Transients have always been intriguing because whether at optical, radio or other wavelengths, they usually flag an object worth watching. Consider a supernova, or a Fast Radio Burst. But non-repeating transients can have astronomers both professional and amateur tearing their hair out. What was Henry Cordova, for instance, seeing in the Florida sky back in 1999? The date seems significant, as we were moving toward the Y2K event, and despite preparation, there was some concern about its effects in computer coding. Henry, a retired map maker and geographer as well as a dedicated astronomer, had a transient that did repeat, but only for a short time, and one that may well have been entangled in geopolitical events of the time. I’m reminded of our reliance on electronics, and the fact that some 60,000 commercial flights have encountered bogus GPS signals, according to The New York Times (strikingly, the U.S. has no civilian backup system for GPS). What goes on in orbit may keep us guessing as we begin to build a cislunar infrastructure. As witness this oddity.
by Henry Cordova
At about 11:30 PM, EST on 31 December 1999, I was taking out the garbage. I live in South Florida, so the weather was warm (I was wearing gym shorts, flip-flops and a t-shirt) and the sky was crystal clear. I paused to admire Orion, high in the sky and near the meridian, when I noticed a bright (about magnitude -1 or -2) strobe-like flash just south and west of Rigel. This sort of visual phenomenon is difficult to spatially locate with any precision; let’s just say it appeared to be roughly near the SW corner of the Hunter asterism. As for the flash itself, this is not a particularly unexpected event in my nighttime sky. I often see aircraft at high altitudes where their navigation lights are not visible, but their strobes stand out clearly.
I paused for a moment to see if I could catch it again, and sure enough, about a minute later it reappeared. The same bright flash, in the same general area. But unlike an aircraft, this time the light did not seem to move as you would expect a light attached to an airplane or satellite. It was in the same general area, I couldn’t judge exactly where, but it was definitely not moving. I continued observing and sure enough, about a minute later I saw it again, same flash, same place.
It had my attention. Over the next hour or so, I remained in the yard, next to my garbage cans, eyes riveted on Orion, high in the sky at my latitude. I missed the Times Square New Year’s festivities on TV. I contemplated going into the house to get my binoculars, or a watch, but decided against it. I did not want to risk missing anything or losing my eyes’ dark adaptation. I saw several more flashes, of the same brightness, at the same intervals, and at the same location. Sometime after midnight the show ended, and I went back in the house.
The following evening (1 Jan 2000!), at about the same time, while jogging, I saw the flasher again. It’s been over twenty years now, so I don’t remember how many times I saw it, or what time of night exactly, but it was in the same place and it looked the same. It flashed more than once, two or three times, about a minute apart, and then…nothing. I’ve never seen it again.
So what was it? A few possibilities can be immediately ruled out: it was not a high-flying aircraft or a satellite in low Earth orbit, I am familiar with those objects and that is not what I saw. The flashes did not move on the celestial sphere so it must be something further out. Another possibility is a solar reflection off a geosynchronous satellite; at that time and date, the solstice Sun, Earth and flasher were roughly aligned and the celestial equator runs through Orion’s belt.
I live just north of the Tropic of Cancer so the geometry for a reflection is certainly possible. But the flasher was bright, as bright as the old Echo satellites, or the ISS. I’ve heard of amateur astronomers photographing solar reflections off geosynchronous orbiters, but they are very faint, requiring specialized equipment and highly skilled observers. And it’s unlikely to be an accidental reflection, which would not occur repeatedly, and especially at the turn of the new Millennium.
I suppose the flashers could be the manifestation of some cosmological event in deep space, perhaps something like the “X-ray or gamma ray flashers”, but if so, I’ve never heard anything about them in the astronomical press. Head-on meteors are another possibility, but I think that’s highly unlikely.
My guess is that these are reflections off surveillance satellites, spies in the skies. The flashes were not solar, but beacons or reflections from powerful lasers, used in some ranging or calibration procedure, or perhaps the sign of an actual attack on the satellite–an attempt to blind or confuse its sensors.
