Flash in the sky

[Astrodude]

Hi All,

Did anyone in Melbourne see a couple of blue flashes in the sky at about 8.45pm tonight???

I've seen this phenomenom a couple of times in my lifetime but because I've never seen it clearly I have always put it down to things like power lines arcing in the distance or something....

... but in this case there was no doubt. I was observing at the time and saw it clearly. It was a bright blue flash (I have seen it as green in the past too) in the East followed by another about 3 seconds later. Each flash lasted about a second.

Any clues???

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I do believe that you have witnessed a meteor, coming in head on!!
Like regularly viewed meteors, they may burn in different colours due to their composition. Green is an indication of copper for example.

[Astrodude]

Really? It lit up the sky from horizon to zenith, would a meteor do that?

[iceman (Mike)]

Sometimes it can be very distant lightning, even when it's perfectly clear right above you.

At IISAC2009, we had lots of flashes that lit up the sky, and it was definitely lightning out over the ocean I guess.

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

Could it be possible to see the Polar lights from Melbourne ?

They I believe can be the colour you have described.

[danielsun]

Hey Astrodude, you just reminded me of exactly the same thing I had seen about 20 years ago on a crystal clear night where myself and two friends were standinding at the top of a hill just chating and enjoying the view when a bright blue ball flash just up from the horizon deg lit up the entire sky in blue for aprox a second and have no idea what it was. The blue ball was very intense and the flash grew outward lighting the sky.
It was too clear a night to be lightning so then we thought it may have been a power station blowing a transformer or something but we ruled that out too because it was just too bright.

Cheers Daniel.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by danielsun

Hey Astrodude, you just reminded me of exactly the same thing I had seen about 20 years ago on a crystal clear night where myself and two friends were standinding at the top of a hill just chating and enjoying the view when a bright blue ball flash lit up the entire sky in blue for aprox a second and have no idea what it was.
It was too clear a night to be lightning so then we thought it may have been a power station blowing a transformer or something but we ruled that out too because it was just too bright.

Cheers Daniel.

Might be Min Min lights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Min_light