Megan's Blog

Strange goings on in the sky

No, not UFOs, but ULSs (Unidentified Light Sources). The image on the left shows a light which appeared on the horizon this week. I first noticed it coming back from a meeting at about half past ten last night but it had gone by the time I eventually left the office (which was very late, admittedly, or early depending how you look at these things). It was there again when I left at about half past eight this evening so, after having some dinner, I decided to go and hunt for it. When I spotted it yesterday I thought it might be something to do with the railway, the workmen often have bright lights shining way above the horizontal when they are working on the line at night, but this is quite a way to the west of the line so it's not them.

It actually turned out to be further away than it looks. The trouble with this part of the country is that it is very flat so there isn't anywhere to go to get a good view of the surroundings. In the end I cycled to a village which my map says is about five km away. It still looked quite a distance away and the batteries in my front light were running down (bizarrely, it has it's own low battery light) so I took a bearing and some photos before heading back.

No one I've spoken to seems to know what it is. Some of the other students spotted it yesterday and thought it might be the airport, but I'm not so sure. The streak to the right of the light in the image is a plane by the way, but I'm sure you'd guessed that already.

So, any guesses?