a very bright satellite, or little grey aliens ?

Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to ingore me,
or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over (due at
about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East (approx) and
looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It was
much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a satellite in
a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the reflection of the
setting sun.

At least I hope it was, else I will have to assume that little grey aliens
are here after all !!

Does anyone know what it was ?

Is there a website out there which lists these things ? (I have Googled
around a bit & couldn't find anything very helpful)

Thanks

KK

PS I'm in Gloucestershire , UK

dido22 typed:
Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to
ingore me, or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over
(due at about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East
(approx) and looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx).
It was much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a
satellite in a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the
reflection of the setting sun.

At least I hope it was, else I will have to assume that little grey
aliens are here after all !!

Does anyone know what it was ?

We, couple of friends and I, all of whom are light aircraft pilots,
discussed this just last week and concluded that lots of 'sightings' like
this are down to far more mundane things. People seeing, for instance, a
balloon at a much lower altitude than they think which, because it moves so
quickly across their vision but isn't as high as they think, appears to move
extremely, unexplainably even, fast.

I'd guess your sighting could easily be something like this, maybe a small
plane, maybe a balloon, maybe a firefly only a few feet away.

Your eyes and mind are attuned to ISS, reality can be anywhere from ground
level upwards.

--
Daul P.

http://www.glass-uk.org/
"You would probably do better not to bother with renewable
energy" Doug, UK.Transport 29/04/2008 08:53.

In article , dido22 wrote:
About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It was
much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a satellite in
a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the reflection of the
setting sun.

For the setting sun to affect its colour it would have to be in the
atmosphere, or at least the light would have to be passing through
a substantial amount of the atmosphere for the duration of it pass.
Are you sure it wasn't a plane?

-- Richard
--
Please remember to mention me / in tapes you leave behind.

Hello again,,

Thanks for the ideas, but..

It was far too fast for a plane, it crossed from east horizon to west
horizon in just a few minutes, and there was no noise so it could not have
been flying low.

A low balloon, OK, there was no wind at ground level, but maybe there was
wind at a higher level. Does the jet stream blow east-west or west-east ?

Firefly, no , unless fireflies fly at constant speed in a constant direction
for several minutes.

It would have to be within the atmosphere for the setting sun to make it
red/orange, Richard thanks.. This points to a balloon again, but it was
astonishingly fast.

I do not for one minute believe in aliens etc, this was a natural
phenomenon, but what I saw does help to explain why so many people do
believe in such things.

Incidentally, my neighbour saw it as well, so I wasn't dreaming.

Thanks again

K



"dido22" wrote in message
...
Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to ingore
me, or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over (due at
about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East (approx) and
looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It was
much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a satellite
in a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the reflection of the
setting sun.

At least I hope it was, else I will have to assume that little grey aliens
are here after all !!

Does anyone know what it was ?

Is there a website out there which lists these things ? (I have Googled
around a bit & couldn't find anything very helpful)

Thanks

KK

PS I'm in Gloucestershire , UK

Wasn't it dido22 who wrote:
Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to
ingore me, or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over (due
at about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East (approx)
and looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It
was much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a
satellite in a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the
reflection of the setting sun.

The ISS is in Low Earth Orbit. Anything sufficiently lower than that for
the speed difference to be obvious would not be in a stable orbit.

The ISS is by far the biggest satellite. Anything significantly brighter
than that would probably be quite large, and we'd know about anything
like that.

It's extremely rare for satellites to travel east-west because it's less
efficient. You lose the push that you get from taking off from a
revolving Earth. There'd have to be a pretty good reason to spend the
extra energy to put a satellite into such an orbit, and I can't think of
any.

I've never seen a reddened satellite. The geometry of atmosphere and
orbit prevents satellites being reddened by the setting sun for more
than a fraction of a second, just as they cross into the Earth's shadow.
To be continuously reddened due to the sunset, it would need to be
inside the atmosphere.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

Hi,

i saw that too - i was out looking for the Early Ammonia Servicer
space junk, which was scheduled at 10:39 (but the EAS was much
fainter).

