What the heck can cause the night sky to light up like daytime... but not lightning VIDEO ADDED

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Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
Clear sky. Temperature -7 Celsius. No thunder. It wasn't lightning.

I was sitting here playing Fallout 3 and my whole balcony and the night sky lit up like a nearby lightning strike. Lightning would have had to be VERY close to light it up as bright as it did. No thunder. WTF? It lasted for about 4 seconds.

So I open the window and listen outside and hear a low rumble... not like thunder, just like a low rumble.

So I call work (air traffic control tower) and my coworkers who are 7 miles away from me said the sky totally lit up there too, just like lightning. They had a full 360 degree view and saw no obvious cause, no meteor, no lightning.

What the fuck can cause that??? It wasn't an electrical transformer as there was no explosion or power bump, and it wouldn't cause the sky to light up 7 miles away!

LINK TO STORY

I called my coworker, who's a weather observer (we also do fireball reports) and got a better description of the event/

He said the whole sky lit up all 360 degrees for 5-10 seconds. He looked up and saw a smoke trail in the sky and what looked like the end of fireworks -- chunks of "sparks" falling to the ground. A pilot on the airport said it sounded like a distant jet engine roaring by. really fucking cool.

Quotes from the link above, commentors:

I was sitting my family room eating supper and I kinda glanced out the east window only to see this green ball streaking down from the sky with a gold tail (the gold tail is the metal that was sheared off during the meteor/meteorite's decent.) After about a second the green light exploded in to this white light that was at least 5-6 times brighter than the full moon. Then it turned a really dark orange, then I lost sight of it behind some houses. I could have sworn I heard a bit of a sound like thunder when it came down, but I'm not sure. I live in Clareview which is north east of edmonton, not to far from Sherwood Park. The meteor/meteorite was spotted east, north east of my house. I really thought it was coming in my direction because of bright it got, it lit up the whole sky and my backyard! Amazing!!!
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I was south on Goldenspike Rd in Spruce Grove 1km north of 79ave, As it entered the atmosphere, it had a bright orange tail that went a bright white with green blue colors on the outside and then it exploded and lit the sky up a bright green. I also saw little orange balls fly off, like hot coals. I was on high ground and it exlpoded above a radio tower far off to the east in line with south sherwood park. Gave me goose bumps.
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I was heading East on the Henday at Cameron Heights looking when I saw it. It was a distinct ball of very bright light with a very intense tail. It then appeared to break up into several pieces before it burned out. It was eerily similar to the video footage of the space shuttle when it broke up on re-entry. Perhaps it was a satellite? It was very large compared to any other meteorites I have seen. Wickedly cool in a very humbling sort of way!
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I saw that huge ball in the sky. It caught my attention because the whole sky became illuminated. I've seen a lot of meteorites in my life but never as huge as this one. This fireball was followed by a large orange tail. At some point I thought it could of been a plane on fire but it was going down too fast to be it in my opinion. It really gave me goose bump that's for sure!
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SEE THE VIDEO HERE:

Video Added

Two More Videos

This was taken far from the epicenter of brightness, probably 400km in fact from the centre, and it was still quite bright!
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,947
31,484
146
transformer blow outside?

I've seen this happen with a firework show at a concert.

EDIT: nvm first suggestion--I just finished reading you OP. :D
 
Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
Originally posted by: judasmachine
Interesting. No accompanying sound at all?
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I'm not sure. I could hear a low rumble only when I opened the window, but it's hard to say for sure if it was just a passing vehicle or the wind. It wasn't very loud at all.

EDIT: I'm 70% sure all I could hear was the wind.
 
pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Originally posted by: judasmachine
Interesting. No accompanying sound at all?
Click to expand...

yes there was, the nuclear blast just ruptured his eardrums before he knew what was going on.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,947
31,484
146
Jesus?

Was there a choir of angels and 4 men atop horses rocketing through the sky?
 
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