I think we've found the source of the strange triangle of lights from last night. It was virtually pitch black when I took the photo of the light on Rattlesnake last night. The sky was overcast so there was no visible moonlight. However, by significantly increasing the exposure of the picture in PhotoShop, I was able to bring out the treeline on Rattlesnake. Also, I was able to spot a conspicuous tree that is growing out over the water on the southeastern tip of Sleepers Island (the closest tip to Cub Island). The triangle of lights was directly above that tree on Sleepers. Here's the overexposed shot:
Having a good idea of where the light was coming from, today I scanned that area of Rattlesnake where the light came from. With Quilt Lady's help, we found the source! It appears as though someone was having some fun. We were able to spot a very thin blue triangular outline in the exact spot where the light came from last night.
Next, I tried what jmen24 suggested and shot a picture directly through the spotting scope. The quality of the image is not very good, but by cropping and sharpening the photo the outline of the blue triangular frame is just barely visible. I put a red circle around it in the photo below:
We are suspecting that the outline of this frame is lined with small, white, bulbs that are powered either by a battery or maybe a solar panel/battery combination. Someone went to some trouble to set this up, and we're wondering who did it (excellent prank, by the way!), and when they set it up. No one along our shoreline had seen the light until last night.
So, the mystery is partially solved in that we now know it probably wasn't the Alton Town Hall ghost out for a prowl on Rattlesnake, and it probably wasn't a UFO landing. But who did it and when?
