What's that in the sky?

You never know what you might see when watching the skies.

Local artist Charity Hommel was outside last Wednesday with her husband, Joe, when he spotted a strange flash of light moving in the sky.

"To us it looked like a meteor," Hommel recounted. The idea seemed plausible enough, as the annual Perseid meteor shower was most visible from Aug. 11-13. The couple was at their home on Howell Avenue at the time, on the backside of Mount Dewey, looking northward.

"It was pulsing," she recalled, "bright like a streetlight." What stood out most to her were its twin tails of flame. "It was very unique. I've never seen anything like that."

Hommel grabbed her camera and took some pictures while the event lasted. She shared them with photographer Ron Gile, of Juneau, who passed them to an astronomer friend in California. He, in turn, referred Hommel's photos to colleagues at The World At Night, an international group which collects shares nightscape photos and timelapse videos of the world's landmarks against celestial attractions.

While the photos are still being reviewed, Hommel said the experts did not think the object was a celestial one.

"They're thinking that it might have been a really high-atmosphere plane, rocket or something," she said. As of Tuesday, Hommel had yet to hear anything conclusive.