Strange sight while watching the night sky, what could it be?

[Elthy]

12 hours ago i watched the midnight sky with a friend after a barbecue. Although in a village, lightpollution was very low, we could easily see the milky way. We saw a lot of interessting things within 30min:

About 30 satellites in different orbits.
About 20 meteors, 2 of them being quite bright and leaving a trail that could be seen for a few seconds.
About 20 boring planes, annoying us with their flashing lights.

But what we couldnt explain happened within the first 10min. We saw flashes in the sky, looking like the flashing lights on a plane (also about the same brightness), but without any plane attached (we could see the red position lights of other planes very well). It were about 10 of them, randomly distributed across the sky. The first 3 occured at the same location with an interval of 10-30 seconds, the last 3 also on one (different) spot. The others werent grouped up in a noticable way. We both saw them at the same time in the same spot, so im sure it wasnt imagination or our eyes playing tricks. The only viable explanation we could find was that those were shooting stars directly aimed at us (and thus being only a point), but it seems highly unlikely that one third of the observed meteors would be aimed directly at us from different spots in the sky. How would you explain what we saw?

[insert_name]

Was there some sort of antenna nearby?

The red light sounds like something put on a tall structure 

Edited July 10, 2016 by insert_name

[FungusForge]

I have no idea. Flock of drones maybe?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7 minutes ago, insert_name said:

Was there some sort of antenna nearby?

The red light sounds like something put on a tall structure 

I think you misread. The way he says it makes it seem like he couldn't see the red position lights one would normally see on a plane, or a cell tower (but even then, the lights of a tall structure would be constantly blinking there, and Elthy probably would know the general location of tall things like that in a local area).

[Elthy]

The flashes werent red, also it was around zenith. Were are not 100% sure, but it seemed like the flashes came from stars. Its hard to say since there were so many stars and we only ever saw the flashes with peripheral vision.

[Plusck]

Did you all agree on where they came from?

If I remember my ophthalmologist friend's explanation correctly, cells in the eye/optic nerve are constantly dying off, and if your eyes have really settled into their night vision then the brain perceives these as tiny sparks. So that might account for a few of those peripheral vision artefacts...

[Elthy]

Yeah, we were two and raised our hands to point in the same direction at the exact same moment, this happening with almost all of the flashes (a few werent seen by us both because one was looking at another part of the sky).

[Camacha]

It might very well have been aircraft positions differently in a way that obscures the other lights from your position. The fact that aircraft often follow predetermined paths make that even more likely, as does your observation that it looked like aircraft minus the other lights.

Also, there is a thing called an Iridium flare. Due to the orbit and shape of these satellites, they only show a brief flash of light in a certain part of the sky, as the sunlight hits an angled panel just right. These are predictable enough to have apps that show when and where they will occur. They generally do not have a 30 second interval, though.

[Elthy]

I know iridium flares, it were none of those (and i used such an app to verify there were none in this timeframe).

Also im 100% sure it wasnt an aircraft, since those were easy to see (and hear) and also couldnt remain on the same spot for like 1 minute. Also aircraft light flash way faster...

 

One possible idea: It were satellites in a realy high orbit, so you cant see them when they are normaly iluminated by the sun and they dont move at noticable speed. The flash could happen when a large refective area like an antenna reflects the sun, similar to an iridium flare. the repeaded flashes could be due to rotation...

Edited July 10, 2016 by Elthy

[Camacha]

37 minutes ago, Elthy said:

I know iridium flares, it were none of those (and i used such an app to verify there were none in this timeframe).

Also im 100% sure it wasnt an aircraft, since those were easy to see (and hear) and also couldnt remain on the same spot for like 1 minute. Also aircraft light flash way faster...

You told us the lights were like aircraft lights, only without the other lights. Aircraft flying in a certain pattern can appear to be fixed in the sky for a long time. That also accounts for the lack of sound, as they can be much further away than the other craft, or blow their noise in another direction. Having them turn ever so slightly while they do can cut the line of sight to the flashing light, changing the apparent frequency. The lights may also have been landing lights much further away, which are brighter than the navigation lights and will shine through where the others will have faded.

I am very used to having aircraft in the sky and even I still get caught out sometimes. The other day, I thought I was looking at Venus. Three minutes later, it turned out Venus was moving faster and faster across the sky. The aircraft really did appear to be stationary for the best part of a minute or more.

Nothing you told us is incoherent with an aircraft

Edited July 10, 2016 by Camacha

[YNM]

But aircrafts that turns considerably are mostly slow, and mostly close to the ground. The only time I saw an aircraft finishing a turn within sight was on approach final, and then the airplane is already low enough I can figure out it's shape (it was a Cessna, probably 172/152 or something) and soon one can easily hear the engine.

Do you happen to be near an airport at the time ?

[Camacha]

4 minutes ago, YNM said:

But aircrafts that turns considerably are mostly slow, and mostly close to the ground.

An airliner on approach can make long, slow movements while it is still kilometres up. Having a landing pattern also means that it can approach you for a minute, then turns away in a slightly different direction. Especially if the rate of descent matches the apparent position in the sky, it can appear to be stationary. You can see aircraft do this for many, many kilometres away, hundreds even, depending on conditions.

