Strange light this morning over Dublin

MakeNine

Hello,

I saw an object in the sky early this morning in between ~3 to 4am. I'm in Dublin South West and it was in the eastern sky, moving slowly in a northerly direction. It was a bright white light (perhaps like Venus) , pulsating several times per second, with red and green hues. It moved irregularly, sometimes ascending and then descending again. Eventually it stopped moving north and instead seemed to move along an elliptical path. Then it's luminosity diminished greatly (like a faint star) and it began to move in all directions in very jerky movements. It also seemed to emit long green beams of light. Then it ascended through a layer of cirrus clouds and disappeared.

Any ideas? Did anyone else see this?

robertxxx

MakeNine wrote: »

Hello,

I saw an object in the sky early this morning in between ~3 to 4am. I'm in Dublin South West and it was in the eastern sky, moving slowly in a northerly direction. It was a bright white light (perhaps like Venus) , pulsating several times per second, with red and green hues. It moved irregularly, sometimes ascending and then descending again. Eventually it stopped moving north and instead seemed to move along an elliptical path. Then it's luminosity diminished greatly (like a faint star) and it began to move in all directions in very jerky movements. It also seemed to emit long green beams of light. Then it ascended through a layer of cirrus clouds and disappeared.

Any ideas? Did anyone else see this?

Try laying off it for a few days!

hytrogen

Might have been the big cheese himself, JC after attending GODFEST & Coppers heading home.. :-P
Very interesting description though

Zubeneschamali

MakeNine wrote: »

pulsating several times per second, with red and green hues.

Whatever it was, it wasn't in space if it was passing through cirrus clouds.

2cool4school

flying jack-o-lantern

did it have a smiley face on it?

case closed

Calibos

MakeNine wrote: »

Hello,

I saw an object in the sky early this morning in between ~3 to 4am. I'm in Dublin South West and it was in the eastern sky, moving slowly in a northerly direction. It was a bright white light (perhaps like Venus) , pulsating several times per second, with red and green hues. It moved irregularly, sometimes ascending and then descending again. Eventually it stopped moving north and instead seemed to move along an elliptical path. Then it's luminosity diminished greatly (like a faint star) and it began to move in all directions in very jerky movements. It also seemed to emit long green beams of light. Then it ascended through a layer of cirrus clouds and disappeared.

Any ideas? Did anyone else see this?

Ignore the other two messers(not regular posters) :rolleyes:

I'm usually the first to bring out the Chinese Lantern explanation but those involve orange/red lights in the sky.

Where you looking at it through Binoculars??

The time, direction and colours of object screams Capella to me. My guess is you were looking at Capella which is a bright star in the ENE at that time. It twinkles red and green at this time of year as its much closer to the horizon at this hour and time of year. The movement and dimming I would put down to perspective etc as clouds on the horizon out over the irish sea intermittantly move in front of it and also give the illusion that the object is moving when in fact its a cloud in front moving around/across it from your perspective etc.

MakeNine

Calibos wrote: »

Where you looking at it through Binoculars??

Unfortunately I didn't even have any binoculars with me

Calibos wrote: »

The time, direction and colours of object screams Capella to me. My guess is you were looking at Capella which is a bright star in the ENE at that time. It twinkles red and green at this time of year as its much closer to the horizon at this hour and time of year. The movement and dimming I would put down to perspective etc as clouds on the horizon out over the irish sea intermittantly move in front of it and also give the illusion that the object is moving when in fact its a cloud in front moving around/across it from your perspective etc.

I don't think it was a star because the sky was cloudless except for a few cirrus which were much higher obviously. I didn't see any stars in the sky at the time. The light was much lower on the horizon initially, and I never lost visual contact with it until a while after it went above the cirrus layer.

Thanks for your input.

loldog

I recall seeing a light like that many years ago over the Dublin Mountains. It resembled a star but it was incredibly irridescent. I've been a skywatcher since I was young so I would have known if it was Sirius or Venus or Vega. It remained stationary. I'm still puzzled to this day as to what it was.

.

killian101

Hey Guys
did anyone see a weird green beam of light over cork city at 12am tonight? it was literally a kilometer long moving zig zagged and just moved very quickly away?

Hal1

Someone messing about with a laser pointer.

killian101

Hal1 wrote: »

Someone messing about with a laser pointer.

Obviously not a laser pointer.

Snowc

Op what you saw was the rescue helicopter

Calibos

Snowc wrote: »

Op what you saw was the rescue helicopter

AH YES! This could be it all right. I remember a few years ago looking north at Dublin from a house on brayhead and a red and green light flew over. I knew it was some kind of aircraft but the lights where flipping end over end. I figured it was one of the air corp single seat trainers doing barrel rolls which I thought ridiculous at that time of night. Of course I was visualising the lights on the wing tips. Checked with the lads on the aircraft forums and someone checked the ATC recordings for that night and it turned out that a Garda Helicopter corresponded with the flightpath and time. The lights on that are front and back rather than wingtips of a plane which gave the illusion of barrel rolls had it been a plane.

Just reading about a boat that was stolen (subsequently found on arklow beach with the keys in the ignition) Could have been the garda helicopter with its searchlight over dublin bay looking for it.

Given the time and the direction I was sure the OP was miss identifying Capella. It seemed like too much of a coincidence and an example of walk like a duck talk like a duck.

jimmydudeman

I saw a similar green beam of light tonight over Cork, extending several kilometers through the clouds. It was presumably a laser, as the light didn't taper or spread out as it got further from its source. It appeared to be coming from the ground up. Not sure what it was.

charlemont

Maybe it was a satellite or a space station. I saw a bright light two morns in a row at half 3 going from NW to SE and after searching around on google I think it was the Chinese space station Tiangong 1.. I'm guessing it was the Sun's reflection that made it visible...

charlemont

jimmydudeman wrote: »

I saw a similar green beam of light tonight over Cork, extending several kilometers through the clouds. It was presumably a laser, as the light didn't taper or spread out as it got further from its source. It appeared to be coming from the ground up. Not sure what it was.

Cork's skies are full of mad stuff..Where about's in Cork was it ?

jimmydudeman

I was at UCC, but it seemed to be coming from East of there. I thought perhaps it was something to do with the observatory at Blackrock, but I googled that and nothing came up.