Small fast light report

Hi all, just witnessed a fast bright light in the sky.

Time: around 23:45
Location Netherlands, Nijmegen area, above dens populated area
Weather: Clear night sky, stars visible


Duration: 0.5 second Estimation, "a blink of an eye"

Movement: very fast streak, straight line, direction was difficult, either away, from south -east to north-west or downwards or in between, it disappeared behind a building I could not exactly determine if it was going down or shooting away due to speed, and brightness.

Observation: Pure wight bright light (like burning magnesium) and although very bright, also very small, focused, like a little point. The brightness was something above I have seen before, the speed as well. I also noted it did not leave a visible trail, it stayed a bright focused dot at all (short) time. It did either changed brightness a little, or wobbled a little, but something did not look stable.

Above is all I can think off, it happened fast. I just had a short view trough the window.

I report this because it was something unfamiliar for me, I'm curious. My best guess is a shooting star, but maybe one more close as I ever witnessed, but I'm not a stargazer, so it could be normal. It seemed way To fast for a light bullet, and for fireworks to stable, fast and wrong direction.
There is also a possibility another member witnessed it as well.

- End report -


EDIT: PS, it did NOT look like my ava. To prevent speculation in the wrong direction. ; -)

My guess is that it was a shooting star (aka meteor). Most likely a very small one, high in altitude, that burned up in that half second you saw it.

Stare up at the night sky long enough and you'll see these often enough, even more so when there is a meteor shower going on (we have them every month as the Earth goes around the sun and passes through comet tail debris).

Some will seem to have a tail or leave a trail, but that also depends on several things:

How long it burned and traveled.
Where you were when you saw it: are there a lot of street lights or night lights where you were? Or did you see this out in the country where there is much less light pollution?
Weather is also a factor: how turbulent the air is that night (what we call "seeing").

So exactly what was it? Either a small pebble of a meteor....or space junk....a wrench left in space, etc, etc. These things burn quick and fast.

reply to post by EartOccupant

I have seen these lights as you describe before, except they were traveling straight down. Very fast, very bright, and very small. Twice before.

I have seen no literature or information concerning them, or nothing in ancient writings either. I have a hunch they are part of some communication system designed to "spark" trains of thought in the target. The American Indian folklore concerning the "Dream Catcher" comes to mind, don't know why.

reply to post by All Seeing Eye


Meteors can appear to travel in any direction you care to think of in the sky, it all depends on the angle you see them from, and the angle the meteor enters the atmosphere at. A meteor that heads directly towards you will not appear to move at all for example.

Meteors can also appear to be any colour, slow or fast, streak like or ball like in nature, to break up or fragment, leave trails or not, have tails or not, and there are some even weirder characteristics that most people are blissfully unaware of... all meteors are different in short.

It's a bit like going to a pebble beach and trying two pebbles that are exactly the same. Nature is like that - chaotic and random (to a point - some share simmilar characteristics especially if they are related).

reply to post by C.H.U.D.

I am sorry but your explanation of what I saw is incorrect. It was not a meteor. This type of light is entirely different. It has nothing in common with meteors, UFO,s, or anything else.

It is not for me to recant my observation but rather for you to consider allowing the possibility of its existence into your reality. That is, if you can somehow prove I am dishonest or delusional. I would have never brought up the subject if I only saw it once. Twice, that's another story.

I would suggest if you wanted you could, somehow, get the question posed to old truck drivers that routinely drive at night. Pose the question to them. Or maybe you might get "After Dark" to do a story on them and ask for callers.

In any case I will not change my story, I saw what I saw!

Originally posted by All Seeing Eye
reply to post by C.H.U.D.

 

I am sorry but your explanation of what I saw is incorrect. It was not a meteor. This type of light is entirely different. It has nothing in common with meteors, UFO,s, or anything else...

...In any case I will not change my story, I saw what I saw!

You don't need to change your story. A fast bright white dot without a tail COULD be a meteor. Nothing in your description of the object in the OP would make me think it could NOT have been one.

