---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 23:28:18 -0400 From: Mark C. Taylor <mct@INTERRAMP.COM> To: Astro List <astro@store-forward.mindspring.com> Subject: Pinpoint flashes My wife and I were sitting on our porch tonight (7/12) in Sunnyvale, CA, and each of us saw multiple STATIONARY PINPOINT lights flash quickly on and then off (<1 sec each) in the immediate vacinity of the Big Dipper (one near the end of the handle, one inside the bowl) There were 3-4 distinct "blips" (one MAY have been a short meteor), all of which occured in the 10 minute span from 2240-2250 PDT. The "blips" were brighter than the surrounding "dipper stars" at their max. The light ranged from clean white to a "peachy" off-white. This was a REALLY unusual looking display. All I can imagine is that either a series of meteors came in absolutely parallel to our line of sight (from the waning shower?), or there were multiple cosmic ray/electron shower events induced by the solar flare (wouldn't THAT be wild). Any thoughts? I've never seen anything like this... ~~~~~~ ------------------------------ | | Mark C. Taylor mct@interramp.com |-OO-| Sunnyvale, San Jose, CA | () | Amateur Astronomer / SJAA Member --ooO--------Ooo-- Software Architect / Engineer Kilbert was here