CLAIM: Proton bursts? Sofia, Bulgaria Feb 2024

[Charlie Wiser]

I uploaded the video from this tweet to YouTube:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_lvjznq5DG4


Tweet description (translated):

Sofia, Bulgaria, February 6, 2024.Strange lights cross the sky at high speed. Reflectors are discarded.I'll tell you something, on request. There is an advanced civilization that does not have ships with a physical structure but rather an ethereal, energetic one, they are them.

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Possible explanations in the responses:

• event lighting/spotlights/advertising lights
• traffic reflections in window (traffic in shot doesn't match)
• missiles
• ethereal/cloaked alien craft
• auroras
• ionic discharge from energetic protons from the sun flowing along magnetic field lines*
• extreme proton bursts*

*The last two are the ones I'm interested in, as I know nothing about this. Full tweet:

... these are extreme proton bursts that are being seen more and more often these days because earths magnetic field is weakening, leading to increased space energy intrusion into the atmosphere, and which will eventually destroy modern civilization

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Definition of proton bursts from a reply tweet:

What is a proton burst? A proton storm is triggered by a huge burst of gas that erupts from the Sun and escapes into space (a coronal mass ejection). The burst hits protons in the solar wind ahead of it, accelerating them to very high energies and sending them racing along interplanetary magnetic field lines.

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[John J.]

One man noticed and filmed this?

In a city of some 1,250,000 people? And apparently at dawn or dusk, with constant traffic (and so probably people on foot or cycling on the streets as well).

And not picked up by any major news organisation that I'm aware of (cue X-Files music).

They're not missiles, though there's a superficial -but not strong- resemblance to footage of multiple rocket launchers or aircraft unguided rocket pods being fired. Twenty or so munitions flying over part of Sofia, through error or a hostile act, would generate significant news coverage and debate. And they'd have to land somewhere.

Doesn't look anything like aurora.

Space weather is "a thing", and temporary increases in solar activity such as coronal mass ejections cause increases in auroral activity, and can result in higher radiation exposure to aircraft crew and passengers at higher latitudes (i.e. closer to the poles).
Since the Carrington Event of 1859, there has been awareness that solar activity can effect electrical (and later, electronic) systems on the ground. The 1859 event is normally accepted as being the most powerful event on record.
There were no corresponding sightings of anything like that in the video AFAIK.
Or indeed during any subsequent geomagnetic storms, even when they've been powerful enough to bring down major power grids and damage satellites.

See Wikipedia, "Geomagnetic storm" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm
and "March 1989 geomagnetic storm" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

There is another thread on Metabunk involving geomagnetic activity, here
Claim: Fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field (geomagnetic storms) causes a myriad of different health problems.
Hypothetical (and it would seem unlikely) effects of space weather seem to be a concern for a small group of mainly Russian scientists, arguably at the fringe of mainstream research.

I'm not a physicist, but I don't think anyone has ever photographed or filmed even one hypothetical protonic plasma travelling anywhere "in the wild", let alone 20 or so, apparently travelling in the same direction at several hundred kilometres per hour, over a major city. Happy to be corrected though!

Due to the apparent lack of other supporting film or claims, for what would've been a highly dramatic and eminently visible event over a densely-populated area, I think the video footage has been compiled using CGI.

Note that the guy taking the footage already has a rather elaborate theory about what he is supposedly observing.

 

[Ann K]

One explanation is not on your list. Could it be a superior mirage of moving traffic on a highway that is not within the view of the video? There seems to be an even cloud layer hanging over the city that would make your first option (spotlight display) possible, but that might be indicative of a temperature inversion as well, I think.

Superior Mirage

A superior mirage is one in which the mirage image appears to be located above the real object. A superior mirage occurs when the air below the line of sight is colder than the air above it. This unusual arrangement is called a temperature inversion, since warm air above cold air is the opposite of the normal temperature gradient of the atmosphere during the daytime. Passing through the temperature inversion, the light rays are bent down, and so the image appears above the true object, hence the name superior.[3]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage

 

[JMartJr]

Could it be a superior mirage of moving traffic on a highway that is not within the view of the video?

Never would have thought of that, well did.

There ARE several possible candidate-roads/highways around Sophia:

If we knew more about where the vid was taken within the city, it might be possible to narrow down which one it might be.

It LOOKS LIKE searchlights to me, but it feels off that we never see them coming back, as searchlights tend to track back and forth or in circles. Perhaps that is why the vid cuts off when it does -- if we saw them tracking back, it would give the game away...

Were it not for the slow traffic below, I'd also wonder of it is planes above the clouds, approaching the airport to the upper right on the map above. I suppose it is possible the vid is a split screen with the planes sped up? But the lazyology principle says the easiest answer is probably the best, and that adds a small amount of work!

 

[Giddierone]

IIRC there's a very similar, (longer) video which looks like this and Ben Hanson's Christmas lights i.e. spotlights on low cloud but moving in one direction. Anyone remember it? Just trying to find it...

