Blue flash/explosions in the sky.

reply to post by cainey


Hi just registered as i wanted to contribute!.

My wife, 7 year old and I all saw these blue flashes! there were 2. We are in South Birmingham (Solihull) after the second huge flash the power went out on the road and house alarms were triggered. This happened at about 2115 isn!

It's all really weird / strange!

Then a few moments ago my imac just turned on by itself! totally freaked me and the Mrs out!

The flash itself was like a huge BLUE flash that lasted max 2 seconds, like a sort of explosion, which then imploded..

reply to post by angelchemuel


Reminds me of these different colored lightnings, during these heavy & strange thunderstorms.

You should mention if there were clouds or not. If clouds are in the right altitude, they can reflect the lights from the ground very brightly.

reply to post by angelchemuel


Flashes in the sky could be caused by any number things, from meteors to satellites/space junk glinting in the sunlight, and perhaps even fireworks. It may be that you and your family/friends are seeing different things.

Regarding the the times that you heard a report (explosion), if you heard it at more or less the same time as the flash (within a few seconds) then whet you were seeing would have been relatively close to you - certainly within a km or two. We can say this with certainty since sound travels through air at a fairly constant speed, as does light, and if the difference between the time of the light being seen, and the sound arriving is small, then we know it has to be close.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, if the event happens may tens of km away, as in the case of a meteor with sonic booms, there is always a long delay between the light reaching your eyes and the sound reaching your ears since light travels very fast (for all intents and purposed instantaneous when we are talking tens of km), and sound is relatively slow. It usually takes minutes for the booms to reach an observer after the meteor is seen.

So what you are describing there is consistent with something relatively close - my guess would be fireworks.

In the other cases you describe, where no sound was heard, more information would be needed to narrow down any possibilities - Was the flash localized, or spread out over a large area of sky? Was more than one flash seen during a short time period, and if so, how long between the flashes? What time/date did it occur? Where in the sky was it? (in terms of degrees, where 90 degrees altitude would be directly up above your head, and 0, 90, 180, 270, describe the direction - N, E, S, W). Colour is very subjective, and probably the least important characteristic.

Even with answers to these questions, it may be difficult to narrow down the cause. The only reasonably sure way is to photograph them using a good camera (point n shoot digital cameras are virtually useless for this kind of work).

I would suggest looking at a couple of threads that I authored on the subject of identifying these kinds of phenomena:
Flashes and Star-like objects that move strangely in the sky explained
How to view, track, and identify satellites

reply to post by angelchemuel


Hi, I have seen these. Just how you described.

I work all over North Wales, I service alarms and get called out all hours..driving up & down the A55. Anyway..I always watch the stars..maybe more than I should considering I'm driving at the time
..anyway, one night I was coming out of Rhyl..a clear night, gazing at the stars when all of a sudden this blue ball appeared, kinda blew up..then sucked back in on itself. I've told this to others, they haven't see it though..glad you posted this. I knew I wasn't crazy

they look like something teleporting..now I do sound crazy... :\

Hi guys!
Wow...thank you all for your contributions. I have only just got my laptop back off my son, and it is very late here, so if you would please forgive me, I will take time tomorrow to answer you all....there is some interesting stuff here I would like to take a closer look at/comment on.

Rainbows
Jane

Sounds like ball lightning, which is much different to regular lightning.





Does it look anything like that at all??

reply to post by angelchemuel


Explosions in the Stratosphere Test Atmospheric Sound Propagation Models

www.geology.smu.edu...

Originally posted by jjsirius
reply to post by angelchemuel

 

Explosions in the Stratosphere Test Atmospheric Sound Propagation Models

www.geology.smu.edu...

Oh heck....thank you for that, it certainly joind a few dots for me!
Here is a link to a good article about infrasound for those of you not familiar with it......scarry reading, and a technology that has always scarred the beejeezus out of me.

www.lowertheboom.org...
I'll comment more tomorrow.

Rainbows
Jane

Originally posted by jjsirius
reply to post by angelchemuel

 

Explosions in the Stratosphere Test Atmospheric Sound Propagation Models

www.geology.smu.edu...

Firstly, from your link, these tests were carried out from "1960 to the early 1970’s" and in the "southwest US". So neither the time nor place is right.

Secondly, the explosions were at a minimum altitude of 30 km.

So given that sound travels at around 340 m/s, there would be a delay of at least 88 seconds between seeing the event and hearing it. From what angelchemuel said, there was little if any delay.

Testing of atmospheric sound propagation models is not a very likely possibility IMO. As I said in my previous post, there are possibilities that fit the facts much better.

reply to post by angelchemuel


Explosions In The Sky is a great band.
I've seen them a few times.

reply to post by angelchemuel


It's great to see 2 new members join, to tell of their sightings also. I look forward to more input on this intriguing thread...

Des

reply to post by angelchemuel


Most likely a transformer exploding.

I have seen the entire sky light up blue at night, comprised with a kind of buzzing sound and it was a transformer.

That sort of sounds like when a meteorite is coming straight towards you. It gives me an eerie feeling when I see that. I have seen that quite a few times in my life, and always wondered if anything was getting through to the ground. All you need is a dense bit the size of a small bb left and it can go right through you. I haven't been hit yet, even if you saw one like that a day and everyone hit the ground the chances of it hitting you is probably one in a million. Of course if you don't have glass coverage on your car windshield, the odds are one in ten

reply to post by angelchemuel

S & F
I haven't the foggiest what it could be but this is the most interesting thread i've seen all week.

There is going to be more of these happening for a week or so... It's just a series of meteor showers.. If you are very lucky and can find a meteorite you can sell it for a hell of a lot of money..

Originally posted by angelchemuel
I can't supply any photos as they happen so quickly and maybe that's why they have not been noticed.
I have myself seen at least 5 now. Both my son and myself have seen at least two of them together. I have friends in another part of UK who have seen them too.

Here goes with the description.....

They look more like an explosion as they have an epicentre. From the centre the blue coloured 'flash' spreads out, and here comes the weird bit...it then seems to suck back in on itself. There is sometimes an explosion noise that can be heard as it contracts in on itself. They 'appear' to be happening very high up in the atmosphere.
We have mulled over the idea that they could be space debris.
Anyone else?

Rainbows
Jane

here's what I experienced earlier this year..


ATS: Bluish Flash x4

Strange goings on. Blue, very blue flashes, and no-one has a clue. The world is changing, that's for sure.

I seen the last week it was like lighting but no thunder.

It went on for ages, roughly 6 hours in the same area.

weird it was.

Weather wars! # is getting real....look for MASSIVE EARTHQUAKES and more BOOMS RUMBLES AND FLASHES OF LIGHT.....go to 33:45 for some fascinating insights into these phenomena and this is from 1985!