Any Bright (light) Ideas?

[davefrance]

Set camera up last night to take 3 x 50 - 20 sec exposures of the southern sky in the hope of catching a shooting star or two. Looking at the exposures afterwards there are a few planes, satellites evident (perhaps a meteoroid) but also a strange light which was much more evident in the photographs than with the naked eye. It looks like a number of spotlights reflecting on some light, low cloud moving west to east but unlike other spotlights I have seen in France this appears very orange/red in colour not white. This southerly view overlooks the Quercynoise "dark triangle", there is little between us and Montauban 90 kms and Toulouse 120+kms away. I've made the frames into a time lapse video to show the movement of the beams which are quite slow.

Anyone else experienced this? any thoughts on what it might be?

Hope this link works

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx6hilMHqukEOWtxVjNxOFVxZUk/edit?usp=sharing

[TiTanecd]

Hope that won't affect AP you do.

A stadium or event?

[bogdog]

looking at google maps your in a narrowish strip with seas both sides,maybe a lighthouse on either coast?

[davefrance]

Yes, an event is a possibility, not many stadiums round here, the only one's I know use very white light sources. Have taken shots in same direction for 3 out of the last 4 nights, nothing like it on previous nights. Hard to judge distance but I think it is quite a away in the distance.

One possibility I have just thought of is a small airfield about 8kms away. Looking at Google Earth it is in that general direction but would appear to be a little too far east to be the source of the beams which seem to be coming from the South West. 

[bogdog]

forgot image

[davefrance]

looking at google maps your in a narrowish strip with seas both sides,maybe a lighthouse on either coast?

Thanks for the suggestion much appreciated, but we are over 2OO kms from the nearest sea/ocean. Not sure where you are looking but the narrowest part of France is in the South above the Pyrenees and measures approx 365 kms from the Bay of Biscay to the Med. We are located in the wider bit above that.

PS Just saw your map We are quite a bit north of where you are looking. Montauban is around 175 kms from the Med and 200 kms from Bay of Biscay. France is bigger than it looks 

[wxsatuser]

I think they are just bands of cloud moving across.

I assume it's a reasonably wide lens and it's making them look like they radiate from a point.

[davefrance]

I think they are just bands of cloud moving across.

I assume it's a reasonably wide lens and it's making them look like they radiate from a point.

Mike, looking closely at individual frames I think you are right, the lens is 18mm (27mm on 35mm). 

Would you say it is the sun lighting up the clouds? is that possible at midnight low down in the in the southern sky? Sunset here was 21:20.

The one thing that still puzzles me is the straight line - see photo below - which was cut due to the format of the video

It stays in the same position for a least 12 minutes, not sure what happened after that as I moved the camera to re-centre the Milky Way.

If it was a contrail I would have thought it would have drifted with the cloud.

[wxsatuser]

I suppose if it is cloud and contrails, then the trail may be at a more stable height.

Could be that the sun was lighting these clouds, may be they were lit from the ground.

Any big cities in that direction?

[davefrance]

The nearest town in that general direction but probably a little more west is approx 60 kms away, the next 90 kms and the next 120 kms. As I said earlier the view you can see is over the Quercynoise Dark Triangle.

There are a few hamlets and villages but nothing that would produce any real LP . 

I think it must be the sun, the colour looks right but it does seem strange that 2.1/2 hours after sunset with no visible glow in the west, clouds are being lit up.