This occurred at around 12:45 AM on Saturday August 12th somewhere in the center of Nantucket Island Massachusetts. We were trying to spot the Perseids meteor shower when I noticed a strange green thing in the corner of my eye. I could only se it in the corner of my eye for some reason because anytime I tried looking at it directly it disappeared. I took out my binoculars to try and see it and all I saw was six greenish lights looking like they were entering the atmosphere. Anyone know what this may have been? Or should my entire family see the eye doctor?
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$\begingroup$ I don't want to say this is a real phenomenon because I'm not 100% sure, but I've read that near the horizon, if the conditions of the sky are just right, bright objects can appear green, if the red and blue lights are sufficiently scattered. This is the cause of the often reported but rarely documented "green flash". I gather it's possible, but rare. It requires sufficient water vapor in the air between you and the object. No reason it couldn't happen with stars, in fact, the smaller size might make it easier, but would need to be very close to the horizon. $\endgroup$– userLTKAug 13 at 9:05
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$\begingroup$ Just to say it, the "can't see when looking right at it" is pretty normal for very dim lights. Your peripheral vision is much more rich in rod-cells than your cone-focused central vision. Rods are highly sensitive to luminance in exchange for not picking up on color, so your central vision needs more light but gives you color discrimination, while your peripheral vision is better for seeing very dim things. Astronomy students are often advised to look slightly to the side of whatever they're trying to see. $\endgroup$– Darth PseudonymAug 14 at 15:41
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2 Answers
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Sorry, but my answer may be a little speculative
I used Stellarium to find out where and what exactly it was, 12:45 AM on Saturday August 12th in the center of Nantucket Island Massachusetts. There were 6 things in the constellation Perseus, which were Starlink satellites e.x Starlink-2447 and few others.
And I think they were glowing bright green, because of some Satellite flare that may have occurred due to the angle of reflection from neighboring sources of light like the meteor shower itself.
It also may be nearby star cluster like Pleides (NE), if you were not looking in the right direction, which is also known as the seven sisters
Thanks, Hope it helps you!
Precaution: The retina was not adapted for the light, and light adaptation is essential for stargazing or else glares may occur like in the question
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Were you looking NE? The Pleiades were just above the horizon at 12:45am.
If not that, then unlikely to be any astronomical phenomenon.
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$\begingroup$ The Pleiades solution is simple to prove or disprove as they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. OP could try to replicate the event and let us know if the six lights were still there. My guess is they will be. $\endgroup$– JohnHuntAug 16 at 12:42