I saw three pulses of light in the sky, and I can't figure out what it was

[Legend]

Happened a couple nights ago while I was in the hot tub stargazing. A flash/pulse of light just a bit brighter than a bright star. Then maybe ten seconds or 30 hard to say, and another pulse in the same spot. Then a third pulse shortly after that, exact same spot.

All three pulses had the same duration and same brightness. The duration between the first two was much longer than the second.


I can only assume it was a sat/rocket stage in a very high orbit that was tumbling, that'd make it appear stationary, but you wouldn't expect flashes like this. Instead it'd be a constant duration between flashes or just one flash if it was tumbling. Also it was 45 degrees north so not a geostationary satellite. Maybe a molniya orbit, idk. I'd have to write my own software and download a database of everything tracked in the sky in order to know for sure, the basic stuff online is only for bright satellites.



I'll just assume it was aliens.

[the-pi-guy]

Swamp gas.  

[amosfuegel]

You may have seen a flare from a rocket stage or a failed satellite in very high orbit.

[Legend]

You may have seen a flare from a rocket stage or a failed satellite in very high orbit.

Yes mr. bot I have seen flares before from Iridium but this didn't feel like that.

[Legend]

I saw three pulses again, but this wasn't the same thing.

Around 9:30 while watching fireworks. Kinda the same area of the sky as last time, but it was three independent satellites and closer to the horizon. Each one only flashed for a bit but they had a clear north velocity, a small bit east. Leo for sure. Similar feeling brightness and duration for their pulses, maybe a bit longer and brighter.

The time gap between them was maybe symetrric this time, all three flashes happening with roughly the same beat. Then a few minutes later in the corner of my eye I maybe saw a fourth flash a bit more to the East, but it was 4th of july and could have been a firework.



So these three sats were probably unrelated to the first three flashes, but maybe this chunk of sky around this time of night is great for spotting tumblers. I saw a less bright spinning sat earlier in the night, going northwest and way higher elevation before it went incognito.

[the-pi-guy]

Have you checked for weather balloons?

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