Need some help identifying object seen in sky on night of August 2nd.

Hello Mr. Plait,

First let me say that I'm not an astronomer and I don't own a
telescope, but I do keep myself educated about science and astronomy.
My favorite author is the late great Carl Sagan and I'm a member of
CSICOP and JREF. I do not believe in UFOs that visit the Earth. I am
aware of the vast distances between us and any possible civilizations
that would make the prospect unfathomable.

That said, I viewed an unidentified object from my home in Fargo,
North Dakota on the night of Saturday, August 2nd at around 10:00pm
CST, and I'd like some help in identifying it. The sky was clear and
the first stars were beginning to appear. There was a small amount of
sunlight remaining in the western sky. I saw a white light about
75%-100% bigger than the current appearance of Mars. When I first saw
it, it was about 30 degrees to the East from where I was standing, I
think in the vicinity of the Pegasus constellation (don't quote me on
that) and it was traveling in an easterly direction and maybe slightly
southeast at a fairly rapid pace, much faster than the rotation of the
Earth makes normal cosmological objects appear to move, and faster
than the apparent motion of planets, but far slower than a meteorite
(incidentally, I did see a meteorite off to the northeast of the
object as I was viewing it). It then faded and disappeared completely
about 55-65 degrees from where I was standing. This is what I thought
was the most peculiar. The entire observation lasted about 120-180
seconds and it covered about 25% of the sky before disappearing. I
could see stars above and below the point where it vanished which
rules out any other objects that could have obstructed my view. I've
also ruled out Mars because it is in the SSE at that time, and Mars
doesn't move that fast. Mars also doesn't just disappear. I first
thought it was a satellite because it was moving at about the same
speed as sattelites appear to move, but I've seen satellites before
and they usually don't appear until it is totally dark, and there was
still some sunlight in the sky at this time, as I mentioned. This
object was also much brighter than any satellite I've seen before
which are generally just tiny pinpoints. Furthermore, sattelites
don't just fade out and vanish, they disappear over the horizon. I've
also ruled out aircraft (at least any aircraft that I know of),
because airplanes don't just vanish either, and they don't give off a
white glow. There were no blinking or colored lights on the object.
It was bright white and it had no tail like most objects that enter
the atmosphere.

I'm thinking it was either space junk burning up in the atmosphere
(doubtful based on the lack of a tail and considering how slow the
object was moving) or a very large, *extremely* slow-moving meteorite
(also doubtful, for the same reasons). I also thought about the ISS,
but I wouldn't know how likely that is, and I don't know why the space
station would fade out and vanish. If you have any insight in to what
I may have witnessed, help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

"Eric" wrote in message
snip

I'm thinking it was either space junk burning up in the atmosphere
(doubtful based on the lack of a tail and considering how slow the
object was moving) or a very large, *extremely* slow-moving meteorite
(also doubtful, for the same reasons). I also thought about the ISS,
but I wouldn't know how likely that is, and I don't know why the space
station would fade out and vanish. If you have any insight in to what
I may have witnessed, help would be greatly appreciated.

A satellite...an Iridium Flare.
See www.heavens-above.com for predictions.

Dave

and I don't know why the space
station would fade out and vanish.

I've witnessed the ISS apparently vanish.
The explanation, as usual, is something quite simple. The spacecraft moves
into the Earth's shadow and *appears* to disappear )

--
Gareth Slee

http://www.garethslee.com
http://www.lapie.com

Dave Jessie wrote:
"Eric" wrote in message
snip

I'm thinking it was either space junk burning up in the atmosphere
(doubtful based on the lack of a tail and considering how slow the
object was moving) or a very large, *extremely* slow-moving meteorite
(also doubtful, for the same reasons). I also thought about the ISS,
but I wouldn't know how likely that is, and I don't know why the space
station would fade out and vanish. If you have any insight in to what
I may have witnessed, help would be greatly appreciated.


A satellite...an Iridium Flare.
See www.heavens-above.com for predictions.

Dave

Hi Eric,

The description doesn't sound like an Iridium flare. I checked Heavens-
Above and found that there was a ISS pass visible from Fargo, ND. The
pass trajectory and timing closely match what you have seen, including
the "disappearing" act at the end.

Regards,

- Alex

(Eric) wrote in message m...
I also thought about the ISS,
but I wouldn't know how likely that is, and I don't know why the space
station would fade out and vanish. If you have any insight in to what
I may have witnessed, help would be greatly appreciated.

See:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata...ing_index.html

for NASA's web application to determine if the International Space
Station was passing overhead. Very bright, lasting 120-180 seconds
and near dusk sounds like the ISS to me.

- Kurt

First, thanks for all the responses, they were all helpful.

Second, to explain the "Hello Mr. Plait" at the beginning of my post,
I originally sent this to Phil Plait of badastronomy.com and just
copied and pasted the email here, neglecting to remove the misplaced
greeting. Needless to say the email bounced

Finally and most importantly, I am almost positive that it was an
iridium flare that I witnessed. I had never heard of those before,
but heavens-above.com confirms that there was a flare at 9:46pm on
that night with magnitude -6, which is approximately the time and
apparent brighness of the object I saw. The only oddity, and it's a
pretty big one, is that they say it should have appeared NNW and I saw
it ESE. To confirm my suspicion, I downloaded an animated gif of what
an iridium flare looks like and it was an EXACT match to what I saw.
Also, there is no way (as far as I know) that the space station would
appear that bright and if it was moving into the earth's shadow, I
don't think it would have gradually faded out...it would have
"blinked" out, right? Anyway, the simplest and most logical solution
to me is an iridium flare, so that's what I'm sticking with unless
someone can debunk me. No matter what it is, the sight was
extraordinary, made even more so by the meteorite that happened to
shoot right by it. Stunning to say the least!

Thanks again for all your help, it's much appreciated.

Eric

No, NOT correct, in fact all satellites, including ISS, fade gradually
as they enter the night side of the Earth's shadow....that is not
a hard line, even in space....the 'Twilight Zone" still exists.
TW



lso, there is no way (as far as I know) that the space station would
appear that bright and if it was moving into the earth's shadow, I
don't think it would have gradually faded out...it would have
"blinked" out, right?