Green Flash

[DuncanE]

About 2 weeks ago (and a rear occasion where there was no clouds in the sky) I was walking to catch a bus after work -about 18:45- when I noticed a bright green flash in the sky. Did anyone else see it? or would know what it was likely to be? certainly not an aircraft. meteor or something?

(It was in a easterly direction from High Wycombe.)

[Mumby]

When I first read the title of your post I assumed you must mean the 'green flash' on the edge of the setting sun, but upon reading your post I see that you were pointing the wrong way! Was this flash near the horizon or above your head?

Paul

[The Woodman]

Dunlop Green Flash hanging from overhead phone wires?

[Fixer]

The Green Flash
Quote “BBC Weather”
As the sun slips below the horizon the top edge of it briefly 'flashes' green. You quickly look at your drink - you don't remember ordering absinthe - but rest assured, the chances are you have been lucky enough to see the elusive 'green flash'
What causes it?
As light passes from the vacuum of space into the atmosphere, which acts like a prism, it slows down by 0.03%. This causes the light to bend or refract towards the surface of the earth. The white from the sun is made up of many different colours of light, all of which have a different wavelength. The wavelength (or colour) of light affects how much it is refracted on entering the atmosphere, with red light refracted the most and blue least (as in rainbows).

Jim

[Mumby]

Well, there you go, that explains it, you spilled your absinthe

Paul

[DuncanE]

shame I dont like absinthe, but I could do with something of the same strength or stronger.

Mumby: had another look this evening after reading your first post to work out a rough angle. As my work is in a valley I cannot see the horizon. however, it was much higher than the hill on the eastern side of this valley. At a guess 30 to 60 degrees.

thinking more about it it looked like something bounced off the atmosphere. I'd say like a "shooting star" to put it in basic terms. maybe it was a big ball of copper?

Fixer, as this was on a easter to north east side at 18:45 its not likely to be the sun but an interesting phenomena to look out for.

[thunder]

Might have been an iridium flare (reflection from the Iridium satellite) but why it should show green I don't know

henrya

[DuncanE]

Originally Posted by thunder

Might have been an iridium flare (reflection from the Iridium satellite) but why it should show green I don't know

henrya

This is what I thought - no one has reported a satellite missing and I'm sure iridium (or who ever they are called now) still has all of their satellites.

The thought takes me back a few years when I had to do a presentation on my telecoms degree about iridium vs globalstar.

it could have been junk burning up I suppose I'm sure metal can burn at the intensity of green I saw.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by DuncanE

This is what I thought - no one has reported a satellite missing and I'm sure iridium (or who ever they are called now) still has all of their satellites.

The thought takes me back a few years when I had to do a presentation on my telecoms degree about iridium vs globalstar.

it could have been junk burning up I suppose I'm sure metal can burn at the intensity of green I saw.

Iridium flares can be seen regularly - doesn't mean the death of the satellite - they just have such big reflective panels that they can be seen in daylight when the angles are just right. There are websites that tell you when and where to look to catch them

henrya