Large spinning/flashing objects

[Darkorange]

it amazes me how those starlinks are visible, how you can see the little pricks in the sky at night even though they say there is no emissive light on them? very reflective and its like what: sunlight off of moon, moonlight off of earth, earlight off of starlink, then to our eyeballs?  wow that is tenuouus illumination and yet visible all over northamerica!

perhaps is just illusion of rotation from giant hovering alien spaceship haha

Could be. Although i think that daisy chain of lights are only during deployment phase.

[Mr Roboto]

"It probably helps that for you, I am just assuming by your evidence, that you have nice clear skies with no light pollution. I hardly ever get a clear night with no light pollution, and if I do, it's so bitterly cold out."

[argentus]

I am not attempting to debunk your sighting;  I have seen many things I couldn't readily explain in my life as well.  

I'm curious though, was this in your southern sky?   I guess you know what your namesake looks like, and because Sirius is often visible low on the horizon, through the "thickness" of Earth's atmosphere, it often appears to flash/change colors.   It's also the star with the largest magnitude (from our perspective).  

Whenever I have seen something like this, I usually go to heavens-above . com and see if it is a currently tracked satellite or other known celestial object.  Some of the satellites and geosynchronous, and therefore appear stationary.  

Of course, there are lots of satellites that for various reasons aren't listed there.    It's become a hobby to find out when close (and bright) passes of various things are going to happen and then go look for them.   If you haven't used heavens-above, you can put in your specific location and selection the various objects, like the ISS, satellites, etc.    and find out exactly when they will be visible at your location. 

Once I've done all that, then I feel particularly lucky to have seen something truly unexplainable.   I have seen three different objects in my life that were not only unidentified, but in my humble amateur armchair scientist opinion, could not have been of human origin.   

thanks for this fascinating thread!   I'll be watching

ETA:   I meant to add that when I first started looking at Heavens-above it was because I saw a flash in the sky that appeared to move.   It turned out to be a trackable satellite that slowly turns and reflects off sunlight.   They used to call them Irridium flares, but these days are much less frequent, as the Iridium class of satellites are being phased out for the less reflective NEXT satellites.

[Sirius]

I am not attempting to debunk your sighting;  I have seen many things I couldn't readily explain in my life as well.  

I'm curious though, was this in your southern sky?   I guess you know what your namesake looks like, and because Sirius is often visible low on the horizon, through the "thickness" of Earth's atmosphere, it often appears to flash/change colors.   It's also the star with the largest magnitude (from our perspective).  

Whenever I have seen something like this, I usually go to heavens-above . com and see if it is a currently tracked satellite or other known celestial object.  Some of the satellites and geosynchronous, and therefore appear stationary.  

Of course, there are lots of satellites that for various reasons aren't listed there.    It's become a hobby to find out when close (and bright) passes of various things are going to happen and then go look for them.   If you haven't used heavens-above, you can put in your specific location and selection the various objects, like the ISS, satellites, etc.    and find out exactly when they will be visible at your location. 

Once I've done all that, then I feel particularly lucky to have seen something truly unexplainable.   I have seen three different objects in my life that were not only unidentified, but in my humble amateur armchair scientist opinion, could not have been of human origin.   

thanks for this fascinating thread!   I'll be watching

ETA:   I meant to add that when I first started looking at Heavens-above it was because I saw a flash in the sky that appeared to move.   It turned out to be a trackable satellite that slowly turns and reflects off sunlight.   They used to call them Irridium flares, but these days are much less frequent, as the Iridium class of satellites are being phased out for the less reflective NEXT satellites.

Thanks, probably was Irridium flares yes.  I don't mind this being debunked because it was kind of terrifying for moment or two.

[Nerb]

Just to chime in and say that I too have experienced things like this in the night sky. Maybe 3 or 4 times in the last few years.

Bright white flashes that come one at a time, about 3 or 4 times, one after the other with a few seconds interval between each, then NOTHING! Just the black space that was where "it" was.

