Mystery Phenomena at the Arctic Circle

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owlice
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Mystery Phenomena at the Arctic Circle

Post by owlice » Sun Nov 06, 2016 2:28 am

The images below were sent to APOD by the photographer, who asked for help with identifying what she saw. Here is information from her first email:
Image location: Canada / Arctic Circle / lat: 66 33’ N

Time of image: AM 3.17 date: September 09 / 2016

This images was edited in Photoshop to delete some of the “noise” and enhance the contrast

I was taking pictures of the Aurora Borealis when there was a period of not much happening. When I looked over my shoulder all of a sudden I saw this phenomena appearing what I believed at first to be a planet rising. It then realized that I could see through it. I have inquired but as of yet have not been given a reasonable explanation of what it is that I saw.

I have 40 consecutive time-lapse images at 6 seconds interval, where “this” rises like a planet over the horizon.
She subsequently wrote:
From the moment I noticed the strange round light coming over the distant mountain range until it evaporated, it took maybe 10 minutes.
And she assured me she saw this with the naked eye.

To me, these look a lot like the "Mystery Flash on Mauna Kea." Is this possibly a similar venting event? Or something else?

Images are 9MB each.
Phenomona.jpg
Phenomena at Arctic Circle.jpg
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

nuclrengnr
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Re: Mystery Phenomena at the Arctic Circle

Post by nuclrengnr » Sun Nov 06, 2016 3:59 am

Appears to be a phenomenon known as a halo but more so of the air glow phenom aswell. Which direction were you facing, North? Was the sun behind you or behind the planet?

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owlice
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Re: Mystery Phenomena at the Arctic Circle

Post by owlice » Sun Nov 06, 2016 3:24 pm

I asked Phil Plait (aka Bad Astronomer) to have a look; his response was Yeah, it’s likely a fuel dump from a missile." He has a good explanation and images here on a similar event, and also wrote about the event seen from Mauna Kea that I linked to in the first post.

My thanks to those who weighed in here and on Facebook; thanks!
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

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