OZFRIEND:
Hello..... I think
I have come to realise what it was I saw yesterday.
BARDSQUILL:
????
OZFRIEND:
did you get my
message last night?
OZFRIEND:
about the sighting?
BARDSQUILL:
no, guess I didn't
OZFRIEND:
I was outside looking
at the stars, not a single cloud in the sky so perfect viewing conditions.
OZFRIEND:
as I looked towards
the east I saw what looked like a 'ripple' in the sky...
OZFRIEND:
sort of like those
really powerful light beacons they shine at movie openings etc.
OZFRIEND:
It quickly moved
across the sky and I could quickly see a few ripples of lighter/darker bands...
OZFRIEND:
I was outside for
about 10 more minutes in the hopes I would see it again, alas nothing...
After thinking about there are only two explinations I can think of
OZFRIEND:
1 ) very strong
light projected from the ground for a brief moment
OZFRIEND:
2 ) sunlight bounce
back from the Iridium system
BARDSQUILL:
hmmm, best give
me time and location details
OZFRIEND:
time would have
been around 9:30PM.. 9:40
OZFRIEND:
location... errr...
probably 180 degrees facing the southern cross at the same height
BARDSQUILL:
near which city?
OZFRIEND:
so imagine looking
at where the southern cross would be at night and then turing 180
OZFRIEND:
melbourne
BARDSQUILL:
duration of event
(gettin clinical now, heh)
OZFRIEND:
3 to 4 seconds.
BARDSQUILL:
color of bands
OZFRIEND:
white....
OZFRIEND:
light a dull white..
OZFRIEND:
grey/darkgrey/gray/darkgrey
OZFRIEND:
much like the wavy
bands a cloud has after a thunderstorm.
BARDSQUILL:
any nucleus within
the bands?
OZFRIEND:
nucleus? no...
i
OZFRIEND:
it was .. .errr...
a large circular area that was 'lit up'
BARDSQUILL:
say to suggest
a potential solid object whizzing by?
OZFRIEND:
it would be better
and more descriptive to say it was like a large ghostly apparition flying
at a significantly large height.
OZFRIEND:
prolly 4 moons
across.
OZFRIEND:
at the height of
say,.. the really high altitude clouds
BARDSQUILL:
lets see can you
convert time to GMT
OZFRIEND:
I think we are
+11 hours ahead making it...
BARDSQUILL:
was a powerful
proron explosion on sun, see if there's a correlation.
OZFRIEND:
10:30AM
BARDSQUILL:
BINGO
BARDSQUILL:
look at this SOHO
at 10:06
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/javagif/gifs_small/20001016_1006_c2.gif
OZFRIEND:
I have already
downloaded the large 1024x1024 version of that picture actually
BARDSQUILL:
assuming we are
targeting the same day/time
OZFRIEND:
last night
BARDSQUILL:
same time?
BARDSQUILL:
looks like a hit
converting to GMT
OZFRIEND:
17th 9:30PM translates
to 16th 10:30
OZFRIEND:
shockwave?
BARDSQUILL:
jeez, never heard
of a proton blast having been seen at ground level, could be a first.
OZFRIEND:
give me a sec..
my history should give me an idea when I visited the elfrad site ...
OZFRIEND:
doh... not in my
history.
BARDSQUILL:
Did you grab the
Elfrad cam data by any chance?
OZFRIEND:
I did...
OZFRIEND:
I did two or three
refreshes of it.
BARDSQUILL:
cool...best send
BARDSQUILL:
I'll try to present
this somehow
BARDSQUILL:
think it's a first
OZFRIEND:
if you want I can
use skyglobe to give an estimated 'position' in the sky.
BARDSQUILL:
yea, let's do it.
OZFRIEND:
I will get back
online in about 3 hours.. have some things to do.
BARDSQUILL:
those particles
that blew of the sun seemed really condensed and powerful, whatever they
were exactly.
OZFRIEND:
talk to you
soon...seeya
BARDSQUILL:
ok, when ye get
a chance, send all data. I'll save this IM
OZFRIEND:
ok.