Beams of light over west coast.

Maxx355

Hi, I think this might be the right forum for this.

I was driving this morning towards Kerry. I was just after coming on the new Macroom by pass early this morning when i saw 3 to 4 very powerful bright beams of light over the horizon to the west. This only lasted for about 2 seconds . They were all at different angles and to my eye they appeared to come from the ground up. The best way to describe them would light sabres. Never seen anything like this before. I am on that road regularly.

Unless it was Shannon Airport testing some sort of lights which would have been in that general direction.

This was approx 5am this morning and still dark. skies were a mixture of clear and cloudy.

emo72

Curious myself now

FREDNISMO

Northern Lights maybe, seen them earlier in the night.

Maxx355

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820344#Comment_121820344

Thanks for reply, possibly that ok, although it was from the west not the north whether that makes any difference.

Popoutman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058337954/beams-of-light-over-west-coast

Question for you - were the clouds lit by the beams, or were they like shadows in front of the beams?

If for example someone was testing a set of floodlights by shining them into the sky before installation, they would light up the underside of the clouds. If the light was something in the atmosphere then the clouds would be darker shadows in front of the scattered light.

The main photo on this page is a great pic with clouds lit by light pollution from underneath, and shadowing the northern lights a few hundred km behind the clouds.

Maxx355

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844834#Comment_121844834

Hi, it was'nt like the picture you have shown. They were more like light beams you might see at a rock concert or what a searchlight would look like. The light from them were very bright and powerful, the beams had straight lines. They were coming in the direction of due west, 3 to 4 beams in the space of 2 to 3 seconds and then they were gone.