Location of Sighting: Hartlepool, United Kingdom
Date of Sighting: January 16, 2016
Time of Sighting: 7:15 PM GMT
PULSATING RED BEAM OF LIGHT SEEN BY WITNESSES.
Description: Hello from the UK. We have a red pulsing light in our sky over Hartlepool. It is about 19:15 GMT. I have not seen it, but a friend posted a photo on Facebook to me. Take a look and tell me what you think it is.
Note: This case was forwarded to me by Brian Vike. Brian has the following comments: Hi Bill:
Here is a report for you. I have received a number of reports like this in the past. This look is a shaft of light, or ice particles in the air and light reflecting off of them. Pretty cool stuff.
Yes, it looks like a light pillar. If there is moisture in the air & it’s cold they can form. They really can be spectacular at times. I hate to use Wikipedia, but they have some excellent examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pillar
Yes, it appears to be due to ice crystals in the atmosphere. I don’t know the weather conditions, but the site location is at a high latitude so it was probably quite cold.