A strange flash in the sky

[Brigantia]

Just wanted to run something by you all, I've never seen anything like it before...

I was outside an hour ago, watching a clear sky and high in the west, around the constellation of Lyra, I saw a bright white flash. It suddenly lit up brightly for about 4 seconds and then faded away. Then, not far away to the north, there was a fainter flash. I watched the sky for a further 5 minutes and saw nothing else.

There's a busy flight path overhead (not so busy now in these lockdown days, though plenty of cargo planes go overhead to the nearest airport) so I know very well what planes look like in the night sky and this was not a plane. There was no aircraft noise either.

Could it have been a meteor? I've always seen them coming in a diagonal trajectory, could it be possible that the trajectory was straight to my line of sight and the white flash was it burning up? Whenever I've seen large ones burning up they've had orange tints as well as white (once I saw one come down in daylight and it was a green trail of light), so I'm mystified. I haven't seen such an impressive large flash before either.

Any suggestions?

[Sue (Ayt)]

I saw what you are describing about 15 years ago, when camping in Alaska, also at night.
I have always wondered what it was, too.

[enfoldedblue]

Wow I saw something very similar last night in Australia. The first light was almost like a spot light in the sky just for a few seconds. Then a few minutes later a light, more like a streak, closer to the horizon and looking more distant flashed 2x and then nothing. I also waited for a while to see more , but that was it.

[Savannah]

maybe its this

https://meteorshowertonight.org/northern-taurid-meteor-shower-november/

[Brigantia]

maybe its this

https://meteorshowertonight.org/northern-taurid-meteor-shower-november/

Thanks for that Savannah - I've just realised though that I got my bearings wrong! I'll go back and edit... I saw it in the west, not the east; I looked on my sky map for a constellation and thought that it was in Perseus, but it wasn't - it was in Lyra. So, it wasn't near the constellation of Taurus. That's not to say that it wasn't a meteor though.

I always get my bearings wrong here... we're not on a straight N to S or E to W axis and I always have to think about exact bearings! Too tired as well...

[Patient]

I have seen a flash in the night sky like a giant flash bulb going off. It was not lightning - you know the difference.

[DeDukshyn]

The US got this the other night ... maybe it had siblings that followed it on the way in? Part of the current meteor showers?

https://mickleach.com/2020/11/10/fireball-video-huge-meteor-explodes-over-usa-looked-like-a-missile-science-news/


There were many reports of a mysterious bright greenish-blue object streaking across the Alabama sky just before 6 p.m. on Sunday. Turns out it was a very bright meteor -- often referred to simply as a fireball.

The fireball wasn’t just spotted in Central Alabama; it was seen at multiple locations across Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.

It was even seen a time or two as far away as Kentucky, Virginia and Florida!

[Patient]

I have seen a flash in the night sky like a giant flash bulb going off. It was not lightning - you know the difference.

One time while we were living in Las Vegas - we watched a light that looked just like a star move across the sky. At first I thought it was a satellite, but it had a bit of a curve to it and then it stopped. It sat in that one spot for so long I lost interest. There was another one just like it in another part of the sky - while we were watching it there was that big flash like a giant flash bulb and then it was gone. The flash did not look like it was centred on the object - the flash was everywhere.

[Kryztian]

It could be a fireball or bolide. They say that seeing one of these is a life time experience.
https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/

You can report you sighting on the amsmeteors.org website and then will try and triangulate it with other sightings if there is enough data.

[Brigantia]

It could be a fireball or bolide. They say that seeing one of these is a life time experience.
https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/

You can report you sighting on the amsmeteors.org website and then will try and triangulate it with other sightings if there is enough data.

Thanks for this link - I've reported the details.

[WhiteFeather]

I personally have seen a flying craft coming out of cloak and going back into cloak with a flash at high speed one summer nite here in NY. It was really strange and yet awesome. Scouts honor.

[Sunny-side-up]

many years ago now I witnessed a very fast shaft of light dive straight down and gone.
I was walking up a gradual incline of a large motorway bridge when I saw this.
It looked like an object moving so fast in a direct vertical downwards direction as to be a blurred flash.

It was this same bridge that I whiteness 3 welding-arch-type lights above me during a fast wind sleet storm.
I was basically walking in a very low cloud, while above me one after another lights where trying to ignite into being but blink out then another and again, so on.
Thing is they would have been in a triangle formation if the stayed light up.

[Kryztian]

It could be a fireball or bolide. They say that seeing one of these is a life time experience.
https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/

You can report you sighting on the amsmeteors.org website and then will try and triangulate it with other sightings if there is enough data.

Thanks for this link - I've reported the details.

:thumbsup: Great! Check back on the website and others may have reported it and may be able to triangulate it's path.