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A Strange Streak Imaged in Australia

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the but-what-does-it-mean dept.

Koyaanisqatsi writes "Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day presents a challenge worthy of a large audience: as it says, "Meteor experts don't think it's a meteor. Atmospheric scientists don't think it's lightning". An intriguing dark streak and bright flash that defies explanation showed up on some cloud monitoring pictures. The forumsetup to discuss it is currently hosed, so perhaps fellow slashdotters can shed some light over the mystery?"

7 of 825 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Streak? by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Weird! I could see the streak until I wiped my screen with a Kleenex and the streak vanished!

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  2. Sorry, everyone! by fireboy1919 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That was me.

    I was trying out my new death-ray. I had it miscalibrated so that you could see it.

    Don't worry about it. When death comes and strikes from the heavens for real, it'll be completely invisible.

    -Ming the Merciless

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
  3. Re:UFO? by dark_panda · · Score: 4, Funny

    There was no alien. The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

    Nothing to see here, move along folks.

    J

  4. Re:No way by dangermouse · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's clearly an artifact.

    Yes, an ancient, alien artifact, pregnant with long-dormant, world-ravaging evil, which will no doubt unleash terrible plague and death and destruction the world over, consuming the entire human race in an unimaginable apocalypse, only possibly averted by some unlikely everyman hero who has heretofore been overlooked by society but who will, no doubt, be immortalized by his deeds on the day the evil is returned to this artifact and banished forever.

    Clear as day. It's right there in the photo.

  5. Re:No way by ultrasound · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, additional analysis here shows a slightly more energetic explosion than the original image suggests.

  6. Re:Timestamps on the images by bcattwoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, but this was in Australia. In the Southern Hemisphere clocks run counter-clockwise (well, still clockwise to them), so time runs opposite of what it does in the Northern Hemisphere.

  7. Re:No way by Hrdina · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think that one came from the George Lucas expanded edition of the original.