I posted the stills below from last night on the Eclipse thread. I also just quickly edited two minutes of the video and attached it as a link to my YT channel below.
April.08.2024 Lights
This very energetic light hung around for at least an hour. When I went to bed it was still out there doing the exact same thing. I checked in the morning at 0630 before going to work, but it was already bright out and the light was gone
To give a bit of background, I'm not an expert at using the night vision yet, and I really should have gone into the basement and dug out the tripod to stabilize it. But I thought I might miss it doing something
I wear glasses, so usually with the light pollution and atmospheric effects, everything looks kind of twinkly to me in the night sky. I have a general idea of where the stars and planets are supposed to be - so even if I see something out of the ordinary - I don't grab the night vision. We live close to downtown and the police helicopter is overhead all the time. Usually what will catch my attention is a high-flying jet - because it's blinking and I can't hear it yet. But after watching for a while, a clear flight path and the engines will become clear.
This light may have been slightly moving South to North, but not much. If I had to guess, I would say it was between five and ten thousand feet. Much higher than a landing plane or the police chopper, but nowhere near where a big jet would be overflying to another destination.
When I took the night vision out last night, it was because Jupiter looked bright and I wanted to see it. Before I scanned over to Jupiter, I found this. Maybe a light effect? But I scanned the other stars and they all looked like they usually do through night vision. This light was completely different. I did bring my wife out and she was surprised because this light was barely visible with the naked eye and looked like a dim star. But once it came onto the night vision, it looked completely different.
The night vision idea came from Paulides - who uses 4th generation military stuff. Which are out of my range for the cost. The Sionyx Aurora is still pricey, but you can find them on e-bay for a deal occasionally. They also film in colour, which I thought could be an advantage - even though you lose resolution. This light could be some odd atmospheric anomaly, but I don't thing it's a drone, plane or satellite due to its brightness, silence and the fact it barely moved for over an hour.
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Interesting. Thanks for sharing! A couple of questions:
- You said your wife saw it with the naked eye? Did you see it with the naked eye, too? If so, that pretty much rules out a light reflection/light effect within the camera system.
- It was dark/night outside, right?
- Was the “blinking“ that can be seen in the video also noticeable with the naked eye?
- Did the light appear to be behind/above the clouds at all points in time? If not;
- Did you see and/or record the light infront/below the clouds? If so, can you share it with us?
- Have you checked with the program called “Stellarium“ if there was a star and/or planet visible at this point and place in time? You can put in your exact location and the time you were looking into that program and then you can look at the night sky in the direction you were looking and you can compare.
