us but this was actually recorded and that was very shocking to me. Is there anybody who knows about UFO’s that I can talk to too? This is my email if anybody has any knowledge about this
Moriah_copeland@yahoo.com
I have been witnessing these flashes as well from my backyard in California. Usually a series of flashes about 20 seconds apart and from the same general direction. I was so fascinated, I bought night vision goggles to see if I could see what was creating the flash. On my second night using them, I found the same phenomena. Nothing there. Just flashes. I’m amazed to see all the comments of people seeing this recently.
I’ve just sent an email to MUFON to see if they have an explanation.
I’m currently camping in Queenstown, NZ. I saw something very similar about an hour ago, just above, and slightly to the left, of Venus. I saw 5 intermittent flashes in exactly the same spot, a few seconds between each flash, and then another two flashes in exactly the same spot about 30 seconds later. I think I saw something similar about three years back when camping just outside of Newcastle in Aus as well. Would love a scientific explanation to this because it’s wigging me out!
It’s 09/13/2021 and I have been seeing these lights since 2014 and have no clue as to what they could be. When I ask others about them they have no idea either. Nobody seems to know! Very weird in opinion as I see them a lot in the same space in the nights shy. Mostly if not always in the area of the sky where there are four stars making a square. Doesn’t freak me out anymore but even after 8 years seeing these I am no closer to a answer. I seen one just last week and more than a few over the summer months!
I think it’s geo-stationary satellites, they’re just shinier than expected. From my garden a couple hours after sunset I can see many of them flashing in a line and in the same places.
These flashes could only be from a few different things: satellites, geo-stationary satellites, space junk, meteors. The fact that they can be observed to flash multiple times in the same spot makes all but geo-stationary satellites not possible as they would streak or they wouldn’t produce multiple flashes in the same place. It just has to mean that geo-stationary satellites are shiny enough with flat enough edges to appear that bright, but that must be the case.
I think like others we have just assumed that geo-stationary satellites were far too far away to appear so bright.
Hey! I saw two of these single point flashes in 2018 while I was living in Mt Shasta, CA. Never seen them before or since, which I found odd. I though maybe it was a meteor coming in at such a direct angle to where I was that there was no tail…
Tonight I came searching because I just saw an extremely bright white flash that lit up the visible night sky of the porch I’m sleeping on. It was followed a few seconds later by a short, single boom. Maybe a transformer blowing? Sky is clear, I’ve seen heat lightning on distant ridges before but this was much much brighter and the sound didn’t sound like thunder.
I saw the flashes tonight. There was 4 or 5 flashes from the same area, a few seconds between flashes. Then it moved right a few degrees as the flash came from there and then left and 2 or 3 more flashes. Then it moved up and it seemed further away because the flashes weren’t as bright. Then 5minutes later 2 more flashes. I cant explain them. I got 3 of the flashes on video.
I’ve been observing this same phenomenon for the last three plus years. My theories are all pretty “out there”.
We saw exactly what you describe in Midcoast Maine, USA tonight a little before 10pm EDT. Not the first time, either. The first time I witnessed anything similar was in 2012 in Tulum, Mexico. We were out on the beach around midnight and I watched a bright white light flash at least 6 times at an almost regular interval of about 8 minutes right at the sky’s zenith. Freaked me out. Started to try to look into it and gave up.
Looking for an explanation of what I saw in the night sky when I let the dogs out about an hour ago in Western Downs, Qld, Australia led me here.
I saw flashes in different areas, always stationary, never more than 2 flashes in the same spot. Irregular in terms of timing, positions, etc. They occurred S, W, NW & NNW.
I regularly see shooting stars or satellites, as I always look up, I’ve only lived here for 4 months and am in awe of the sky without the light pollution from where I lived previously.
It definitely weren’t planes, as there was no quick repetition or movement.
I have seen the ISS in the past, so I know what that looks like as well and this was nothing like I’ve ever seen before.
Thought it could be lightning, but dismissed that after longer observation. I watched the sky for about half an hour instead of the usual few minutes.
Like others who commented, I tried to find if there was anything special going on tonight, but couldn’t and ended up here. I’m glad I found this, as I was starting to doubt my sanity for a split second there.
I’d love to know what they are…
Same here in the U.K. I have observed this random quick flashes for months now. Very strange indeed.
Same in NW Pennsylvania! I just saw my probably 20th one of these straight up at 1030 pm EST. I live in a rural area so there is very little light pollution. I’ve seen these quick, bright almost like a camera flash many times before. No rhyme or reason…I want to know what these are!