Perhaps you need to describe what you saw better, but it sounded like it could be a meteor. Why specifically are you so convinced that it wasn't? Please provide more detail in your description that would help me understand why you are so convinced it was not a meteor.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People
Okay, sure.

First sighting of this light was late at night, actually early morning, 3:30 -4:00 am. While driving a big rig I saw a light shoot straight down, not a little left or a little right, a perfect 90 deg angle to the earth. As it fell I noticed how bright it was, and how absolutely pure the light was, no greens, blues, yellows, nothing but pure white light. The light did not change in intensity at any time. No tale at all behind it. Just an absolutely brilliant white light. As it fell I noticed that the surrounding area was being lit up by the light, the closer it got to the ground the more detail could be made out on the ground. I lost the light behind some trees and can only estimate where it landed.

The second sighting was identical except this time I saw where it landed. It was no more that 200 feet away but more like 100 feet. Again the closer it got to the ground, the more detail could be seen. It hit the roof of a house that was along side of the interstate. When the light hit the roof it was instantaneous darkness again. No debris ejected from the roof, no sparks, no damage of any kind I could see.

The reason the light could be seen is because in a big truck, the front windshield is much higher. You can track falling objects a little longer than if you were sitting in a car with their shorter windshields.

Why me? Ill tell you.

In 1978 or so I saw my first unidentified. It was white light orbs. Since that time I have become hyper observant when it comes to things in the sky. Well, other things as well, but that's for another time, another place.

You would expect that if a meteor had impacted the roof of a occupied house there would have been news story about it, and there was none, nothing, zilch, nada. It is a combination of the two sightings a month or two apart, no media coverage of any damaged house, and the fact that I saw no damage occur, that must lead me to believe it was not a meteor but rather another type of phenomenon.

I have my suspicions as to what it might have been as I have shared in a previous post.


I hope this helps you understand my position. I must admit my expertise in communicating on line could be a bit more detailed. But then I'm not a writer, I'm nuts and bolts, down to earth. In the future I will attempt to expand on my thoughts. thank you for pointing this out to me

Originally posted by All Seeing Eye
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Okay, sure.

First sighting of this light was late at night, actually early morning, 3:30 -4:00 am. While driving a big rig I saw a light shoot straight down, not a little left or a little right, a perfect 90 deg angle to the earth. As it fell I noticed how bright it was, and how absolutely pure the light was, no greens, blues, yellows, nothing but pure white light. The light did not change in intensity at any time. No tale at all behind it. Just an absolutely brilliant white light. As it fell I noticed that the surrounding area was being lit up by the light, the closer it got to the ground the more detail could be made out on the ground. I lost the light behind some trees and can only estimate where it landed.

Again, nothing in your description above would make me say "That was NOT a meteor". You say it was traveling at a perfect 90° angle to the Earth. That could mean it was flying away from you. That would make it look as if it was traveling straight downward.

What specific point or points in your description of the event makes you say it could not be a meteor?

The second sighting was identical except this time I saw where it landed. It was no more that 200 feet away but more like 100 feet. Again the closer it got to the ground, the more detail could be seen. It hit the roof of a house that was along side of the interstate. When the light hit the roof it was instantaneous darkness again. No debris ejected from the roof, no sparks, no damage of any kind I could see.

You never mentioned the detail of this second sighting before. I suppose it is possible that it was just a meteor high in the sky that just simply went behind the roof, but you seem pretty convinced that it hit the roof. I'm not sure how you know for certain that it hit the roof, considering it was dark, and you saw now visible signs of an impact (i.e., debris kicked up either from the roof or the object, nor any damage to the roof).

If it was a bright light that actually impacted the roof, then it was probably NOT a meteorite. Small meteorites are no longer "glowing" when they hit the ground. The glow occurs in the upper atmosphere due to the speed of the object causing friction and causing the gas in the atmosphere around the meteor to glow. Small meteorites impacting the Earth usually have been slowed down immensely due to Earth's atmosphere, and are usually moving relatively slowly at impact -- i.e., at terminal velocity (which may be only a few hundred miles per hour), which is not fast enough to make the atmospheric gases around it glow.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Again, I saw the light impact the roof, just off center line of the roof. I saw it hit the roof. I watched it fall from about or approximately 600 feet high, fall straight down, and impact the roof. Not the ground next to the house, not the yard, not the street. It impacted the roof. By the way, the roof tiles were gray,and as the light got closer, the color washed out to white. What else can I say?


