Two flashes of light in the night sky. I'm stumped...

Here's a new one for me, first with the details whole they're still fresh in my mind.

Time: 22:40 (GMT +8)
Date: 13 feb
Approx location: 34 degrees S116 degrees E
Direction: 214 degrees South westerly direction
Azimuth: 45 degrees
Nearest star: a REP - HIP 19780 (stellarium)
Magnitude: 3.3 barely visible

Description:

Laying in my swag I just happened to be looking up in the right direction when two quick, bright yellowish flashes appeared. I'm unsure if it came from the the above mentioned star but it was in close proximity. I've used my compass, stellarium and satellite tracking to gather information.

No satellites till early morning, when you'd expect them.
No aircraft in the area
Not Chinese lanterns
No planets in the area
Etc etc

My first unidentified sighting.

I'm leaning towards some sort of astronomical event that I'm ignorant about...

Any ideas?

reply to post by Chadwickus



Maybe?

Wrong date. sorry.

were the flashes almost perfectly circular? if yes i've seen those before too. if not i still suspect it's going to be the same explanation is mine

I was driving into work around 5am 3 weeks ago, live in california. And out of the blue, the sky behind me lights up and flashes. it scared the (bleep) out of me. I jumped out of my seat and said out loud, "what the F was that.."

Later that day it was reported to be a meteor. Never seen anything like that light up the sky before. It turned the night into day. It must have landed close by for being so bright.

Long store short, it could have been a meteor.

reply to post by Chadwickus


I had a similar experience I was on my back deck at about 2am letting my dogs out to do their buisness when out of the corner of my eye saw a flash of light that seemed to have come out of nowhere. ive seen plenty of shooting stars and even a meteor (I was about 9, coolest thing ive ever seen. so low you could hear it.) but this was not like anything I'd seen before. the best description I can think of is that it reminded me of a cigarette being flicked out of a car at night when the cherry bounces off the pavement creating a shower of embers that dissipate quickly. it didn't appear to have come from space. it seemed like it was only about 100ft in the air and fell straight down. but it may have just been an optical illusion. thougt maybe a military flare but heard no helicopters. although there is a base not too far from here and I always see them heading in the direction of the base which is about in line of where the object had came from. anyway this is my first post. hope I followed all the rules. im new to forums.

reply to post by ladyteeny


No not really round, just a typical star burst look too it.

Very bright though, considerably brighter than Jupiter which is magnitude -2.27 right now.

reply to post by Chadwickus

looking up in the right direction when two quick, bright yellowish flashes appeared.

Would you say it was 2 flashes from the same source or 1 flash each from 2 different sources?

Also, can you describe "quick" & "yellowish" in more detail.

Very Interesting

reply to post by Chadwickus


Lightning...

reply to post by camaro68ss


Meteor doesn't fit, there was no movement, no tail. Just flash flash.

reply to post by Chadwickus



We saw some interesting globe type lights tonight,13/Feb, between 21:15 and 21:35, Central West NSW. Off towards where my sun rises, I figure in a south easterly direction. There were three globes initially that I saw, or very long flashes of light, very close to each other, then more doubles followed by several single flashes then another double flash and a single. I say flashes when some of these lasted 5 or 6 seconds~, all in the same area of sky, I got the missus to come out side and watch these with me, as I hadn't seen such before. At a loss to explain what they were, no they were not satellites or planes which I regularly see, and no I do not have the halo from a city.

reply to post by CrimsonMoon


Should have said, it's a clear sky and zero light pollution.
There is smoke from a bush fire low on the horizon to the north.

Even though you say there were no aicraft it sounds remarkabley like high altitude after burners to me
Just because you can't hear them doesn't mean they are not there maybe running without lights i i used to see it all the time in Israel

reply to post by Sublimecraft


Same spot, the flashes went off within a second.

As for the colour, it wasn't white, definitely had a yellowish colour to it, it was through the mosquito net though, but I don't think that will affect the colour.

I found an article about a "flashing star" that has been discovered, but it only flashes every 25 days or so. Also, I haven't found anything that states it's visible to the naked eye. One story on it here.

At the end of the article it talks about a light echo. Could be you saw a star explode? I don't know for sure, but it sounds like a cool experience!

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by CrimsonMoon

 

Should have said, it's a clear sky and zero light pollution.
There is smoke from a bush fire low on the horizon to the north.

How dark was it? Could the smoke have been up on a higher angle without noticing?

I don't really have a suggestion.

First thing I thought of was a flight I took cross Canada where I saw a burning ball of flame and a "flash", I attributed it to atmospheric conditions and a plane most likely.

In your case, cause it's a star and in the general vicinity of one (or so your perspective showed you), gets a little tricky.

No idea man...

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by Sublimecraft

 

Same spot, the flashes went off within a second.

As for the colour, it wasn't white, definitely had a yellowish colour to it, it was through the mosquito net though, but I don't think that will affect the colour.

The flash radiated how far out from the star? Double the size, a little bit...ten times the size...?

reply to post by Chadwickus


Clear sky does not mean there cannot be lightening.

reply to post by Chadwickus


I've also seen two flashes of light in December last year, they were like orbs very low in the sky about rooftop height. It was as if somebody had flicked a light switch on and off a couple of times.
I can't tell you what it was or if it was the same thing that you saw, thanks for posting your experience whatever it was.

Probably a long shot, a very very long shot.....but what about this?

Perhaps you saw a head on meteor. Rare, but they do occur.

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