Strange light event above Canberra, Australia

It sort of behaves like a meteor fireball, the way it briefly flashes and disperses, but there's no lateral movement across the sky, so I wonder if it's some sort of atmospheric plasma phenomenon.
 
I did wonder if it was ball lightning initially, but the way it disperses makes me inclined to think it is an atmospheric plasma event too.

Ball lightning from wikipedia:

Ball lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, spherical objects which vary in diameter from pea-sized to several meters. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a lightning bolt. Many early reports say that the ball eventually explodes, sometimes with fatal consequences, leaving behind the odor of sulfur
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There seems to have been a significant increase in atmospheric electrical activity over Australia recently too. Such as:

Blue jet - Dec 2015:

http://www.sott.net/article/308396-Large-upper-atomspheric-lightning-caught-on-camera-in-Darwin-Australia

Very intense lightning storms (More than 28,000 lightning strikes were recorded)- Nov 2015:

http://www.sott.net/article/307267-Video-captures-dramatic-lightning-storms-over-Queensland-Australia

Unusual lightning and incredible thunderstorms - July 2015:

http://www.sott.net/article/299142-Unusual-lightning-a-bizarre-blanket-of-fog-freezing-temperatures-and-first-time-snow-extreme-weather-shocks-Australia

In this real-time video of the event, you see that a thunderstorm is going on, with many flashes all around but no thunder. A deep rumbling sound occurs right after the flash appears. I wonder if it's produced by the same phenomenon:
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I think so.
 
Anam Cara said:
I did wonder if it was ball lightning initially, but the way it disperses makes me inclined to think it is an atmospheric plasma event too.

Ball lightning from wikipedia:

Ball lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, spherical objects which vary in diameter from pea-sized to several meters. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a lightning bolt. Many early reports say that the ball eventually explodes, sometimes with fatal consequences, leaving behind the odor of sulfur
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Actually, it fits that description of ball lightning, which is itself a plasma phenomenon (I think).
 
I live not far from there, and totally missed the event!
We had a light rain shower on the day, I only recorded 5.5ml of rain, and I heard some thunder but not much. We had some strong winds most of the day.
There has been a lot of rain on the coast lately and further north they are getting flooding.
To the north there has been massive lightning storms, (I don't know if it's to do with the Elvis Presley Impersonator festival happening in Parkes!)

In the area just to the North of Canberra there is an artillery range, and judging by the mountains in the background it would appear to me that that is where the 'ball lightning' was occurring.
I was in the Navy and I have observed the action of 'star shells', which are designed to illuminate an area for a length of time.
It is not inconceivable that there was some activity at the artillery range, and they may have used a few star shells.
Also the rumbling could have been from the artillery fire.
As I said, I live not far from there, and occasionally get the rumblings from the artillery.

Another possibility: Canberra Airport main runway faces North and there may have been one or more aircraft taking off, they also would produce a similar lighting effect, and also the same type of rumblings. I can hear that from my place also.
I think this is the most likely scenario.

FWIW
 
There is a video circulating on the internet of the strange light ball flashing above Canberra on 3rd of January. Some say it's a strange UFO, or perhaps a ball lightning, or even just a photoshopped fake. Any ideas? Could be another plasma event, too? Looks really weird!
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'Strange lights above Canberra' video creator admits it's fake, apologises for viral hoax

The video, posted to Reddit and YouTube on January 3, showed an aurora-like colouring in the sky and a donut-shaped flash of light, which experts thought might have been the rare phenomenon of "ball lightning".

But the uploader, Johnson Thompson, appears to have had a change of heart after the clip unexpectedly went viral, garnering more than 300,000 views on YouTube and extensive media coverage, posting a second video on Friday explaining how they'd "accidentally created" the hoax with Adobe After Effects.
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http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/strange-lights-above-canberra-video-creator-admits-its-fake-apologises-for-viral-hoax-20160110-gm2ps0.html

How this guy created the fake video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxJoA2sBaSI
 
Anam Cara said:
'Strange lights above Canberra' video creator admits it's fake, apologises for viral hoax
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Sigh. Nothing is sacred/real anymore.

But then it reminded me of a quote from Stargate SG-1 episode (yeah, go figure), where a real spaceship appeared on a production set of a sci-fi series. And there was this small dialog going on between the production crew members when they saw the ship:

GREENBURG
Cool special effect.

WRIGHT
I've seen better.

GREENBURG
Ah, we'll fix it in post.
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Don't know if this deception was intentional or a coincidence, as the author of the video said. What's for sure, it just adds more obfuscation to the topic and furthers people away from understanding what is really going on. And that's sad...
 
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