In 2012 NASA released a light map of planet Earth made from observations by an orbiting satellite. The map was made from data acquired over nine days in April 2012 and 13 days in October 2012. Most continents appeared as expected. For example, the map of the United States showed many lights around the heavily populated east coast, but not much light around the Rocky Mountains, where much fewer people live.
But the light map had one big surprise: there were many lights shown over the eastern half of western Australia. The eastern half of western Australia has little population. So how could there be all these lights coming from such a sparsely populated area? In my 2015 post here I discuss how a NASA "burn map" discredits the explanation that the lights were caused by vegetation fires.
The very interesting TV show "What on Earth?" which can be seen on HBO Max deals mostly with anomalies that show up in satellite photos. One episode partially deals with the Australian mystery lights (Season 1, episode 6). Below is a photo of my TV screen at the moment the program was discussing the strange lights. Few people live in the area with most of the lights we see below.
At the 36 minutes left mark in the episode, we have an interview with an aboriginal Australian named Francis who suggests an explanation. He recalls seeing several times what the Australians call "min min lights." The narrator says this: "For centuries, aboriginal peoples have told stories of bright hovering lights in Australia; they're known as min min lights."
Francis gives this eyewitness account:
"This light would appear from -- it seems from out of nowhere, I can't explain it. But it was a shimmering ball of fire-like substance. It would dance through the trees to its own rhythm, it would seem. It would hover there and shimmer and then PHEW it was gone."
The narrator tells us that there have been thousands of reports of these mysterious "min min lights," and that "eyewitnesses report seeing glowing orbs in the sky." The episode gives us no preferred explanation of the cause of the lights shown on the screen above, leaving the matter as one of its many unsolved mysteries.
An Australian news article says this about this topic:
"The lights have been described by witnesses as floating, fast-moving balls of colour that glow in the night sky...Sometimes the lights are blue and other times they are white or yellow.
In Queensland, the Boulia Shire Council notifies visitors 'in the interest of tourism' that they are in the land of the Min Min lights and that they may spot them as they drive for the next 120 kilometres....Some Aboriginal people believe the Min Min lights are the spirits of elders."
