Light over Between Goldfield and Tonopah, NV

The report, as filed

At around 7:45 pm on 2/3/23, east of the US 95 N going towards Tonopah through Nevada, my mother and I witnessed an unexplainable atmospheric anomaly. The event could be described as a two conscecutive flashes of holographic or iridescent light, similar to the rainbow sheen on a compact disk, but translucent, luminescent, and large enough to obscure a decent portion of the landscape. The flashes occured less than 2 seconds apart, and lasted no more than a second each, longer than a flash of lightning. The light could be seen in the middle of the sky, like how a rainbow would cross from the upper atmosphere to the ground. Each flash was almost vertical, with a slight diagonal tilt, but largely irregular. Please refer to the illustration to get a better idea. 

The weather last night was clear, 45 degrees, no clouds or rain. Winds were about 15 MPH, the moon was almost full.

The exact location was hard to pinpoint, but based on google maps I can give the estimated coordinates. 37°47'13.7"N 117°13'15.2"W
. The sign for Silver Peak was to the left, and about 4 miles past the sign is where we saw the light flashes. According to maps, the area we saw this in is in front of Hasbrouck Peak.
 The flashes of light were localized to one area, only to the east and in front of the mountain, appearing to obscure the base of the mountain from your view. There was nothing that appeared to be the origin of the lights, it seemed as if the sky was “bent” in the area that the flashes occured. There were no earthquakes, no abnormal weather that could account for atmospheric disturbance. 

conversation I had about the experience as it was fresh in my mind: 
she said that it looks like a hologram You sent like they set up a blanket of fake sky You sent cause it was around the bend where we saw it You sent right as youre going past goldfield You sent it seemed like the light of the moon refracted in a really fucked prismatic way You sent like a bent DVD or a broken LCD screen You sent really bright was not a traditional prismatic rainbow (not roygbiv)

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #174313). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.