Again, I see this happening every day where I live

Edited July 10, 2016 by Camacha

[Motokid600]

My money is on head-on meteors. If you saw 20 meteors in 30 minutes then you were obviously experiencing some kind of shower ( I forget if maybe it could've been one of the annuals or just a random one. ) And it makes sense if you saw these flashes in the first ten minutes. The Earth could've been moving directly into the meteors relative to your viewing locations at the time and as it rotated the meteors entered at a higher and higher angle. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Motokid600

[kBob]

I've seen airplanes flash their landing lights (I live under a major north-south flyway and see them all the time, they are up at cursing altitude), probably trying to get the attention of some other plane they think is a bit close (it's happened maybe three times in 20 years).  It's possible the position the plane was in made its Nav lights hard to see after the flashes.  Honestly I've seen some strange things like glowing orange jets doing high altitude on a dime 90deg turns; odd lights (not helicopters) doing strange maneuvers etc.  I'm sure they all have reasonable explanations (for one thing it can be hard to tell distance at night).  BTW I'm in a very dark rural mountain area so I no doubt see more than most can.

Edited July 10, 2016 by kBob

[cubinator]

It could have been spinning pieces of space debris, or head-on meteors.

[Majorjim!]

Did you only ever see one flash at a time? Ever a repeating pattern of flashes? 

[Green Baron]

I see these flashes too when the atmosphere is clear. Sky is very dark here. They last only maybe half a second, too short to detect movement. I can only assume that these come from high flying satellites, far enough away to be in the sun over the whole night, in polar, molniya or other highly inclined orbits.

 

Edited July 11, 2016 by Green Baron

[YNM]

21 hours ago, Camacha said:

An airliner on approach can make long, slow movements while it is still kilometres up. Having a landing pattern also means that it can approach you for a minute, then turns away in a slightly different direction. Especially if the rate of descent matches the apparent position in the sky, it can appear to be stationary. You can see aircraft do this for many, many kilometres away, hundreds even, depending on conditions.

Again, I see this happening every day where I live

I also happen to live close to the approach lineup for a pretty large airport, so I know what they're doing... Most of the time when airplanes turn considerably it's almost always when the runway is within sight (or possibly within sight without any weather / terrain limitation). I often spot these aircraft on the last, probably, two or one thousand feet height (tried tracking them with my finderscope, hehe). Well, most of the high-flying aircraft goes over the sea and initial (high-altitude) approach takes course over the sea so I might miss what you're trying to explain.

@Elthy have you checked sites like FlightAware or something for possible overflight ?

Edited July 11, 2016 by YNM

[Elthy]

No, but im 100% those werent planes. We saw planes and how they looked totaly different. An airplane cant stand on the same spot in the sky (close to zenith) for a minute and then dissapear without a trace.

[Camacha]

17 hours ago, YNM said:

@ElthyI also happen to live close to the approach lineup for a pretty large airport, so I know what they're doing... Most of the time when airplanes turn considerably it's almost always when the runway is within sight (or possibly within sight without any weather / terrain limitation). I often spot these aircraft on the last, probably, two or one thousand feet height (tried tracking them with my finderscope, hehe). Well, most of the high-flying aircraft goes over the sea and initial (high-altitude) approach takes course over the sea so I might miss what you're trying to explain.

An airfcraft at 2000 feet is almost on the ground already. In more populated areas they pretty much punch through those altitudes as quickly as possible to minimize ground level exposure to emisions and noise. I am talking about manoeuvres much higher up. At larger airports, aircraft are guided in along predetermined path tens or even hundreds or kilometres out. These paths are often spiraled or twisting to account for other paths or to avoid certain areas on the ground. Having an aircraft change course will require it to make a turn.

Look at the traces of actual aircraft in the image below. You will notice how they tend to bunch up in certain sweeping patterns and paths Also have a look at the Flight Radar website. You see aircraft tend to fly along 'roads', which have straighs and bends like any actual road, even at cruise altitude. When cruising, these turns are often made for political or economical reasons, while on approach it is more often due to safety or environmental regulations.

16 hours ago, Elthy said:

No, but im 100% those werent planes. We saw planes and how they looked totaly different. An airplane cant stand on the same spot in the sky (close to zenith) for a minute and then dissapear without a trace.

Aircraft can do pretty stange things, or at least appear to do them. Aircraft can look fairly different when looked at from different distances, altitudes and orientations. Claiming it cannot have been an aircraft because what you saw was different from other aircraft is like claiming something cannot be a dog, because all the dogs you saw were walking and this animal is eating

Also note that military aircraft sometimes fly without navigation lights.

[Green Baron]

Can't be aircrafts here, nightly overflights are forbidden (island of La Palma -> big telescopes on the caldera rim) and in 2 years i never saw an aircraft at night. I first saw flashes when sailing, 2-3 years back.

What's wrong with satellites ?

 

[Camacha]

Normal satellites can produce flashes too, which is basically the same as an Iridium flare, just without much of the predictability. There are more clips on Youtube, mostly with vague UFO claims, though.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Camacha

[Green Baron]

Thanks, Camacha. One of the blinks in the first video indeed looks like the blinks i watch from time to time.

I assume this was shot through a telephoto lens or small telescope and with the bare eye the movement would probably not be noticeable. Also blinks always happen at the edge of the fow ;-)

 

[Elthy]

The third example from the second video looks a lot like what we saw. I guess we have our explanation...

Edited July 12, 2016 by Elthy

[Camacha]

51 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Also blinks always happen at the edge of the fow ;-)
 

That is probably due to the more sensitive rods being on the edges of your vision, rather than the cones that allow us to see colours but that are much slower. That is also why stars are easier to see from the corner of your eye

[The Raging Sandwich]

Aliens.