The top of the house was about 10 feet lower than the interstate I was on (I 75 around Monroe Mich.). And that is the reason I had a perfect view of the roof.

reply to post by All Seeing Eye


Soylent Green Is People made some good points.

Whilst no one is accusing you of being dishonest or delusional, it is well established that people in general make make poor witnesses when it comes to unfamiliar objects like meteors, and in cases where there are few if any cues in the sky.

It's no reflection on you, it's just how our minds work and how we perceive the world around us. Especially with meteors, since they have so many characteristics that people don't usually associate with meteors, that can take the unwary person by surprise, they can play tricks on the eye.

I went in to detail about the reasons why this is true in this post I made here (scroll down a bit for the section on meteors, but I recommend you also read the opening introduction), and also posted an actual example of a bright meteor that was seen by many people, many of which described the meteor as being much closer to them that it could have been.

That is actually quite common with bright meteors, and I see similar reports to yours all the time having read thousands of meteor reports over the 14 or so years I have been studying the subject. This is actually a well recognized problem by the scientific community, since without knowing that people often misjudge the distance of meteors, it would be a very confusing task to locate any fallen meteorites without knowing this.

That's why meteorite hunters disregard reports of "the meteorite fell just over that hill over there", knowing full well that the physics precludes this in all but the rarest cases.

By the way, people also often describe meteors as being bright white like a magnesium flare, and I have seen many meteors like this myself.

Anyway, just to demonstrate how bad observers we make, have a look at this demonstration - sorry there is no audio at the start, so watch that you don't turn up your volume too much, as it does come in a few seconds into the clip:


Our brains are very strange things, and there are lots of ways that they can distort the way we perceive reality, not just by completely omitting seemingly obvious details from a scene.

Having said all of that, there is always a chance what you saw was not a meteor, but I personally think what you saw was a meteor, going on your description.

reply to post by C.H.U.D.


It is immaterial to me whether you agree with me or not. We shall agree, to disagree. I have gone through all the possibilities it might have been and I am secure in my conclusions.

As I stated earlier I am hyper observant when it comes to aerial observations. I have seen another white light, or should I say "Silver Light" observation. That was shared with my very close friend, and now deceased, William One Sac.

I am not very creative in the art of making things up. I relate what I see. I leave fabrication of facts up to the professional dis information departments. And boy, are they creative lol lol

reply to post by All Seeing Eye

A mis-observation or a mistaken eyewitness account is not the same as "making something up".

I'm not saying this is definitely a case of you mis-observing something -- I really don't know. I'm just saying it could be. HOWEVER, I don't think anyone here was accusing you of intentionally making things up, either.

I would say a flare from iridium satellite

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

HOWEVER, I don't think anyone here was accusing you of intentionally making things up, either.

I never felt you thought I was making things up. I suppose in your mind if some "thing" is not in your reality then it must be a mistake, a error. This is the barrier of possibilities I personally have crossed. And it wasn't completely my own choice.

"You want the truth? You cant handle the truth". I'm not special, I didn't go to special schools, or have special family members with connections. I did my time in the United States Air Force, and leaned all I could. Your mentality reminds me of my grade school teacher "Shut up, don't ask questions, you are wrong, we are right, the world is the way it is, and its not going to change for you".



Remove the religious context, and "Yea, I saw the Light". Whether you want to believe there is something bigger than all of us put together, or not, does not change the truth. The truth will always be there waiting to be discovered. It will wait for you, as it did for me....

Im going back to my "real" world where I have to live, and I will be happy to do it. And, I will continue to watch the sky's for that unexpected truth.

PS I wish the same for you.