 

[JMartJr]

IIRC there's a very similar, (longer) video which looks like this and Ben Hanson's Christmas lights i.e. spotlights on low cloud but moving in one direction. Anyone remember it? Just trying to find it...

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/se...ers-family-christmas-lights.12811/post-285393

 

[Giddierone]

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/se...ers-family-christmas-lights.12811/post-285393

It was a different clip that was doing the rounds around the same time as this. It showed what looked like 50 or so blurry lights speeding across the sky and seemingly diappearing very quickly into the distance.

 

[JMartJr]

Sorry, misread what you asked -- can't find that one, Giddierone, my Google-fu appears to be too weak...

 

[Trailspotter]

I've checked the tweet in OP and have doubts about provenance of its video. The "cameraman" speaks authentic Russian with a lot of expletives.

 

[deirdre]

It was a different clip that was doing the rounds around the same time as this. It showed what looked like 50 or so blurry lights speeding across the sky and seemingly diappearing very quickly into the distance.

this one? (sorry i cant link the video..but its in the first post)
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/what-are-these-things-in-the-sky.12916/

 

[Charlie Wiser]

I'm not a physicist, but I don't think anyone has ever photographed or filmed even one hypothetical protonic plasma travelling anywhere "in the wild", let alone 20 or so, apparently travelling in the same direction at several hundred kilometres per hour, over a major city. Happy to be corrected though!

Due to the apparent lack of other supporting film or claims, for what would've been a highly dramatic and eminently visible event over a densely-populated area, I think the video footage has been compiled using CGI.

Note that the guy taking the footage already has a rather elaborate theory about what he is supposedly observing.

That's why I was more interested in the response from SunWeatherMan/SpaceWeatherNews who has 724K YouTube subscribers and runs the website https://spaceweathernews.com/ - he is particularly obsessed with solar flares, and like others appears to be predicting a "megaflare" will wipe out civilization in a few years' time. Somehow there's a link to "extreme proton bursts". I'm not finding much info on that outside of Star Trek, and certainly not that they'd be visible in an overcast sky.

 

[Alexandria Nick]

authentic Russian with a lot of expletives.

If translations of Russian military traffic is a good source, then "lots of expletives" does sound like authentic Russian.

But that is a good point. I thought Russian was much more common in Bulgaria and only like a quarter of a percent of people speak Russian as a first language.

 

[noy]

One explanation is not on your list. Could it be a superior mirage of moving traffic on a highway that is not within the view of the video? There seems to be an even cloud layer hanging over the city that would make your first option (spotlight display) possible, but that might be indicative of a temperature inversion as well, I think.

Superior Mirage

A superior mirage is one in which the mirage image appears to be located above the real object. A superior mirage occurs when the air below the line of sight is colder than the air above it. This unusual arrangement is called a temperature inversion, since warm air above cold air is the opposite of the normal temperature gradient of the atmosphere during the daytime. Passing through the temperature inversion, the light rays are bent down, and so the image appears above the true object, hence the name superior.[3]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage

It would be interesting to get to know the details of the window from which the video was taken as well as the original video.
At the end of the short, the guy seems to say "they get to se sea and return". So, maybe there is something the bad quality of the video is not showing.

EDIT: Oh! I found this:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ-ae_VyZA


Which would make it consistent with lights running in circles. Also, there is no reason to not to make the circle wider if the want.

 

[deirdre]

It was a different clip that was doing the rounds around the same time as this. It showed what looked like 50 or so blurry lights speeding across the sky and seemingly diappearing very quickly into the distance.

or

Hints in the direction of sightings.In both images, the camera was pointed at Nissan Stadium.This Saturday and Sunday, a live performance by the idol group "Nogizaka46" was held.According to Nissan Stadium, the time the lights were spotted was during lighting testing in preparation for Sunday's show.

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Source: https://youtu.be/iCYeBJkDIAM?t=4

 

[Eburacum]

That looks very much like the same kind of lighting effect.

I see that the Swedish 'symphonic metal band' Therion was playing in Sofia on February 6, 2024; were these lights part of their lighting display?

 

[Eburacum]

Well, here's a clip of Therion playing on February 6, 2024; the concert seems to be indoors, not in a stadium.

Source: https://youtu.be/uMABDi9Zspk?feature=shared


However the lights in the sky might have been outside the venue, to increase the experience for concert-goers as they arrived (or departed). Or just to annoy people.

 

[Trailspotter]

If translations of Russian military traffic is a good source, then "lots of expletives" does sound like authentic Russian.

But that is a good point. I thought Russian was much more common in Bulgaria and only like a quarter of a percent of people speak Russian as a first language.

Here is my translation of what the guy says: "@&%!, what is this? You tell me what… (pause)… They, @&%!, come to, &%@!, the sea and turn."

My Bulgarian colleague told me that many rich Russians had been buying property in Bulgaria, mostly at the Black Sea resorts, so it could be the right country. However, its capital Sofia is far from the coast.

 

[JimJam]

The lights are consistent with event lighting at a large venue.