I also recall reading somewhere that there is a gravitational “sweet spot” somewhere along longitude 90 W. The Earth’s gravitational field is not perfectly spherical. It has bumps and wrinkles, places inherently unstable or stable, respectively, to geosynchronous satellites. An object placed at one of the dips would have a tendency to remain there and not require constant fuel expenditure to remain on station.
Such spots would no doubt be reserved for national security orbiters. A geostationary satellite placed there would be able to continuously monitor radio traffic or missile launches on the eastern USA or the Caribbean basin. To an observer on Earth, such a satellite would appear to slowly wander east and west, and north and south, of a spot on the celestial equator. These would be highly secret missions, but I suspect these are big birds, perhaps with huge antennas deployed on them.
You will recall all the concern in those years about possible “Y2K” events, errors caused by programmers failing to code their software to accommodate the change to the new century/millennium. As it turns out, not much really happened, but there was a general fear that problems might occur. I even recall reading that there might be issues with our spy satellites. As it turns out, I do recall reading in the general press a few weeks later that some “minor Y2K problems” occurred in our orbital reconnaissance vehicles, but that they were quickly taken care of. Hmmmm… even if this were true, why would they bother publicizing it?
I certainly don’t know what the flashers were, and I’ve never heard about anyone else seeing them. Perhaps someone reading these lines can suggest a solution to the mystery. Until then, I can continue to think that maybe, just maybe, I may have witnessed one of the last battles of the Cold War.
Given the stationary nature of the flashes, this certainly implies a geostationary satellite of some kind. The brightness you estimate is equivalent to Sirius, so definitely noticeable. There are a large number of such satellites in orbit, and this database resource might be of use if you haven’t used it.
Elsewhere, I don’t see any mention of laser ASATs around that time, but that doesn’t mean none were attempted. Could the light source be from the satellite itself for some purpose?
The only other object I can think of is very high-altitude balloons or dirigibles. This event was before commercial companies like Google were testing balloons for internet service. There were proposals for dirigibles as communication and surveillance vehicles that would be able to loiter over a position. As they would be much closer to you, they could be the source of reflections off the hull – either from the sun or artificial sources.
No reports of some navy pilots seeing this UAO with amazing powers of propulsion? ;-)
Hi, Alex
I have no idea what it was, and it seems all my explanations have drawbacks, and none of the ideas I rejected can be ruled out completely.
The old Echo orbiting balloons were shiny aluminized Mylar spheres a hundred feet in diameter and one or two hundred miles away. But this thing would be a hundred times further away, and probably designed to be as inconspicuous as possible,. I just can’t imagine it being so bright.
Your suggestion of a light on a high-altitude balloon (to warn off aircraft?) has merit Although a warning beacon would be designed to flash faster. Perhaps the light would assist in tracking it from the ground without simultaneously alarming too many citizens. It could flash once a minute, or upon command from the trackers. Perhaps an illuminated balloon is the best explanation! But it would still have to be in a place where there was no wind. This guy was not moving.
Most interesting is the idea of a cosmological origin: a natural phenomenon emitting great blasts of energy from an enormous distance, or perhaps a wave of extremely high energy particles or rays, powerful enough to excite the human retina, even after penetrating our atmospheric defenses. In daylight, or undergoing normal human activity, no one might notice, but a naked eye astronomer staring at the night sky would immediately pick up on it.
The flash appeared to last no more than about a tenth of a second, so it would have to be generated by an event less than about 20,000 miles across (the speed of light gives us an upper limit to the object’s/event’s size. I wish I had had a clock, and a notebook with me…
With a degree in Astronomy, and a lifetime as a an active amateur, I have spent a endless hours looking at the night sky; I have seen many things I could not identify, but have never witnessed any event or phenomenon that I suspected was an alien spacecraft. I can imagine an untrained observer seeing the same things I have seen convinced we are being visited by extra terrestrial intelligence. But I can honestly say I haven’t, and unless the report comes from someone with comparable experience to mine, I’m not inclined to believe them. I’ve also witnessed others who experienced the same phenomenon I did and describe it in a totally different way.