I live in indiana and this is the second time in 2 years I’ve looked up at the sky while driving and on a straight road I look up at the sky and see a ball of light that just shows up then zips off and almost immediately disappears
That sounds like a meteor. My brother lives in Indiana–it seems like there is a lot of space out there away from light pollution to get some great views of the stars. There are several meteor showers a year–and even outside of those, if you spend enough time stargazing, you’ll see them. We just went out last week to stargaze. There are no significant meteor showers currently (that I’m aware of), and collectively, we saw 5 in one hour.
I think what most people are talking about here are quick, bright pulses–not really a ball, and no streak. The pulse looks almost man-made–like maybe a blinking light on an aircraft. Only it’s not a continuous blink, it’s one quick flash and then gone–so not an airplane. We theorized a reflection from a satellite, but I think it was mentioned somewhere here why that might not be it. It’s a mystery.
I’m in SE QLD saw it tonight 2 flashes caught my eye see last flash seem to fad as an orb like flash
Oftentimes when I observe these very very brief and bright flashes, they’ll stay in same position, but dim out, almost as though they’re travelling away from view, it’s not high cloud or anything such, as this happens on the absolute clearest of night skys, as I’ve said, very strange, and I can’t fathom the source.
I see them frequently in the UK around the Big Dipper between 10 pm and 1 am. Sometimes they flash once, sometimes three to five times in a few seconds but rarely inexactly the same spot and not following a trajectory either – more like camera flashes in a stadium. Occasionally one has pulsed across the sky for a minute or two, changing course a few times before blinking out.
I’ve seen these same flashes. Just saw one tonight, really bright.
I also saw a meteor shortly afterwards nearby in the sky.
The flashes are usually very bright and always COOL WHITE like a strobe light.
I’ve seen a few before where the same area flashed, but also sometimes just singular flashes.
I’m very well versed in astronomy and satellites.
I’ve seen iridium flares, the ISS, all sorts of satellites.
In fact, almost every night I observe at least one satellite.
And I’m very well versed in aviation and plane spotting.
I use Stellarium, Night Sky, Star Walk, Flight Radar 24, RadarScope, etc. with pro subscriptions.
I can estimate speeds and altitudes of aircraft and satellites.
I believe there are only a few explanations for these flashes.
Either some sort of satellite propulsion to modify the orbit, or a metereological/astronomical phenomenon of a charged particle or high atmospheric static charge.
I’ve never seen a warm white or any specific color flash.
The flashes are always about the same exact duration of less than one second, but likely half a second. There is no fade in or fade out like with satellites or meteors.
There’s never any movement to them. They’re always stationary in the sky.
I have also studied the UFO phenomenon fairly extensively and these fit the unidentified qualifier, but there’s likely a very scientific explanation. Though, it is very weird how these are being spotted and why in certain conditions with certain characteristics.
I would almost describe the flashes as a camera flash if there was an alien tourist hovering above and they wanted to snap a picture over a certain part of Earth for their vacation photo or something. It’s almost exactly how that would go down if that was real. I’m not saying it’s aliens because they wouldn’t need a fill flash or take a photo at high altitude like that, but comically it fits that description.
Sometimes the flashes are less bright, and I have thought that an atmospheric lensing might be taking place whereby a distant star’s light is focused into a brighter moment of light as the atmosphere aligns all the photos into a more concentrated beam in a specific area. That makes some sense with what is observed, but I’m not sure the really bright flashes could be explained with concentrated photons. They’re too bright to come from fainter stars. Sometimes much brighter than Sirius.
The flashes are always cool white, but not any blue hues.
I have seen multiple flashes in the same area of the sky, but I cannot recall if I’ve ever seen the precise spot in the sky flash more than once.
I have now seen them frequently over the past few months.
I thought maybe these are Starlink orbit maneuvers since there’s so many of those now in orbit. That would also explain why this seems to be a recent phenomenon, although it doesn’t explain why they appear stationary. Starlink satellites are always moving and are not in GSO/GEO. They’re in LEO which requires movement. Even if for a momentary flash, the movement would be perceptible in my opinion.
Have totally seen and thought the EXACT SAME THING!!!
Thats exactl how i would decribe it a camera flash.. but the one i witnessed flashed then flashed 2 inches from the first Flash literally withing the same second as if i couldnr see the travel inbetween the 2 points. The 2 inches is relative the sky i imagine could be hundreds if not thousands of miles apart.. it was clearly in space.
