Extremely bright flashes of light moving away and gaining altitude on a clear, bright day.
Sitting on my patio with an unobstructed view of the north, south and western sky, I noticed an extremely bright flash of white light that appeared to be 6 to 10 miles away at an estimated altitude of 6,000 to 8,000 feet. The pulses of (only) white light occurred about 10 to 12 seconds apart and lasted for about a second. There was nothing visible at the site of the flash after each burst of light. The bright blue daylight sky was mostly clear with a only a few small clouds scattered out of my direct field of view. The flashes caught my attention because they were so much brighter than the landing, strobe, and navigation lights of any other air traffic that was visible nearby at the time, or that I normally see during daylight.
I live near an airport, and the Long Island Sound and am familiar with most of the air traffic that traverses the area. I assumed that the first flash might have been caused by a momentary reflection of the sun off an aircraft that wa! s changing direction. I dismissed that assumption after I observed the second flash continuing on the same heading. I expected that this aircraft was approaching me with an ultra bright strobe, and that it would become visible as the distance closed. It was not until the fourth flash, that I realized that the flashes were moving away and gaining altitude. After about 8 flashes, I lost sight of it. There was commercial air traffic approaching the local airport at a much lower altitude, and closer than the flashes I observed, yet all of the lighting on those aircraft seemed barely visible in comparison. I'm not sure what I observed, but found it quite curious!
Sitting on my patio with an unobstructed view of the north, south and western sky, I noticed an extremely bright flash of white light that appeared to be 6 to 10 miles away at an estimated altitude of 6,000 to 8,000 feet. The pulses of (only) white light occurred about 10 to 12 seconds apart and lasted for about a second. There was nothing visible at the site of the flash after each burst of light. The bright blue daylight sky was mostly clear with a only a few small clouds scattered out of my direct field of view. The flashes caught my attention because they were so much brighter than the landing, strobe, and navigation lights of any other air traffic that was visible nearby at the time, or that I normally see during daylight.
I live near an airport, and the Long Island Sound and am familiar with most of the air traffic that traverses the area. I assumed that the first flash might have been caused by a momentary reflection of the sun off an aircraft that wa! s changing direction. I dismissed that assumption after I observed the second flash continuing on the same heading. I expected that this aircraft was approaching me with an ultra bright strobe, and that it would become visible as the distance closed. It was not until the fourth flash, that I realized that the flashes were moving away and gaining altitude. After about 8 flashes, I lost sight of it. There was commercial air traffic approaching the local airport at a much lower altitude, and closer than the flashes I observed, yet all of the lighting on those aircraft seemed barely visible in comparison. I'm not sure what I observed, but found it quite curious!
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Stony Brook
USA
45 seconds
45 seconds
40.91
-73.12
flash
NY
Occurred : 9/10/2012 18:00 (Entered as : 09/10/12 18:00) Reported: 9/11/2012 4:21:17 PM 16:21 Posted: 9/24/2012 Location: Stony Brook, NY Shape: Flash Duration: 45 seconds
Extremely bright flashes of light moving away and gaining altitude on a clear, bright day.