Someday I may be persuaded to relate some of the screwball things I have seen. I have a tentative (if not completely convincing) rational explanation for every one of them, but I can’t totally rule out I have seen one of THEM either.
I’ve had similar experiences with the mysterious lights and flashes in the sky. The best thing to do is go get those binoculars which is what I have done. Get some high power binoculars with high magnification and wide front lenses for better light gathering power and high resolution.
Henry Cordova’s conclusion that those flashes must be in the lower atmosphere is correct as your method is scientific. On clear nights in the city, every one in a while, I used to see this faint lights they would move slowly across the sky for a couple of degrees then slowly fade out. . Also I have not only seen continuous flashes , but a few times lights burning so bright like incandescence in the clear, dark night sky. They went a short distance and the light went out. I wondered what they were.
I could not explain these by normal atmospheric and space phenomenon including Earthly aircraft, as they were too slow for meteors, satellites. After the use of binoculars, my conclusion, is UFO phenomenon which increased my interest in interstellar propulsion physics.
I recall a few relatives telling me about some nuts who used the Y2K to get attention by banging on restaurant windows and getting wild by yelling Y2K Y2K over and over again. Any excuse will do on new years.
I did not conclude they were in the lower atmosphere, because they were NOT moving. They appeared to be fixed on the celestial sphere. Not in the atmosphere, not in low earth orbit. They were either geostationary satellites, solar system objects or interstellar or extragalactic objects. objects.
Slowly moving lights that gradually fade out is the typical signature of a low earth orbit satellite gradually moving into earth’s shadow.
That is correct, however these were at the zenith and therefore not in Earths shadow. There were also too slow for satellites which I have seen many times being an amateur astronomer satellites moving into the shadow near the horizon. I can’t explain your flash though as being in the lower atmosphere so I agree with you. I can’t say I have seen anything like that. The problem with geostationary satellites is that you could only see a single pinpoint of light as there is not any atmosphere in space to scatter light to get the flash effect. The flashes I saw were definitely from points of light like some kind of strobe light from a moving object which could have been a high plane.
I live in a city so there is a lot of light pollution so anything I have seen is quite bright. To see the Gegenschein or zodiacal light one has to get away from the city lights. I don’t know what the light is like in your area of Florida.
Hi Henry
may be this experience ? (see p2) https://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/1999-2000/1999_12_26.pdf
Nice to see your latest work here, Henry!
My guess for those flashes is the Iridium flares:
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/observing-iridium-flares/
https://earthsky.org/space/i-saw-a-flash-in-the-night-sky-what-is-it/
You may find these pages helpful too:
https://www.satobs.org/iridium.html
https://www.satobs.org/satintro.html
I hope your answer comes soon, especially if it nonterrestrial. :^)
Maybe. I’ve never seen an Iridium flare…that I know of.
I happened to see some of them: it lasts a little second, we see the brightness increase to its maximum and then “switch off” I do not think you saw a reflection. because the satellite would have to be in exactly the same position at the same time, which is practically impossible.
However, the Stellarium software shows us that on 31 Dec 1999 around 11:30 pm in Miami, there is a satellite called 1998-067WJ which made several orbits while passing the SW of Orion. Could it have been the cause of several flare ? but it doesn’t seem to match Henry’s description and a flashing signal.
Voici une copie ecran de Stellarium : https://ibb.co/XWNk2KZ
Good detective work, Fred! But that could have not been what I saw. My flasher was South and West of Rigel (Beta Orionis), about 5 degrees away. The green line on your chart is passing SE of Saiph (Kappa Orionis). Also, I watched that spot for almost an hour and the light did not move. As for 1998-067WJ passing roughly through the same general area, its not surprising. There are thousands of satellites and assorted debris floating around up there and no matter when and where you look there’s bound to be some cataloged object nearby.