Hello. I am replying to your post because you seem to have a clear level mind and a rational take on the subject. I have some information for you. I have been witnessing this phenomena for 6 years. The exact same phenomena described. What I am about to say will probably sound ridiculous to you. I have very strong evidence that these are intelligently operated craft. I have found a way to communicate with them. I am neither joking nor crazy. If you would like to know more I have 6 years worth of study and information I can share with you. Not on this message board though. My personal email is neumanara1@yahoo.com. if you contact me I will share what I know.
I found this page because I was trying to figure out what we saw last night. We took the family out to the desert to watch the perseids. We were out for a few hours. In that time, my husband and I both witnessed three instances of these single flashes. They were bright and would just be one single flash, then nothing. We are very curious as to what they could be.
Great to see this. I thought I was going mad. I just happened to go out in the garden the other night as couldn’t sleep. I looked up the clear night sky and was watching the Ursa Major constellation when I noticed a very bright but quick flash in the arm area of the plough. It did not move and looked stationary but was really quick and reminded me of a camera flash in the distance. I am going to look for more now I’ve read this post thank you.
I just saw 5 flashes of light simultaneously all from the same point. after the flash out came a light orb that stayed lit for a short period of time, unlike a shooting star or comets with faster longer streaks and unlike satellites with slower speeds. Each time the flash happened out came one of these orbs? but all the flashes form the same point, so not random, natural and in single file upon entry, almost like craft entering our atmosphere and creating a flash bang? 5 in a row though? WTF did I just see? it was not comets or gravel from say planet X what not, this was more machine like, space force? or?
I’ve witnessed very odd phenomena similar in the respect of the abnormality of what you saw yourself.
If I watch long enough I’ll see flashing phenomena, satellite-similar phenomena (one course direction but disappearing and reappearing)
I’ve seen two orbs of light originating from the same point in the sky and splitting into two orbs going opposite directions.
Two satellite-orbs side by side flashing into the atmosphere and than out again simultaneously right above my head.
Soooo many occurrences
I’m so excited I found this page, it first saw one of these flashes a year ago. Thought I imagined it. Tonight, having a smoke in the garden at midnight, clear dark sky, I saw a flash in the corner of my eye. As many of you also experienced, I focused on that area and a few seconds later another flash appeared, as visible as any bright star for a split second. Then after a slightly longer period, yet another flash in exactly the same spot! In the Netherlands. I have no knowledge of the cosmos but I was so intrigued and my search brought me here. A logical explanation would be awesome but surely I can’t be the only one with a little bit of hope that it might be something else!
I’ve noticed several flashes exactly like your video tonight in Iowa. Unlike anything I have ever seen before. I seriously thought I’d lost it until it continued. Completely random timing, and in different spots in the sky every time!
I just saw this for the first time last night, it was about 60° up in the night sky. It pulsed every 11 seconds on the dot. My best guess is that it is a geostationary satellite that is rotating, and it makes a full rotation every 11 second, reflecting sunlight off of its dollar array.
Just saw 3 in the exact same area. I have never seen them before. I am on a Oahu right now.
I was just outside and observed the flash. Ive seen them numerous times over the past 5 or 6 years but this time… it wasn’t in the sky. The first flash was about 20 feet away directly over my car near the woods. A few seconds later it flashed again but it was directly above my car in the sky about 75 feet. Then it flashed again at the same height but to the left then a final flash even further to the left. I have never seen one low to the ground before so now im completely at a loss as to what it may be.
I’ve seen satellites flash before especially the musk star link satellites. BUT tonight I saw something different. I was looking in the clear sky and saw A bright white flash in the form of a dot Approximately the size of what the moon would be at a pretty high azimuth. Or about the size of the fireworks they used to and a fireworks show, the bright white loud explosive ones. Except for there’s absolutely no sound and it appeared that the flash was probably very very high in atmosphere. Crazy. He has any thoughts.
I had such a weird experience with a single flash just now which lead me to finding this. My dad passed away in December and he and I were both space nerds. We’d always stare at the stars together and track the ISS.. I was just outside, staring at the sky and I said, “Dad, if you can hear me.. give me a sign.. show me a shooting star or something. I’ll stop asking for signs so much if you just give me an obvious sign you can hear me.” Less than a minute later, in the exact spot I was looking I saw one of those single flashes. I’d really love to think that was him and not a coincidence! Whatever it was.. that was pretty awesome!
I am glad I am not the only one. 😂. Short, bright flashes like a camera flash. I see at least one every time I am outside for an hour or so. Usually near to the same position in the sky but tonight I saw 2 in different parts of the sky. Not moving satellites. Not Planes. I have watched the sky for many years but only noticed these in the last 2 years.
