Strange Bright Lights in the Sky over Dublin city Tonight

FitzerP

Hi,

Im just looking out my Window at work and there is this unusual light(s) and sometimes two of them.

They are low in the sky

I'm in sandyford up quite high, and have a view over the entire city. They are a good bit to the left of the ESB Stacks and maybe Pheonix park, but its hard to say.

They are quite bright and way too bright to be the Spire!, one of the seems to be going up an down slowly

They dont appear to be a plane or helicopter, ive looked out the window a million times before, but never noticed them before!

can anybody else see them??

Kevster

Hey,

These are most likely small fragments from the trail of the Perseid comets. The Earth is currently passing through their trail of discarded cosmic 'dust'. As a comet swings around the Sun, chunks of it typically breaks free, and it is these chunks that we are passing through.

Kevin

ronbyrne2005

theres been some large spotlights shining over city over past week. Also could they be the lights on the lifts in the chimney viewing tower in smithfield?

robin banks

I was out in the back garden tonight around 8:30 pm and a very large white light caught my eye . It was too high up to be a plane and it didn't have those flickering lights you would associate with passenger airlines . It came from due west and travelled in an easternly direction . It was so big I think it could possibly be the Intl Space station . I even managed to get the rest of the clan out into the front garden to see it eventually disappear . I am located in the D15 area . Anyone else see this or have any idea what it is .

backboiler

robin banks wrote: »

I was out in the back garden tonight around 8:30 pm and a very large white light caught my eye . It was too high up to be a plane and it didn't have those flickering lights you would associate with passenger airlines . It came from due west and travelled in an easternly direction . It was so big I think it could possibly be the Intl Space station . I even managed to get the rest of the clan out into the front garden to see it eventually disappear . I am located in the D15 area . Anyone else see this or have any idea what it is .

Kind of like this ISS track from around this time? http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?lat=53.383&lng=-6.367&loc=Blanchardstown&alt=22&tz=GMT&satid=25544&date=39895.8451077894
Shuttle is docked so it's a lot brighter than usual.

manu4480

hi, i was also looking out of my window for snow showers and realized that sky is bright and i can even see the sky and clouds moving.... also ewatched some strange shining stars in the evening....

does anyone knows why the sky is so bright.

okioffice84

Snow on the ground is reflecting light

tecknopulse

Did anyone see a very big light in the sky at 9:20 tonight. It started very big, like a plane light and got smaller and further away and disappeared over the Dublin mountains?

traybabe

Hi Guys,

Saw the same tonight, there was 3 in a v shape and a 4th appeared a little later, but they seem to have disappeared now:mad::(

Pataman

I saw one light a few times tonight, the last about 12.20am. Any Ideas?

DonkeyRhubarb

I'm looking from my window towards Kilbarrack (north-east direction) at the mo. 2.20am. Unusual noise. Sounds like a jey sitting in a place where jets cant land. There is a tremendously bright light lighting up a good few miles of sky. May well be normal, but in my 25 years here, I've never witnessed anything like it...

It's a pulsating noise. Again, there may very well be a good explanation for this, but it's nontheless impressive...

crushproof

DonkeyRhubarb wrote: »

I'm looking from my window towards Kilbarrack (north-east direction) at the mo. 2.20am. Unusual noise. Sounds like a jey sitting in a place where jets cant land. There is a tremendously bright light lighting up a good few miles of sky. May well be normal, but in my 25 years here, I've never witnessed anything like it...

It's a pulsating noise. Again, there may very well be a good explanation for this, but it's nontheless impressive...

I see you have a Flickr page...so you have a camera......photographic evidence of this big bright light????
Always baffles me why people never take photos of these things! :rolleyes:

supercallow

loads of people have seen them i`ve got video of them on my phone

dohcom

seen a load of them this evening, never seen anything like them before,

lord lucan

Chinese Lantern overload tonight!! Seen about 20 already!!


