Strange Flashes in the night sky ,what are they,and have you seen them?

reply to post by BastianCain


Hello to all, I have an annecdote, during a trip out of state on our way back driving on I-35 south into missouri, usa, my wife in the passenger side said "what is that? In the sky she didnt tell me but took the wheel and told me to look west where the sun was setting in the horizon, somewhat cloudy but no rain clouds. I looked and saw a bright flash like a camera flash but no sound left of the sun. I was confused but kept looking. About ten second laters again a bright flash that left a ghost image in my vision, I told her "the flashes?" "yeah I have seen about four" she said, I saw three and all around ten to fifteen seconds apart and a car full of kids who saw it too. I can't explain it. About a year ago I watched a video on sonoluminescence and talked to someone knowledgeable on many interesting subjects. He theorized that the earth may be the flask of water and vibration reverbarating through may create these flashes, any thoughts?

I've seen these flashes of light too. I believe they are dry lightening bolts - electricity - energy in the air. I don't believe they have anything to do with UFO's.

My son and I were out tonight and we were looking up at the perfectly clear, star lit night...no moon. We saw a series of flashes that seemed to be in the atmosphere. People have been describing them as lighting like or camera flash type lights in the sky. I have to say these were very strange...non rhythmic lights...some brighter and more spasmodic in frequency and would light up the night sky on some of the more powerful flashes. I am thinking that these might be either a reaction to some kind of charged particles in the higher atmosphere caused by either the sun or some other mechanism creating electrical charging or discharging. Has anyone else seen such a display? My son and I watched for over an hour...with no end seemingly in sight. We live in the northeast near Lake Winnipesaukee and the lights seemed to be emanating from the northeast skies....but really it was hard to pinpoint them since they seemed to charge the entire sky. The time was around 11:00pm.

i think ive seen these to op
a flash in the sky no apparent source but above the clouds
it only ever is bright around the clouds to,doesnt really light everything
and rarely a noise. so i kinda lean away from lighting ... but icould be wrong??
is that what u see?

Hey, i'm from Nelson, New Zealand, and about a week and a half ago i was on a beach with my friend and i was so positive i saw one of these camera flash things... its been bugging me ever since... sounds like its all over the world!

I experienced this the other night not long after reading a thread here on ATS ( I can't remember the thread title but one of the early replies suggested a transformer blowing and had a video to use as an example).

Anyhow it was around 2am and I was on the PC as usual flicking between ATS Football Manager and a football forum.

I had the house in darkness and the blinds where closed when my front room lit up for a second, I thought it maybe some thunder an lightning so I sat looking out of the window for around 15 mins before going back inside, no more flashes and no thunder

My T.V sits in the middle section of a bay window and when the lights are out in the front room I normally see an slight orange glow seeping in from the street lamps but this light that flashed was like a brilliant white.

Location Scotland, Glasgow

reply to post by splendourinthegrass

Cloudless lightning? Well, that's a new one. I was wondering what you mean by that, since you really can't have lightning without a cloud. And still, you need a high enough cloud (tops usually around 8-15 km) with equilibrium level temperatures cold enough for electrification to occur in the first place.

Sorry, if a bit OT to an old post...

Done a search for this earlier and came across this site and having read through the many replies and theories about it I decided to join.

I have been seeing these flashes for about the last couple of weeks and mostly around the hours of between 9pm and 2am and the only way I can describe them is basicly like someone has taken a photograph using a flash camera way up in the sky.

Didn't really pay too much attention to them at first, but the more I saw them, the more curious about them I became and earlier this evening whilst outside in my garden I saw a number of flashes which prompted me to do conduct my search on google and find this forum.

As they are becoming a regular occurance each evening, I am going to try and setup a camera and record a whole evening of it just pointing towards the sky in the hope that I can pick up some of these flashes and take a closer, slower more detailed look at them.

I shall let you know my findings in due course.

reply to post by fumotc

Thank you for your input. I would like to know, have you found anything yet? I live in the Mid-South, in a rural area. I have seen this flash more than once now. Today, 1-29-2012 I saw one at about 845 pm CST. It was about a 2 sec complete sky light up. But it never repeated (at least not within 5 minutes). I had been out at the store and was driving north down our dirt road (less the 35 mph) when the entire sky lit up just like the previous described camera flash. I believe I have seen this 1 or 2 times before. But until you experience this more than once it is difficult to believe you saw what you saw...not to say I don't believe my own eyes. I am scientifically minded though and want an explanation before I say what I saw. So my best guess now is the intense solar flares,which I have followed closely at SOHO, sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov..., and is an excellent site for real-time sun activity data.

