Posted on 03/18/2019 3:29:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Probably a helium balloon trailing an infrared cyalume lightstick.
It wouldn’t be detectable on radar and you wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark with the unaided eye. Image Intensification (II^2) NODs also see in the near-infrared spectrum, which is why all the US military’s combat uniforms now have IR-reflective tabs on them. So good guys with II^2 NODs can tell the sheep from the goats.
With NODs you see shooting stars regularly, all night every night, because there are tiny particles continually entering earth’s atmosphere and burning up but making a light hundreds of times too faint for the human eye to see.
Pretty much but daughter said it could be disorienting. Too many light sources could cause glare blindness but the equipment was their savior in marginal night weather and in unfamiliar rural areas. Their training emphasized when to use and when not to use.
And they can say nothing about what it was, too bad.
Sometimes you simply have to use night vision goggles...
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