j/k
Posted on 11/29/2017 12:54:55 AM PST by Swordmaker
Something VERY strange occurred tonight while my girlfriend and I were soaking in our spa in the backyard about 9:45 PM. We live in the unincorporated area between Sacramento and Rancho Cordova, CA.
It was a very cool and clear night and we could, for the first time in a long while see the stars clearly. We turned off the security lights that illuminated the walkway along the garage and enjoyed to clear stars as we lay back and enjoyed a glass of brandy in the spa. Air temperature was about 46º F but the water temperature was a toasty 100º. Winds were only 4 mph. Nice.
Orion was very clear in the South East and I was scanning the sky when I saw a meteor streak in the Eastern sky about 15º-20º NW of Orion between four tall palm trees (separated in two groups of two) in our neighbor's yard. I told my girlfriend about it and she turned to look but missed seeing it. Just then, to more very bright meteors came in the same area, essentially coming from the East and heading generally West.
As I watched, four more meteors of various brightness flashed across the sky in that area, generally angling from about the same area of sky and burnt out. Then, very quickly about seven or eight more, also of various brightness, some as bright as magnitude 1. . . some as low as 5 or 6. All streaking straight as an arrow, all seeming to come from the same small area of the sky, all from an area seemingly way far above and obscured behind the palms. This was highly unusual.
None of the meteors lasted for more than a few seconds before burning out but brightnesses were all over the place. Pretty quickly we were seeing dozens of meteors. . . sometimes up to ten of fifteen in the space of ten seconds, going in a cone shape all from the same small area in the sky, coming down in droves. Sometimes there were a dozen in a second! All straight line of trajectory! Some longer flight than others, the brighter, the longer. You could see bright flashes through the palm fronds as well. I have never in my life seen so many meteors in such a short span of time.
I called my daughter who lived about fifteen miles East me so she and her husband could go look at the "meteor shower." I also called my primary client down in Stockton to do the same.
BOTH reported they saw nothing at all! Strange. If these were meteors, they should have been visible over a wide area.
What my girlfriend and I were seeing HAD to be a local phenomenon!
The meteor shower lasted a good ten minutes and then petered out. . .
My girlfriend had dashed inside to get my iPhone so we could try to take photos and videos but it was fruitless. She'd also put on a robe so she could try to get some photos with out the palms blocking the sky. The sky was too dark for the size of the lens on the phone to give us good pictures. Some still photos show the trees, but the meteors were pretty much gone by then.
A local meteor shower was already pretty weird, but THEN it got really even weirder.
The PALM TREES started magically twinkling and flashes of light started joyfully diving in and out of the palm fronds. These flashes were not any where nearly as bright as the "meteors" high in the sky had been, but were more like somewhat dimmed white/blue Christmas tree lights. They'd flash on, circle around the tree, diving in and out, flash a bit brighter, then go out. Some lights inside the tree would flash making a glow behind the fronds for a second or two as the light reflected off the fronds, and then go out. There'd be several more of these interior glowing globe like lights around inside the fronds. . . they'd last a second or so and then wink out. Sometimes one of the zooming lights would flash through the tree, and the flash would become a moving globe light, then come out the other side, to wink out in mid flight, or fly in, stop, then wink out.
This had all the appearances of birds or insects of some kind finding places to land and rest for the night, settling in and getting comfortable. This took about ten minutes as the activity slowly settled, the lights dimmed further and further, even in the darting around, and the twinkling died down.
During all of this my girlfriend and I heard not a sound. Nothing. No flapping of wings, no chirping, no singing. Nothing. It was totally quiet. Nor, could we see anything in the light that look like a bird or anything else, just light. These trees are perhaps 60-75 feet away, and perhaps 75 feet tall.
The photos show the trees, but I was never able to get one of the flashes. One four minute video get some faint flashes. . . and an aircraft in the back sky flying and flashing which I hoped would disturb whatever had alit in the trees. Nope, did not bother them.
Various theories were essayed by those we talked to:
Too bad, so sad.
Any other viable theories?
I used to do stage lighting a long time ago. . . I know that such lighting needs a point source. These were nothing like that. We could see them flying AROUND the tree tops and then through the tree fronds, being occulted by the fronds, etc. They were the source of the lights themselves, not a reflection of a light source from some where else. Good thought though. I did think about the Meteors being a projection on some high clouds, but there weren't any high clouds to act as a screen; there were easily visible stars above the shooting meteors.
You could do worse. . . we have a lot of fun driving her 2015 black Corvette Stingray. . .
Why, just last Wednesday we drove it from San Francisco back to Sacramento and we must have hit 2 mph in one 90 minute period that it took to go one mile!
Why it only took seven short hours to get home!
Some are LED and pretty common now. The light we purchased was an actual laser light, rather pricey and could only be ordered online. The manufacturer is Bliss Lights and the affect in trees, landscape is awesome. It makes tiny pinpoints of light everywhere in the radius, one color and stationery. Not just for holidays.
One of your neighbors has one of those Christmas laser projectors. The spillover was seen in the trees. They have become very popular and cheap.
‘Earthquake lights’ was what I thought of, when reading this.
There -have- been small earthquake swarms near the San Andreas fault recently...
Probably was a meteor shower. Check this reference, seems to be the same part of the sky for a point of origin ...
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/keep-watch-for-november-orionid-meteors/
It could be demonic in nature.
j/k
Swamp gas. Nothing to be alarmed about. Expect a visit by two guys in dark suits with sunglasses - they just have a few routine questions to ask you.
Could be fireworks celebrating the 497th anniversary of Magellan reaching the Pacific. That’s my guess.
The tree lights - maybe St. Elmo’s Fire?
Cool story.....bflr
It was a Russian weather satellite and twenty mini-satellites that launched last evening and failed to attain orbit. They all fell back to earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
NOK ICBM burning up on re-entry
7. Blotter acid poured into your hot tub water.
CC
Remember my odd experience in the wee hours of the am?
Thread => http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3464581/posts
This was the explanation => http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3464581/posts?page=80#80
I forgot to link to post #47, the best post on the thread =>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3464581/posts?page=47#47
it was the ISS ..
That same story with the trees lighting up was shown on some UFO tv show.
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