They're not UFO's:p

RenegadeIRL

THEY'RE BACK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN-Mss3BYhg&feature=autofb

Cú Giobach

Saw my first Chinese lanterns last night, as I was watching them I was wondering when the flurry of "what did I see?" posts would start here

bogman

Loads and I mean loads over Cork also...suppose they are safer than fireworks

murrayp4

Lots of chinese lanterns last night and spot lights coming from the gravity bar in Dublin 8

FruitLover

lord lucan wrote: »

Chinese Lantern overload tonight!! Seen about 20 already!!


They're not UFO's:p

That's what They want you to think. You're falling right into Their hands!

luckystrike113

in Balbriggan looking looking south west usual pulsing light in sky moving slowly south west not an aircraft green/purple in colour anyone see it was holding position for over 20 minutes now moving slowing @2250

clln

luckystrike113 wrote: »

in Balbriggan looking looking south west usual pulsing light in sky moving slowly south west not an aircraft green/purple in colour anyone see it was holding position for over 20 minutes now moving slowing @2250

That according to local police was illegal aliens signing on while awaiting to land to do the daily signing.

other reports say it was Brian Cowans relief to be still party leader,apparently he got flautulant and lit his fart for the craic!
the discovery of Methane or Me fein one would wonder?
well it beats the CL answer?

luckystrike113

still in the sky now tracking west slowing at 2325 too high for commerical airliner or helicopter looks like a bright light trailing a spherical web of light in different colurs .could it be the ISS or a balloon? or a sat? anyone have an idea?

jimi8124

i seen a light last nite about 2.15 am, in d 15 wasnt a plane r helicoptor r chinese lantern. looked like a star but much brighter. it was still there 20 mins later when i went 2 bed, i thought it might have been the ISS but defo unusual.

Cú Giobach

jimi8124 wrote: »

i seen a light last nite about 2.15 am, in d 15 wasnt a plane r helicoptor r chinese lantern. looked like a star but much brighter. it was still there 20 mins later when i went 2 bed, i thought it might have been the ISS but defo unusual.

Probably Jupiter.
There's going to be a lot of "what did I see?" questions over the coming months because it's going to be shining very brightly up there for a while.

CO19

How come Jupiter is to the east over the summer months then switches over to the west over winter in the evenings ?

Cú Giobach

CO19 wrote: »

How come Jupiter is to the east over the summer months then switches over to the west over winter in the evenings ?

We are on a moving "platform" watching planets that are also moving, consequently everything changes its position relative to an observer.
It takes us one year to orbit and Jupiter 12 years, so as we move around the Sun we see Jup from a slightly different angle each day.
If you watch Jupiter at the same time every evening you will see it moving west gradually over the next few months.

Because Jupiter takes about 12 years to orbit the Sun, at the same time each year it will also be in a different spot (1/12 of the way round the sky) and in 12 years it will be back to where it is now.

CO19

Cú Giobach wrote: »

We are on a moving "platform" watching planets that are also moving, consequently everything changes its position relative to an observer.
It takes us one year to orbit and Jupiter 12 years, so as we move around the Sun we see Jup from a slightly different angle each day.
If you watch Jupiter at the same time every evening you will see it moving west gradually over the next few months.

Because Jupiter takes about 12 years to orbit the Sun, at the same time each year it will also be in a different spot (1/12 of the way round the sky) and in 12 years it will be back to where it is now.

Ah I see,is there anywhere where we can see our current position in the solar system in relation to our orbit around the Sun ?

Cú Giobach

CO19 wrote: »

Ah I see,is there anywhere where we can see our current position in the solar system in relation to our orbit around the Sun ?

For what you're looking for Solar System Live is the one.
Celestia is also a handy little programe to have.

For a view of the sky and working what you're looking at, or what is on view at any particular time Stellarium is a great resource to have.

Have fun.


Edit: Play around with the settings on Solar System Live and you can get a very good representation of the System.

casmb

looking out from my sons window he has seen a flash and then a strange white light is hoovering in the sky towards direction . have binoculars out quite strange to view. we are in donaghmede. its 520am now een looking at it for a half hour

casmb

can see them tonight