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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Mysterious light seen in the sky

Approx.the area of Sunday's sighting of the light
On social media in the Canaries and even on the forum of Canary Islands' air traffic control there were multiple reports of sighting 'a strong light about the size of a full moon' in the sky to the north of Tenerife on Sunday night. The light lasted for about three seconds just before 10.30pm and emergency services received calls from concerned citizens. The light was also spotted from  Madeira and there it was seen to the south of the Portuguese island. At least five pilots flying planes in the area also radioed reporting the light about 200 miles north of Tenerife.  Various theories have been put forward to explain the phenomenon, including a UFO, falling debris from a satellite, naval/military exercises and distress flares but most of these explanations have been ruled out by experts of the IAC (Institute of Astrophysics Canarias) and the their explanation is that probably a larger meteorite fell into the Atlantic in the area.
They also said that this is not a very unusual phenomenon. However, the size and the brightness reported were spectacular and all the large observatories in the Canaries seemingly didn't spot it.
I remember seeing a similar event to the west off La Gomera a few years ago just after sunset. It was really mind-boggling and gave the little remaining daylight in the western sky  an unreal bright greenish/blueish hue for a couple of seconds. It certainly left the few of us who saw it with our hair standing on end.

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