(meteorobs) very bright mystery flash

[YoungBob2 at aol.com]

Ed:

It reminds me of similar flashes here back in the 1980s.  Turned
out it was Air Force recconaisance aircraft taking training pixs,
using an intense flashing light.

Clear skies,
Bob Young

<< 
 Last night (Friday evening local time) there was a very 
 brief (less than one second), very bright flash in the 
 sky here at about 11:23 PM (4:23 July 9 UTC).  My friend 
 and I were looking in different directions, and suddenly 
 the sky lit up.  He said the ground lit up to about the 
 brightness of a first-quarter Moon (i.e., -7 or -8).  No 
 fireball or any other trace of an after-effect was seen.  
 If it had been a firework, as bright as it was we would 
 have expected to hear the report, but there was no sound.  
 I was drawn to turn to the southeast, but it could have 
 been above my head.  To me it seemed to be white, as 
 opposed to the brilliant blue I've seen with a couple of 
 transformer explosion flashes -- which also laster 
 longer and were down at the horizon level.
  >>