Not a perfect match, but this video shows roughly the type of lights used and how they can be programmed to move in sync.

 

[Ravi]

Agreeing with @JimJam, looks very much like spotlights pointed up, sweeping the sky/clouds.

 

[Paladinhgwt]

As soon as I saw the video it reminded me of spotlights for a concert. Can anyone confirm?

 

[John J.]

Hints in the direction of sightings.In both images, the camera was pointed at Nissan Stadium.This Saturday and Sunday, a live performance by the idol group "Nogizaka46" was held.According to Nissan Stadium, the time the lights were spotted was during lighting testing in preparation for Sunday's show.

What we see in deirdre's video is so similar in general appearance to the Sofia lights (OP) I think this must be a likely explanation for them. Bang goes my CGI theory.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ-ae_VyZA

The lights here are very similar to something I witnessed in 1989, while "in the field" in a military training area in Surrey, southern England.
Four discs of whitish light, sometimes moving apparently at random (and making rapid changes in direction), sometimes "orbiting" a common centre point, equally spaced, from where they would occasionally converge into one blob before diverging again.
IIRC the discs looked quite large and well-defined, but how much of that is a trick of memory I don't know. But it was an intriguing sight; an unflappable Warrant Officer watched for a while and dryly opined "It looks like the Second Coming".
The lights persisted for ages (possibly hours).
It didn't take long to realise that the discs were probably projections onto the cloud base from spotlights or similar.
Not long after the first sighting, we made out the distant "thud thud thud" of bass notes, occasionally changing tempo.
An outdoor "rave" of the type that caused a brief moral panic and newspaper outrage in the UK
(see Wikipedia, "Second Summer of Love" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Summer_of_Love).

-Just tried to see if I could find out which specific rave it was, this one might fit date and location

August 26th [1989] – With the Police monitoring info lines and posing as Ravers to find venues before the convoys, Energy put out on their information lines that the first 5000 to arrive at their Summer Festival will get in free. Within a few hours there are over 20,000 people dancing in a Surrey field.

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From UK Rave History Timeline 1987-1993, https://88to98.co.uk/rave-history/uk-rave-history-timeline-1987-1993/

In the YouTube video "Energy '89 Saturday 26th August 1989 pt1" posted by OldSkool Raver in 2013, at approx. 41 seconds in a man (don't know his name or role) talks about police concerns before this rave starts (and mentions a similar one "a couple of weeks ago", Aug. '89).

The uh, [Police] Inspector's only concern, was that uh a couple of weeks ago apparently the switchboard to the police stations were jammed because they had 'phone calls from people spotting UFOs in the area, that was uh, as a result of a laser show going on, they're a bit concerned because of the lasers here tonight, they might have the same problem.

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My emphasis; I hadn't really thought about lasers as opposed to regular spotlights. (Video here for completeness, not much to be gained from watching it).
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5X9iTHCiRg&t=41s

 

[Ann K]

IIRC the discs looked quite large and well-defined, but how much of that is a trick of memory I don't know.

That's going to be dependent upon the height and thickness of the cloud layer, so it could well have been the case.

 

[NorCal Dave]

My emphasis; I hadn't really thought about lasers as opposed to regular spotlights.

That may be a bit of a catch-all description of the overall light show. Even today large lasers for indoor shows are pricey:



I'm sure they had some at the various pop-up Raves that were happening in the UK, but maybe not at the Pink Floyd level. Even the Floyd appeared to have used mostly lights on the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour in '88-'89:



In fact, the laser might not make much of an impact on clouds according to this site:

Yes it will, unless the cloud cover is thick. Normally when you shine a laser in a clear night that laser beam will travel forever out into space. With clouds the laser light gets diffused a bit but most will go through (ex: foggy and rainy days).

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laserpointerforums.com/threads/lasers-and-clouds-dangers.85189/

I think when one does see a laser hit the clouds, they also see the laser:


https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/truth-behind-mysterious-laser-beam-19128166

And at the Luxor in Vegas:



The video in the OP looks like standard "search lights" as we call them and is likely what the servicemen in '89 UK saw as well.

Now for some real lasers, the Mayan Warrior mobile stage was hard to beat:

 

[John J.]

That may be a bit of a catch-all description of the overall light show.

Ah, may well be. I was going by what the guy in the "Energy '89" video said.
I don't recall the lights I saw doing anything that searchlights on powered mounts couldn't do.
And when first observed, we couldn't see beam columns leading to the discs (which made them initially more interesting).

 

[NorCal Dave]

I don't recall the lights I saw doing anything that searchlights on powered mounts couldn't do.

Sorry John, I must have misread the post. I didn't get that it was YOU that saw the lights, but as you say, y'all realized they were promotional search lights and not UFOs.

 

[John J.]

y'all realized they were promotional search lights and not UFOs.

Yeah, the lights were striking- I'd not seen anything quite like it before- and apart from perhaps the first few seconds of "What is that?!", no-one (AFAIK) seriously thought anything other-worldly was happening. Hearing the distant beats soon after gave the game away.