If you have an video or have had further experiences, please share. I have seen the Aurora Borealis and this was not it. Very different if it is solar related...some new phenomenon not discussed in the weather reports, etc.

Hi I just came across this site looking for answers from Google. I've only just signed up so I can share what I saw only 25 minutes ago in the clear night sky in Melbourne, Australia. 15/02/12.
It was around 12:30am and I was out the front of my place having a smoke and as you usually find yourself looking up at the stars at night suddenly there was a massive flash. It was so bright it made an outline of all trees and power poles with the bright light behind them. It was so bright I could not see any stars in the sky. It only last a second but when i was looking at the flash in the night sky it felt like I may have been looking in the wrong direction. But then started thinking of what it may have been, some thoughts were angels from heaven at first, but then more like maybe a camera flash from a satellite off to the distance. I first assumed there would be clear answers online when I came inside. I waited out side for a further 10 minutes saying to myself I think I need a beer cos' there's no way I'm explaining that.. But here I am and I have explained it!

Thanks to this forum I don't feel as bad letting that off my chest.
If these lights happen regularly don't you think it's time for someone to find the answers to give all of us who witness these occurring events?? Peace!

Jamie from Melbourne.

I've seen these flashes on and off for about 7-8yrs and just like Jamie said they were so bright they lit up the trees / houses but only for a split second and then it's gone ... the first few times I thought someone had taken photos then I realized it had come from high up in the sky ... to my knowledge it's only ever happened on clear nights (at least it's always been clear when I 've seen them.

The colour of the flashes I see are blue/white.

I know this thread originally started some time back and has recently been brought back to life ... but I can't help wondering if this resurge of flashes has anything to do with the current noises in the sky ... just typing out loud

Woody:

I actually HAVE experienced this. I spend time every single night outside staring at the infinite, and often see strange wonders.

These flashes I assumed were earth based, locally, and didn't think much of it, but now that I see others are experiencing it all around the world I think I will pay closer attention the next time I experience this.

Sorry for digging this up out of history, but I would like to say that I too have been seeing these lights. I bring it back up because tonight I was with friends outside and we could see them. I have seen these before and really not thought too much of it, but now I am very curious. They appear to be some kind of atmospheric lightning, although there is not sound and the light appears to be coming from above the lower cloud layer. People were saying that it must be some kind of tower but I live in a VERY country like setting and there is NO way that there are any kind of towers, besides the ones with the red glowing lights on them.

Perhaps I should read the entire thread, but did anyone come to conclusion as to what this is?

- to add, it's strange that people all over the world are seeing this IMO. If I get a chance to see them again on an open night, I may drive closer (if possible) and try to determine what it is. The lights have been coming from the north only.

reply to post by linknumbernine


I've seen something similar in the UK sky on the weekend of the 27th July 2012. Sunday night (29 July, around 11pm) I looked high up in the sky and I saw a bright white light blink in the atmosphere (about twice the size of a star, roughly the same size as the ISS, but round in shape). It stayed visible for about a second, then disappeared for about 10 seconds. It then blinked again, but this time it appeared in a slightly different place, before disappearing again. I did not say anything to anyone until I saw a blink for a third time. I was pretty sure then that it followed a straight-line in the sky. Just to confirm I wasn't going bonkers, I said to my friend, "watch up there, I bet you'll see a blink in a few seconds"... and yup, it appeared again for a second. I asked, "What do you think that is?" and he replied "It's a blinkin' satellite".

So I had the blinking confirmed by a non-believer, who had no further interest in the matter, but it confirmed to me that something was up there, blinking at regular intervals and following a straight path in the sky.

I think we can safely discount natural phenomena, like meteors, flares, etc

Does anyone know of any satellites that do such a thing?