The fact that the flasher was not moving, was visible for many minutes over two days, and flashed regularly and homogeneously, is why it made such an impression on me. Otherwise, I would have dismissed it as “just another piece of space junk”.
A specular solar reflection from a tumbling LEO satellite is not unusual, but it is a brief event and the geometry does not repeat itself as seen from one point on the ground. I have seen periodic flashers with a frequency of several seconds, but they move at “satellite speeds” across the sky. A tumbling shiny object is the obvious explanation for this.
What makes this sighting unique is that
1) the flash did not move on the celestial sphere
2) it repeated multiple times at roughly 1 minute regular intervals
3) it ceased flashing abruptly after multiple manifestations
4) It was seen on two successive nights
5) the flashes were distinct and abrupt, a strobe (as opposed to a gradual
dimming and brightening)
6) the flashes were identical in brightness and duration
7) the color of the light did not appear to be reflected sunlight, it
appeared to be bluer, like an O or B star. (This argument is, of course,
highly subjective on my part)
8) In late December, at midnight, near the celestial equator, as seen from
Fort Lauderdale, the object would have been
in the middle of the earth’s shadow
So far, the best (conventional) explanations I can come up with are a geostationary satellite or a flashing strobe on a high altitude balloon.
the question becomes much more complex if one attempts a rational nonterrestrial explanation. Given the distances it should already assume a particularly powerful and rectilinear light source (a super-laser ?) which suggests a civilization with a technologically more developed.
Another remark: either the light beam targeted the earth – which would mean that “they” located us – or the signal aimed at a point beyond the earth : which one & why ? How do you decode the information if he has one ?
One can speculate from the Morse code to a “language” based on the hydrogen ray or the main atoms which amounts to asking the question of a universal means of communication…
Finally, if we assume a natural object that radiates, I see only one explanation: that of gamma radiation that would be obscured at a frequency rather raised by another object. What would it be and why would we have seen it only at that time? We can imagine everything but I wouldn’t go any further for lack of more concrete elements that would make us go beyond the framework of CDs :)
@Henry
First I must say that I never heard of this “flasher” here in France, at the time.
It happened to me to see all kinds of lights in the sky with sometimes amusing experiences ; an uninitiated speaks immediately about UFO’s while the explanation is very often of human origin. I always found an explanation for what I had seen, sometimes it took me time and it was twisted (case of my retired engineer neighbor who saw flashing triangles and even reported to the cops :)
What is interesting is the perception of phenomena, their transcriptions and the explanation that can be given that will often be distorted by our own culture (thanks Spielberg) What I mean is that you have to have a very methodical rational mind to try to explain these lights.
Your description is precise and rich in information: presumably it is something built by humans and close to the earth. Indeed, I can’t imagine E.T near Rigel playing with his Maglite in our direction :) and if it was a gamma-ray burst or something like that, there wouldn’t have been as much regularity in the signal.
The repetition in sequences of the light signal over two days (!) actually reminds us of a series of telemetry pulses. I don’t see what else it could be. Ionization phenomena in high atmosphere can produce amazing things but not regular at this point.
So I found some information that could (to check) correspond to a problem with spy satellites at this time, see links below :
there would have been the loss of an American imaging satellite for a few hours during the millennium. We learn that this KH-11 model is in a synchronous orbit around the pole but also that it transmits its data via relay satellites that are on a “Molniya” orbit. But the orbit Molniya, projected on the earth passes precisely in the center of the USA not far from Florida. So would it be that? :)
https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/01/12/Y2K-glitch-hobbled-top-secret-spy-sats/7671947653200/
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kh-11.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit#/media/File:Molniya.jpg
Excellent detective work, Fred. We still don’t know just what those flashes were, but I think you have picked up the trail!
Thank you Henri…it’s just a line of research that seems most likely to me. As for really knowing what it was, I’m not sure we have the official explanation right away.