Yikes! What IS This??!! in Emerald Isle NC...Totally Silent. Daughter took these 4 Photos

Lara

Lara

Friend of the Arts
Location
Mid-Atlantic Coast
This JUST happened after sunset in Emerald Isle NC! My daughter took these photos with her iPhone11. It was completely silent as it happened.
Someone on Facebook just posted a photo of it too asking if anyone knows what it is. No one knows so far, but it's been less than an hour now. What could it possibly be? Any ideas? 4 Photos...

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It looks like a common water spout that occurs occasionally over the ocean, and this one has the sun going down in the background. According to National Geographic, a water spout is a column of rotating cloud filled wind that descends from a cumulus cloud to an ocean or a lake. For more info see the National Geographic link below:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/waterspout/print/
 
Lara said:
Interesting thought there Tabby Ann. It was such a clear night though with no storm activity.
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The most common water spout doesn't require a storm to form. They exist in their own limited environment less than 2 kilometers wide caused by differences in atmospheric conditions. The stronger super cell water spouts can be associated with storms. Wikipedia explains this in the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterspout
 
Tabby Ann said:
The most common water spout doesn't require a storm to form. They exist in their own limited environment less than 2 kilometers wide caused by differences in atmospheric conditions. The stronger super cell water spouts can be associated with storms. Wikipedia explains this in the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterspout
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And it looks like there was a full moon, which can effect atmospheric conditions.
 
Murrmurr said:
And it looks like there was a full moon, which can effect atmospheric conditions.
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That white dot isn't the moon. There was nothing in the sky until this happened. There are 2 glowing dots and they were moving. One actually dropped into the ocean...silently. I thought maybe a flare was sent up from a ship in distress but a ship is not anywhere in view and my son-in-law said that it probably wasn't a ship because they have radios and its not that far away from shore.
 
Lara said:
That white dot isn't the moon. There was nothing in the sky until this happened. There are 2 glowing dots and they were moving. One actually dropped into the ocean...silently. I thought maybe a flare was sent up from a ship in distress but a ship is not anywhere in view and my son-in-law said that it probably wasn't a ship because they have radios and its not that far away from shore.
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Ooh. In that case, refer to Pink Biz's post. 😝
 
Here is a photo that someone posted on an Emerald Isle page. They were saying it looked like ET. You can see the 2 white dots better
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Whoa jujube...Cape Canaveral in Florida is a 10 hour drive away from Emerald Isle but I think you are right! Some guy just posted this photo he took from Palm Springs of the launch today. His photo has more daylight but maybe the effects lingered awhile. Or didn't show up very whel until the sunset highlighted it for us.

The photos I posted here had 2 glowing dots and apparently 2 boosters fell off and plunged into the sea. So maybe that explains the 2 dots.

Can't believe this is the explanation since it came from so far south of Emerald Isle but I'm relieved that it wasn't something scary.

Thanks everyone for helping to solve this mystery! And I'm glad NASA didn't miss their target and come ashore because it didn't look very far away!

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I'm referring to a launch from the NASA Wallops facility, up in Virginia. According to their website, a launch can be seen from the Carolinas.

NASA Wallops is closer to Emerald Isle than Cape Kennedy is. Was the cloud north or South of Emerald Isle?

I found a picture on the net (unfortunately I can't seem to copy and post it) that shows glowing points of light in the sky after one of NASA Wallops' launches when they tested releasing some kind of vapors. This was back in 2017.

I had never heard of the NASA Wallops facility before this but apparently they launch a lot of rockets there, for Northrup Grumman and other companies.

I found some mention yesterday about a launch on the 31st, but now I can't find it anywhere, so maybe it wasn't from Wallops.
 
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I am not an expert, Lara, I know nothing about water spouts,
but that "Cloud", looks like smoke to me and it suggests that
it could a Navy Submarine, playing with missiles, they do
occasionally have to fire them to let the sailors have a bit of fun.

It could have started at Cape Canaveral, a 10-hour drive in a
car, would be just a few seconds in a rocket!

Mike.
 
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It’s the same time launch went up from Canaveral. The booster fall back and lands on a platform at sea, but gosh that’s a long ways away. It was a beautiful night for the launch. Cool, clear and visibility was excellent. Just saying…:oops:
Oh, when the booster enters the atmosphere, the sonic boom shakes the windows here. Sends dogs running for cover.
 
For some reason, we don't get the sonic booms here in my area as we did when I lived in Orlando proper. Must be the angle.

I loved going over to Titusville for the takeoffs and landings. Sometimes we'd even get the roar of the takeoffs all the way in Orlando.

The most beautiful launch I ever saw was from I-95 at sunset. The red rays of the setting sun turned the smoke into a red-and-gold blazing spectacular.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching. Once, we had passes for the base for the launch. It was a long drawn-out day as there were several holds, and the view wasn't really any better than from Titusville but it was exciting being there.
 

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