Mysterious Light - Not a UFO =P

[c3dr1c]

Hello everyone.

I create this topic to try to solve one mysterious. I took pictures from a mysterious light at 10 January 2015 and i don't know what it is... Initialy when i saw the light, i was very happy because i think i photographed one supernova or something related. But when i analysed the images i percepted that the object don't move as the apparent motion of the sky. This light was visible more less 45min in the sky. In the moment i didn't percept any motion but there are a little rectilineious motion.

I search and i found that in this day, the Spacex Falcon 9 CRS-5 was launch. Can be a picture of something related with that?
This picture was taken in portugal, at 21h00.

What do you think about that?

IMG_2356 by Cédric Pereira, no Flickr

Greetings

[Chris Peterson]

Hello everyone.

I create this topic to try to solve one mysterious. I took pictures from a mysterious light at 10 January 2015 and i don't know what it is... Initialy when i saw the light, i was very happy because i think i photographed one supernova or something related. But when i analysed the images i percepted that the object don't move as the apparent motion of the sky. This light was visible more less 45min in the sky. In the moment i didn't percept any motion but there are a little rectilineious motion.

I search and i found that in this day, the Spacex Falcon 9 CRS-5 was launch. Can be a picture of something related with that?
This picture was taken in portugal, at 21h00.

What do you think about that?

It could definitely be related. The image looks like shots I've seen of high altitude exhaust or fuel dumps during launch sequences.

[c3dr1c]

Thank you for your answer...

But I have a doubt related with the time of the launch and the time of my observations. Because the time of the launch was 9h00 and my observations was 21h.

[Chris Peterson]

Thank you for your answer...

But I have a doubt related with the time of the launch and the time of my observations. Because the time of the launch was 9h00 and my observations was 21h.

Another possibility would be a sounding rocket or other research launch. Those are fairly common, usually with little notice.

[geckzilla]

They look like ice crystal light pillars to me.

[c3dr1c]

It can be, but i only observed a light spot in the sky and not a pillar from ground to the sky...

[geckzilla]

Was it directly above you?

[Chris Peterson]

Was it directly above you?

Given the time and location, it must have been almost directly overhead.

[geckzilla]

As usual, Les Cowley and his highly informative website has a pertinent example:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/pilpic22.htm

There must have been a bright light fairly close to Cédric during the event. The ice crystal layer may also have been relatively thin, contributing to the shortness of the pillars.

[Chris Peterson]

As usual, Les Cowley and his highly informative website has a pertinent example:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/pilpic22.htm

There must have been a bright light fairly close to Cédric during the event. The ice crystal layer may also have been relatively thin, contributing to the shortness of the pillars.

Sure looks like the same phenomenon, doesn't it? (I don't know exactly where this was taken... there are some higher elevation areas of Portugal that had fog and temperatures a little below freezing on that night. Nothing as cold as we usually associate with light pillars, but I suppose anything below freezing could be sufficient under the right circumstances.)

[geckzilla]

Sure, and the ground level temperatures may have been significantly warmer than the air above.

[Chris Peterson]

Sure, and the ground level temperatures may have been significantly warmer than the air above.

I don't know how high the ice crystals can get before the effect is lost. Every example I've ever seen the ice has been very low- pretty much ground level. But obviously this zenith effect requires that the ice layer be at least somewhat above ground level.

[geckzilla]

Having them at zenith might make otherwise very tenuous pillars more easily visible, too. Perhaps the ground-level pillars viewed horizontally need more favorable conditions to make them very bright, while zenith pillars can be viewed with less exceptional conditions? Who knows. The photographer of image I found when searching for a similar example reports that ground temperatures were well above freezing.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/victorvon ... 380073250/

[c3dr1c]

Hello all! Thank you very much for your interesting in this fenomena.

I will discribe the entire story... sorry for the incomplete information.
------------------------------
10th of January of 2015, at 8h30pm I come outside to apreciate the stars while I'm waiting for that my dinner finish coocking.
I looked up to the zenith and I observed a cloud with a faint light spot, but I didn't care because I thought that was a very bright star behind the cloud.
I come to the kitchen to check the dinner and I thought... "hum, I don't remember any very bright star in the sky, by this time of the year". I went to my computer to check in stellarium and I didn't find any very bright star in the zenith.
After that, I waited for a open between the clouds and I found that light that you can see in the pictures... I picked up my camera and I took some pictures.
Maybe 45 minutes or 1 hour after the start, the light became gradually more faint until disappeared...
-------------------------------
I don't remember the temperatures, but in Évora - Portugal, at January I think it's very cold. Not 0ºC but sometimes can be close.
I remember the bad weather and some rain... I think, because of the rain, maybe the temperature was 5ºC or 10ºC... I dont know...

I know other person that saw the light also at Évora. I don't know the exact position or if she was far way from me, but I can ask.
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This is a link to all the pictures (you don't need an dropbox account to access):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c10daj2wiozj ... 7cHTa?dl=0

Thank you very mutch... I kept this event in a drawer but from time to time I remember it and how I like to know waht can produce this light
Greetings

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]A laser, tuned exactly to the D2 transition of sodium, can be used to excite the sodium layer at 90km altitude. The beacon thus created can be used as the guide star for an adaptive optics system[/color][/b]

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First Sodium Laser Beacon at La Palma
No. 2, March 2000

<<As with any adaptive optics system, NAOMI will rely on measuring light from a relatively bright reference object, or "guide star", close to the desired target in order to make the necessary correction. At visible wavelengths, however, it is often not possible to find a sufficiently bright star in the neighbourhood of the astronomical region of interest. One would like to be able to simply dial-up a guide star exactly where it is needed, and this is possible with the use of a "sodium laser beacon". At an altitude of 90km, well above the troublesome turbulence (which rarely reaches beyond 25 km altitude), is a 15 km thick layer of sodium atoms which, just as in a sodium lamp, can be excited to spontaneously emit light. To achieve this from the ground we can use a laser tuned to an absorption wavelength (589.0 nm) of the sodium atoms. The excited region of atoms creates a bright spot in the sky, the sodium laser beacon, which can be used as the guide star for an adaptive optics system.>>