I live in India, from there, a few years(2016) ago, I had spotted quite bright, uniformly(didn't change the shape while moving) crystal shaped green light very slowly moving above the clouds during the time 19:00-19:05 or so. That was very gas like(faint at the borders), rather than a solid green light, and I was 'convinced' I had seen aurora lights, but then I read they can not reach my area(equator), and are not so small. Very small but slightly broader than what ISS would look from the same place(earth) naked eye'd. It was on the top of the sky, and not at all near the horizon. I researched on Google, it didn't help much. I first read it could have been something like STEVE, but it was right above the head and not near the horizon as I wrote. I am really curious of what it could have been. I know it is nearly impossible to accurately tell what it was, given it was 4-5 years ago, so I just want the 'possibilities' of what it COULD'VE been. Hope anyone answers.
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2$\begingroup$ A picture would help. $\endgroup$– Ambica GovindCommented Nov 13, 2021 at 6:12
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1$\begingroup$ Nothing natural would seem to fit the description. "Crystal shaped", for example and "slowly moving". Unfortunately this is just a UFO report. If you look at previous questions, I simply can't identify moving lights in the sky that aren't obvious satellites or meteors. $\endgroup$– James KCommented Nov 13, 2021 at 7:51
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1$\begingroup$ Sounds like some type of venting from a rocket launch or rocket burn to change the orbit. You could check if there were any rocket launches within a few hours of the time (if you knew the date). $\endgroup$– JohnHoltzCommented Nov 13, 2021 at 21:58
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1$\begingroup$ @JamesK just because you can't identify it yourself is not sufficient reason to prevent anyone else from posting an answer. voting to leave open $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Nov 14, 2021 at 10:37
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2$\begingroup$ A moving green crystal shaped naked eye fuzzy blob is not an astronomical object. $\endgroup$– James KCommented Nov 14, 2021 at 11:01
2 Answers
I can't be sure but what you saw could have been a small iridescent cloud in the dark of nightfall.
To see if it could have been the case, try read https://earthsky.org/earth/iridescent-clouds-have-rainbow-colors/
As for the green predominant colour, indeed our eyes are more sensitive to that. Thus a not very spectacular iridescent cloud may appear as a green spot with fuzzy borders.
STEVE (1 2) is very dim and more of a long line. It looks great in long exposure photographs but I don't think it's very visible by eye.
Despite @JamesK's pessimistic comment (and recommendation to close):
simply can't identify moving lights in the sky that aren't obvious satellites or meteors
the next comment is more encouraging:
Sounds like some type of venting from a rocket launch or rocket burn to change the orbit. You could check if there were any rocket launches within a few hours of the time (if you knew the date)
When 2nd stages are finished with their task, they will generally vent their propellants to space so that they pose no explosive threats (in addition to their kinetic threat) to other spacecraft.
As long as that region of space several hundreds of km above Earth is still sunlit, UV light from the Sun will excite the molecules in the resulting expanding could of gas, causing them to fluoresce.
Sometimes that light is quite visible on Earth and widely reported.
The shape would depend on several parameters and a "diamond" could be one of them.
If you had a specific date, there are public records of (almost) all launches, it might be possible to look into this even further.
This particularly spectacular example is unusual in that the altitude is really low and the amount of vented propellants is high (it's a failed mission) and the rocket was spinning slowly when it vented, but it illustrates the point that transient blue/green glowing blobs are a real thing and questions about them should not be dismissed out of hand as "ufo sightings!"
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2$\begingroup$ It is a ufo sighting... until you identify it. A rocket isn't an astronmical object. This answer is mostly speculation. $\endgroup$– James KCommented Nov 14, 2021 at 10:39
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$\begingroup$ @JamesK When I simply describe phenomenon that match the description, it's not speculation. I don't say it IS or it ISN'T, I just explain that there are known phenomenon that match the description and provide a way to track down a potential launch (or exclude this) based on additional information. But here I only state facts. Let's see how this evolves; if there is a data forthcoming it would be great to solve this one. $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Nov 14, 2021 at 10:41
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1$\begingroup$ Unfortunately I don't remember the exact date. But I'm convinced on reading your answer. And pretty sure it was just the man made thing now, since the 'diamond' shape, yeah, it was pretty much triangular and crystal like in shape. I will reply if I catch some details(got to check some diaries) and exact information if I get later. Thanks $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2021 at 7:31
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$\begingroup$ @YugPrajapati Sure. Thanks for the update and keep looking up! $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Nov 21, 2021 at 7:53