Strange pulsing light in the sky

My wife and I were out on our back deck a couple of nights ago when we saw something that has us both puzzled. At first when I looked up, I noticed a small faint whitish light moving slowly northeast across the sky. As I watched, the object quickly (under 1 second) grew more luminescent until it was so bright that it appeared to be 5-10 times its previous size. Then it gradually faded away (1-2 seconds) until it was once again just a faint point in the sky. Then it faded away completely until we could no longer see it at all. Now we live in a pretty dark area, and we've seen all manner of things such as planes, satellites, the ISS and some pretty spectacular meteor showers. This was none of those. Frankly we're at a loss to explain it. We joked that it was the tourist aliens taking pictures of us (we live in vacation country). Anybody have any ideas what we may have seen? The date was the 7 or 8 of June at about 10-10:30 pm Pacific time.

I saw something like this also 2 nights ago.. It was in S sky slightly E around 20 deg above horizon. I think it was around 10 PM EST. I saw what I thought was a star grow much brighter( than any other star). Then as you say I notoiced it was gradually dimming over several seconds but also was moving gradually more eastward as it dimmed until it disappeared. All that happened in less than a minute.

Sounds like the same thing. I still have no idea what it could have been. I've kept an eye out each night since then, but it has not returned. It was moving faster than any plane I've seen over these parts, and was completely silent. I live in the country, so we hear every little noise here at night. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Could be an aircraft (plane or helicopter) doing a turn (so got brighter as it turned and came nearer, then smaller and more faint as it turned away)... The pulsing would certainly lend to aircraft as an explanation.

You can verify this with at least 2 others on the forum, but one night several weeks ago we were standing out side in the last full moon over looking a large field when we saw the same strange bright luminescent light which got much brighter and then went 'flash' and it was gone.

It was a clear lightly cloudy night and the object was stationed close by just above the tops of some tall trees across my road. I could have sworn I heard a flash like someone taking a picture as it went out.

The time was exactly 11:11 pm.

Although it met none of the usual explanations, it felt as if it was an observation station of some sort.

Strangely, a couple of weeks later after a ball game at 9:30 pm, my children and I saw the same type of light heading towards us at a good clip from the North.

Long short it turned out to be a huge unexplainable triangular shaped craft most likely military. No sound, other than the swoosh as it cut through the windy night.

Our night skies are a phenomena of their own. The night belongs to the secrets of this world and others. It is fantastic people are beginning to keep a closer eye on the skies with a consciousness never before shared.

What you saw was an IRIDIUM flare. Its a communications satelite that reflects sunlight from its solar panels. The best ones can reach a magnitude of around -8, which is very bright. Since there are dozens of these in orbit, they are all over the place. as a comparison, sirius and the ISS get to about -2

check this site out

www.heavens-above.com...

type in your location and itll give you predictions and magnitudes of the event.

very cool to see. one of my fav things to photograph. on a long exposure, looks like a streak of light starting very narrow which widens, then narrows again

just google image 'iridium flare'


youtube (not mine!)



[edit on 18-6-2008 by johnDoe21]

[edit on 18-6-2008 by johnDoe21]

[edit on 18-6-2008 by johnDoe21]

Thanks for the replies, but what we saw was NOT an iridium flare. It got way brighter, way faster than the object on the video, and dimmed faster also.I think the footage is a tad misleading, because it seems the person filming it zooms in at the time the object starts to brighten. This gives a false impression that the object is getting much larger than it actually is. Like I said before, we've seen all sorts of things, but this was none of them. Totally silent. Moving too quickly for a plane or satellite. Way brighter than any sun reflection I've ever seen. Then gone.

i saw it last night at my house it got dimmer and then lighter it seemed like it got closer but it was moving to the east i think then we looked away for a second and we looked back and it has gone

Sounds like an 'iridium flare' to me, unless it performed some unusual manouver like right angle turn or amazing acceleration the most logical thing is to assume its a satellite. Sorry

Sounds like a multiple star to me. Because they are just that, more than one start as one entity, they do appear to grow/shrink, bright/dim, solid/twinkle, one color/few colors, appear/disappear, all/any of those for seconds/minutes, etc.

reply to post by subliminaut


Not all Iridium sightings look the same. I have seen some truly amazing ones. A faint dot almost instantly become as bright as -6 magnitude.

It depends on your location in relation to the pass. If you check passes for your location you will most likely see a variety of magnitudes.