MECHANICAL IN ORIGIN?

Like construction/resource blasting of an asteroid, or messaging with light particles/beams/waves towards Earth, perhaps the reflection of our sun on something HUGE rotating and manouvering in space along the lines of the book "Rendezcvous with Rama" by Arthur C Clarke.

"Oumuamua" type object?

There is more to all than meets the eye and I'm sure it's going to increase as an inevitability.

I'm going to dust off my binoculars. Thankyou for sharing and the inspiration to keep watching the skies while feeling tiny weeny.

[argentus]

Thanks, probably was Irridium flares yes.  I don't mind this being debunked because it was kind of terrifying for moment or two.

But that's the thing, it was not debunked, nor was that my goal.   You saw something that excited, perhaps frightened and filled you with wonder.  We can't ever know what it was you saw, but you now have more tools at your disposal for future sightings.   It's just the way I think.   Once you rule out the probable, you are sometimes left with the impossible -- or the probability of it -- and that's the very best of things.   It's why people like you and me discuss things like this; it's a search for the truth.   Truth can be tested, but never decided by consensus, in my very wordy opinion.  :D

Congratulations on your sighting.   I hope you have many more and post them here.   Those few things I've seen have changed my life every time, and in some ways illluminated my course.

[Sirius]

We should get a list op of things to do and report. like time date and location.  have it fresh in peoples mind

The same thing really for crypted and paranormal stuff.  Did you take drugs? what time of day was it? does this happen often? is there a family history? only through a door? did you come in contact? do you have gaps in memory? tell us the whole experience etc...

[argentus]

We should get a list op of things to do and report. like time date and location.  have it fresh in peoples mind

The same thing really for crypted and paranormal stuff.  Did you take drugs? what time of day was it? does this happen often? is there a family history? only through a door? did you come in contact? do you have gaps in memory? tell us the whole experience etc...

What you are talking about is the scientific method, which I worship nearly as much as my religion.   The scientific method never seeks to confirm a hypothesis.  No, it catalogs data and looks for a pattern.    It creates an experiment to test the hypothesis, and if the experiment is able to be repeated, then it gains some  value.    I keep journals on all kinds of quirky data.   It doesn't matter to anyone but me, and when I'm gone, it will be considered garbage.   Analysis of patterns within the data allows a person to form conclusions, and those conclusions have validity.   People don't research much anymore.   I think that most people just want to be part of what they perceive as the 'winning' team.    I love research.   I kind of like knowing what I'm talking about, silly me.  

You are also talking about the abduction experience, and I think that is dangerous talk, however it is dangerous talk which I very much enjoy and I think it is important.   I think disclosure will come from a grassroots effort, and leave the various governments no choice but to acknowledge that they've known all along.

[Sirius]

What you are talking about is the scientific method, which I worship nearly as much as my religion.   The scientific method never seeks to confirm a hypothesis.  No, it catalogs data and looks for a pattern.    It creates an experiment to test the hypothesis, and if the experiment is able to be repeated, then it gains some  value.    I keep journals on all kinds of quirky data.   It doesn't matter to anyone but me, and when I'm gone, it will be considered garbage.   Analysis of patterns within the data allows a person to form conclusions, and those conclusions have validity.   People don't research much anymore.   I think that most people just want to be part of what they perceive as the 'winning' team.    I love research.   I kind of like knowing what I'm talking about, silly me.  

You are also talking about the abduction experience, and I think that is dangerous talk, however it is dangerous talk which I very much enjoy and I think it is important.   I think disclosure will come from a grassroots effort, and leave the various governments no choice but to acknowledge that they've known all along.

Only dangerous talk because of fear. Many of it just underlying physical conditions, others are touched by their gods and a whole host of other things before we get to alien abductions. Staying silent causes harm.

The problems is if you go out to disprove something, you should be out trying to prove it and record what works and what doesn't. Personally I do the OODA loop. Just constant observation and reorientation based on actions and decisions.  Who knows where you end up at the end of your goal and that is the fun part.