Tonight there are pale flashes in the clouds. It isn’t lightening, I’ve checked the radars and weather satellites and there is no storm action or lightning around anywhere near here. I’ve seen them before. Sometimes looks like a camera flash going off extremely bright, even on clear nights, other times like tonight just a pale flash that reflects off the clouds and occasionally even lights up or reflects off surrounding surfaces like a tree or house roof. We’ve seen these flashes for years now during all weathers. Some have been close to the ground. Tonight they are approx 1.5 mins apart seen west, north and east of the yard and have been going for at least a couple of hours. Neighbour has watched them and commented on them several times too. I know the Geminids meteor shower peaked last night but I wasn’t aware it would be visible here in Qld Australia tonight at this time, especially with the cloud cover and light pollution. It isn’t air traffic nor satellites. Who knows. It’s very odd but then we often have odd things happening in this area.
All of these comments make sense as far as being satellite sightings, however I have seen these same random flashes deviate from a straight line and ( 1 ) reverse, (2) turn as much as 90 degrees. My first thoughts were it was a drone, albeit very high. I have been seeing them this year in central Texas.
I have seen these flashes several times the past couple of years. Everyone wants to call them Iridium flares, but what truly boggles my mind, is that sometimes the flashes will be stationary for what seems like several minutes. Other times, they move with almost calculated movements. Mind boggling indeed!
I saw what you are taking about last night. I saw 7 or 8 flashes (about 6/7 seconds apart) of something that was stationary, then it moved slightly, flashed about 5 times, then stopped. I’m still mind-boggled.
I have been seeing these flashes a lot lately! Sometimes there will be two or three in a row in the same spot. I have seen iridium flares and they usually fade in and out and last a bit longer but these are just quick bright flashes. I though maybe they could be meteors hitting this atmosphere head on but what trows me off about that is when they happen two or three times in the same spot.. I don’t think a meteor head on would produce that effect. I would love to know what they are
Exactly! I see the quick bright flashes in the same spot. Maybe 2 to 5 minutes apart!
Hey Joel, Have you considered Iridium flashes. They are very bright. I have seen them on occasion. As the satellite traverses the sky it spins and the antennae catch the sun light and flash extremely bright in comparison to other satellites.
Hi Nor, I sure have. I have video of Iridium flares. In addition, I’ve been able to correlate the flares I see with the predicted flare on planetarium software. The flashes in question are a lot shorter in duration than your typical Iridium flare. I’m reaching the conclusion that these flashes are from tumbling satellites. Either from the many small cube satellites that are up there nowadays or from older decommissioned satellites or space junk.
I have been seeing these flashes quite often lately. I also have seen iridium flares but they usually fade in and out and last a bit longer. One theory is that they are meteorites hitting the atmosphere head on so it’s just a flash instead of a trail but sometimes the flashes happen two or three times in a row right in or right near the same spot so I’m at a loss. I would love to know what they are. I found this just looking online for an answer to the mystery! Thanks!
I also saw these quick bright flashes a couple of nights ago. I saw a very quick flash like a camera light just to the right of where I was looking. I quickly shifted my focus onto that spot and about 5 seconds later saw another flash in the exact same location. Very mysterious.
Hello. I share your curiosity with these flashes of light in the night sky. I have observed artificial satellites for many years now, including the Iridiums and I’m well aware of how they behave to the observer. My conclusion for many of the pinpoint flashes are that they are the result of space junk burning up, which are on a gravitationally caused trajectory directly towards the observer on Earth relatively speaking, as these pieces reach the required velocity for frictional burning up in oxygenated atmosphere, as opposed to meteor objects burning up as the Earth flies through old comet tales and producing the more sweeping light trails in the sky. I know that the”pinpoint” lights that I see are not satellite reflections because I have seen them at a time when the area of sky that I’m looking at is in the umbral (full shadow) part away from the Suns direction where direct solar reflection to the observer on Earth is not possible. I have continued to observe the area of flash, which can be quite bright and even reaching negative magnitudes, but not seen any further light source from the object within the next two minutes following.
I see these flashes all the time. Im so confused about what it is! I’d love to know what it is if someone has a definitive answer
I see these too! I’ve been on the look out ever time…the ones I’ve seen have been flashes of 3 or 4 and in same general area
Same. I saw two a few hours ago
I have been seeing these star flashes for months now. I know a lot about the night sky and what to expect when seeing satellites etc but what i saw tonight sent chills up my spine. I had seen one of these regular occuring star flashes and fixed my eye on it as it went dim, it moved a little more then flashed again, i continuing tracking it even though it was very dim but it suddenly accelerated at a very fast pace over a large area of the sky in almost a perfect circle and then dissapeared. I have never seen anything like it.