I, too doubt that cosmic ray events would produce the reported phenomena. It appears to me that this person saw two different things: The summertime "sightings" sound like distant lightning. Anyone who has spent some time under the night sky, especially during summer, has seen such lightning, even when there are no local storms/clouds visible. As for the event "north of Salt Lake" that the viewer witnessed recently, I suspect (1) aurora borealis (northern lights) (2) Thiokol? or (3) military flares, such as those we have frequently seen from Lakeside and Rush Valley. Anyone else? BTW, I put LGM at the very bottom of my list - or rather not on the list at all. Just in case it comes up... -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 10:09 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Strange Email from a viewer! Someone could contact the control tower at SLC Int'l, see if they noticed anything. My thoughts lean toward a man-made explanation, perhaps military testing or training, maybe escpecially bright burn-off flares from the refineries. If natural, could be a "mini-comet" burning-up in the atmosphere, followed by a terminal burst(s), or a cluster of them. I doubt that a cosmic-ray event could produce a visible event beyond a dim glow, but even this could be easily verified by the U of U physics dept., if they still have their cosmic-ray observatory in operation. C. "I used to be all messed-up on drugs, now I'm all messed-up on the Lord." Cheech & Chong --- Kim Hyatt <khyatt@smithlayton.com> wrote:

Years ago I observed numerous similar events. However, I was indoors and under the influence of some rather extraordinary illegal substances.

Then went to "Laser Floyd", right? ;) __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy