Strange light at night, 8/22/09

I tried posting these pictures on the 23rd but it ended up getting deleted because I didn't have 20 posts yet. So now that I have over 20, here goes...

I believe this was the night of August 22nd, it could've been the 21st though. Don't remember. I was driving over to my dads house, he lives in a gated community. I got to the gate and looked up just over the houses and saw a VERY bright light, brighter than usual. It had a small thin "protrusion" at the bottom of it. Looked like a "beam" coming off of it. It didn't extend to the ground or anything, so I know it wasn't a helicopter spotlight or whatever sort of light from an airplane.

I went through the gate, drove up the street and parked by his house...got out of the car and stared at it. I had never seen anything that bright before. It looked like it was moving, but very slow. This COULD have been an illusion, and the protrusion at the bottom could have been an "illusion" (you know when you stare at a bright light and see the "rays" coming off of it). I did not have a camera on me, so I got his camera. It is a Nikon D50, 6.1 megapixel (NOT a cheap camera!) I mounted it on a tripod in the backyard and took a couple pictures of this light in the sky.

By the time I had found his camera and set everything up, about 10 minutes had passed. Within that time, the light had moved off to the right. This could be due to the rotation of the earth, I'm not sure. This was not the moon, this was not an airplane. I usually see a light in the sky that's brighter than the rest...usually attribute it to a satellite or the space station, but this was way brighter than anything I've seen in the sky. I'm trying to figure out whether it was a planet or what?? I do believe in UFO's / extraterrestrials, but I don't believe this was an alien craft. It COULD be, don't get me wrong...but I don't think it is.

I took 2 pictures. The first one, the light was on in the house and illuminated the shed (as you can see)...the second one, I turned the light off. I used the night time setting, so the shutter stayed open for a good 10 seconds or so, taking in all the light it could. When I looked at the first picture I was dumbfounded...there are TWO lights in the picture - I could only see ONE with the naked eye. In the second picture (taken a minute or so apart) there is only one light. Also, I have included pictures to show where the light was to begin with, and then where it was after the 10 minutes it took me scrambling around.

I'm not sure how to post pictures on here, so here are the links. Maybe someone can help??


First picture with inside light on
img213.imageshack.us...

Second picture with inside light off
img36.imageshack.us...

Showing movement of light
img291.imageshack.us...
img213.imageshack.us...

Can you give us a rough idea of your location, the time of day, and the compass direction of the object?

Nice pictures.

It looks to me a lot like Jupiter. Were you by any chance facing south?

Where I am Jupiter appears in the southern part of the sky, travels to the right, is quite large and very visible to the naked eye.

I don't have any plane pictures at the moment to show except the ones taken through my telescope which are not good for comparison.

You're pictures look quite similar with the exception of the tiny star or light next to it.

Try going out at night between 10 and 12 and see if what you saw is still there.

Out-of-this world or not, great documentation with clear pics

Pretty much confirmend as Jupiter. Note the three stars to the left and the two pairs below as well as the small star to its immediate left.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6f664cbd72d8.png[/atsimg]

(Stellarium shot)
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5203f6d55d5e.png[/atsimg]

I think the double image is a lens flare. In this image there is another to the left of Jupiter, faint, with a slight green tinge.

[edit on 8/31/2009 by Phage]

Absolutely amazing, Jupiter I believe it is then (by confirmation of that stellarium shot) This was the first time I had ever seen such a bright light, first time I've seen Jupiter.

To answer the previous questions, I do believe it was facing south. I know to get to his house, I travel south. I am assuming it is correct, seeing as I am 100% certain it was Jupiter that I saw. I haven't seen it since that night, and as I said it was the first night I saw that...which is what prompted me to take pictures!

And my fiancee said I was crazy and it was NOTHING. HA! It was truly beautiful, wish I could've seen it closer.

So you think that smaller "star" to the right in the first picture was a lens flare? I see the small one to the immediate left in the second picture, but I don't know about the first picture.

reply to post by tsi1991awd

I cant be positive but even though it's very different in the first picture I do think it's a lens flare. Maybe caused by the house light reflected from a window on one of the other buildings?

I do know none of Jupiter's moons are that bright.

[edit on 8/31/2009 by Phage]

You are probably right, but it's very odd that it would be so clear and just in that one spot. I didn't see anything with my eyes, which is why I was stunned when I looked at the picture.