I've observed this too, and I go out to the canyons nightly to observe UFOs. I usually catch several a night, not including these "flashes" which I think could be meteors breaking up in the atmosphere... well MOST of them... some of them it you watch them, they will flash, move on, and flash again, and move on, not in any particular pattern that I have noticed either. I don't know if satellites do that, among some of the other phenomena I've seen, like a star-like object that seems too bright to be a satellite moving with its lights on for several seconds and then turning them off for a few seconds and then back on again, making the craft appear it is phasing in and out of existence. I know most UFOs actually go unnoticed, because I have seen at least one, which I identified as some sort of small probe of sorts hovering over a neighborhood. After a while it flew off and turned its lights off as it went, and I saw its dim shadow move off into the night sky. Scan the skies with infrared detectors. I bet there are many more that I have not seen with my eyes that I cannot account for. They tend to stick to less populated areas. I see them less over the valley directly, though I have seen one or two back in April moving slowly across the valley, too slow to be a plane, yet too fast to be a star. I tried catching up to one in my car and it departed into the Salt Lake Valley and disappeared over the northwestern mountains before I could even get close, though it was a fun chase. They tend to fly over the canyons to the east of Utah Valley quite frequently, and although I have mentioned my favorite spot to watch them on facebook, I will not here to avoid people in the area flooding the scene and ruining my evenings. I also observed something go down over Utah Lake, though it did not crash and was too big to be a meteor, was blue in color, and I just can't see a meteor that big breaking up without so much as a sound. It looked to me like it just phased through the horizon and melted into the lake without so much as a splash. I need to get a nightvision camera to record them sometime, but don't have the resources to afford one. My phone does not record objects in the night sky, and my camera is a cheap ass one so I don't think I'll have better luck with it. I would be flooding my youtube channel with my sightings if I could record them. Also, no I am not hallucinating, as I brought my mother out with me on a recent trip and we saw the same phenomena at the same time and even talked about it a little. This all started when a supposed psychic contact told me they would start appearing in the area so I would not have to go out of my way to see the strange things I really was yearning for. I don't know if he's real. I would LOVE to confirm that he was real, in all reality, as it would dissuade the majority of my doubts that I am not bat-# insane that the government has labeled me. Only time will tell...

Its about time others have said something about these. i have been seeing them for years. Not sure what they are but they are interesting.

Northern California here. I have seen flashes: One type of flash was (seemingly) almost whole sky. Sky was crystal clear, no clouds.

the other night I saw a different kind of flash: looked like a beam, but not bright as what a beam would seem to be. I was able to see (barely) a beam type flash, and for some time after that, could also see the "track" still there in the sky. I turn off my outside lights so they dont screw with my eyesight, and can see alot better. Be sure to turn out distracting outdoor lights, and step away a bit from windows that have lights on in the rooms. Am wondering if these flashes and beam type things are something to do with reflection or something againts our atmosphere causing it...

The other night I got worried wondering if the flashes have anything to do with possible earthquake coming. As huge rocks rub together, they cause friction and even micro pices of rock is launched way out and can appear to be similar to flashes.

Other than that. I saw ISS fly over this morning at aorund 2:30 a.m. Always a cool sight to see!

I have seen flashes like this on two different occasions during the past few months. The ones I saw were quick, lasting less than a second. It did remind me of a camera flash. Both times I saw at least 4 distinct flashes, though not in a rhythmic pattern. Each time they were in the same area but not exactly the same spot.
My boyfriend witnessed these as well on one occasion with me.

Originally posted by tarifa37
About a week ago at about 11pm I was looking at the night sky from my garden and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a flash then another right above at 12 oclock in the sky.I thought this was strange but did not think much more about it as did not get a direct look. That was untill last night 3/07/08 at 11pm very clear sky.I was laying on my back looking at the at stars when it happened again.This time there was no doubt it was directly above .Four distinct flashes of light just like seeing a camera flash from a distance all within a few seconds. They all flashed in the same area of sky but not close enough to be one object . Has anyone else seen this happen? Has anyone got a logical answer. Cheers Tarifa37

I've been seeing the same thing for the last 8 months. I keep telling my fiance that there are flashes in the sky but she hasn't seen them nor does she believe me.

I'm just happy there are other people out there seeing the same thing.

Eastern U.S.

Last week, flashes exactly as you describe. Clear sky, and very white, very bright flashes. As it was happening discussed the fact that the color seems wrong to be lightening and that it was very odd. I have also regularly seen the moving "star" objects. Sometimes that move in a half sky arc that would have me believe that they might just be satellites, but I have seen them grow larger and brighter and then diminish to nothing in the blink of an eye far too often to easily disregard the steady pace movers. I saw those for the first time in the Spring of 2010 and have seen them regularly since that time.