How Does One Verify A Cosmological Event?

[socrateaze]

A few years ago, I was witness to what I believe might have been a cosmological event. I took some notes and always wanted to "look it up" when I got the chance, but never got around to it.<br /><br />Can anyone suggest organizations or resources with which I might cross-reference my data to try to determine what it was that I saw?<br /><br />Thanks in advance for any advice! :^)

 

[vogon13]

With no more information than what you have posted, I can only suggest you google 'iridium flash'.<br /><br />Odds are about 85% that is what you saw.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[socrateaze]

What's remarkable about your intuition is that the event was precisely a strange flash! It adds credence to your first instinct and makes me more confident that I did not mistake some other phenomenon for a CE.<br /><br />It was a flash in the northern sky, at about 1am on a crystaline night. It lasted about 1/3 of a second, grew to about the size of the limb of the moon, though about thrice as bright, and disappeared instantly.<br /><br />I theorized it to be one of three things: a physiological phenomenon in my own body (eyes, brain); an aircraft disaster; or a CE.<br /><br />Given that I snapped my head at the first registration of the flash, and the flash did not track with my head movement, but, instead, held its position relative to me in the sky, I ruled out physiology. The seeing of "stars," optic nerve feedback, and those little, glowing "spermatoza" you might see with a loss of blood to the eye, all track with the eye when it moves.<br /><br />Since the flash was so bright, I thought it could not be an aircraft exploding. If it were, it would either have to have been carrying extremely volitile fuel (i.e., hydrogen), in which case it might have been up to 20 miles distant; or it would have to have been closer, and for some strange reason not given report or decayed into a shower of debris. In fact, what struck me most about the event was the decay. The flash, lasting about 1/3 of a second, was very slow compared to the decay, which was almost instantaneous. Since my head moved, persistence of vision had little effect on my eye; I suffered almost no visual latency. But the flash consumed itself from full brightness to utter dispersal in some 1/20th of a second. Also, the flash was perfectly white. It seemed that a terrestrial explosion would most certainly have had a color of orange to blue.<br /><br />That left only a Cosmological Event. I suspected, perhaps, a nova or something similar. But the perfect symetry of the orb, it's silent, aggressive growth,

 

[socrateaze]

Ahhhh! Well, now I've done my homework, and, of course, it appears to be "Option 4." In other words, the thing I didn't think of.<br /><br />I feel foolish for not having considered solar reflection from an extra-atmospheric vehicle. But, though the material in indurium flashes that I read would render my viewing as unusually bright, I tend to belive now that that's precisely what I saw, and for some good reasons.<br /><br />I haven't yet found my notes (I'd taken them in the hopes of pinpointing the position of the event in the sky in order to reference CE material at a later date). But I do remember some features in broad strokes.<br /><br />First, it was northern California in early November of 2004, if I recall. Second, it was a clear night...actually morning, to be accurate...at just after 1am. The flash had an elevation of about 30 to 40 degrees from horizon, and was located about 15 to 30 degrees east of true north. Suggest anything? :^)<br /><br />Yes...the position of the flash placed me almost directly in line with the sun at that moment, which was low in the south and on the opposite side of the earth. Perfect circumstances for a reflection phenomenon. Perhaps the object was moving quickly, or rotating slowly. Why it was so bright, I can't say, but the symetry, color, and every other factor make a vehicular reflection seem by far to be the most likely explanation to what I saw.<br /><br />Oh, well! Have to spot a supernova some other time! lol! Thanks again for the help!

 

[silylene old]

Pardon my ignorance at your jargon, but what is a "CE" ? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[petepan]

I think the "CE" = Cosmological Event <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[qso1]

Contact a University astronomer in your area or possibly E-mail one of the ones that have websites such as Phil Plaitt. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

>>"But, though the material in indurium flashes that I read would render my viewing as unusually bright"<br /><br />Flares from the main antenna can be as bright as magnitude -8.