The IIS did not transit till later though, and this was too bright for
any of the other satellites - also it was not a point - i am sure it
was a high altitude plane - I could hear a faint aircraft noise.

Callum
Tewkesbury, UK

On Jul 24, 1:46 pm, "dido22" wrote:
Hello again,,

Thanks for the ideas, but..

It was far too fast for a plane, it crossed from east horizon to west
horizon in just a few minutes, and there was no noise so it could not have
been flying low.

A low balloon, OK, there was no wind at ground level, but maybe there was
wind at a higher level. Does the jet stream blow east-west or west-east ?

Firefly, no , unless fireflies fly at constant speed in a constant direction
for several minutes.

It would have to be within the atmosphere for the setting sun to make it
red/orange, Richard thanks.. This points to a balloon again, but it was
astonishingly fast.

I do not for one minute believe in aliens etc, this was a natural
phenomenon, but what I saw does help to explain why so many people do
believe in such things.

Incidentally, my neighbour saw it as well, so I wasn't dreaming.

Thanks again

K

"dido22" wrote in message

...

Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to ingore
me, or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over (due at
about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East (approx) and
looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It was
much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a satellite
in a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the reflection of the
setting sun.

At least I hope it was, else I will have to assume that little grey aliens
are here after all !!

Does anyone know what it was ?

Is there a website out there which lists these things ? (I have Googled
around a bit & couldn't find anything very helpful)

Thanks

KK

PS I'm in Gloucestershire , UK

In uk.sci.astronomy message , Thu,
24 Jul 2008 16:03:45, Mike Williams posted:

It's extremely rare for satellites to travel east-west because it's
less efficient. You lose the push that you get from taking off from a
revolving Earth. There'd have to be a pretty good reason to spend the
extra energy to put a satellite into such an orbit, and I can't think
of any.

Consider launching from Israel.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofeq.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

hello,

Nice to know it's not only me & my neighbour. I have been tending towards an
aeroplane myself over the past few hours. I assume is was so bright
red/orange because it just happened to be in the best position to reflect
the setting sun.

K


wrote in message
...

Hi,

i saw that too - i was out looking for the Early Ammonia Servicer
space junk, which was scheduled at 10:39 (but the EAS was much
fainter).

The IIS did not transit till later though, and this was too bright for
any of the other satellites - also it was not a point - i am sure it
was a high altitude plane - I could hear a faint aircraft noise.

Callum
Tewkesbury, UK

On Jul 24, 1:46 pm, "dido22" wrote:
Hello again,,

Thanks for the ideas, but..

It was far too fast for a plane, it crossed from east horizon to west
horizon in just a few minutes, and there was no noise so it could not
have
been flying low.

A low balloon, OK, there was no wind at ground level, but maybe there was
wind at a higher level. Does the jet stream blow east-west or west-east ?

Firefly, no , unless fireflies fly at constant speed in a constant
direction
for several minutes.

It would have to be within the atmosphere for the setting sun to make it
red/orange, Richard thanks.. This points to a balloon again, but it was
astonishingly fast.

I do not for one minute believe in aliens etc, this was a natural
phenomenon, but what I saw does help to explain why so many people do
believe in such things.

Incidentally, my neighbour saw it as well, so I wasn't dreaming.

Thanks again

K

"dido22" wrote in message

...

Hello,

This isn't really a question on astronomy, so please feel free to
ingore
me, or please point me elsewhere.

I was outdoors last night (Weds 23/July) to watch the ISS go over (due
at
about 22:40 or thereabouts). It normally flies West - East (approx) and
looks a bit like a bright, fast-moving star.

About 10 minutes before the ISS was due I saw a very bright red/orange
object travelling in the opposite direction, ie east-west (approx). It
was
much brighter than the ISS, and much faster. I assume it was a
satellite
in a lower orbit, and that the red/orange colour was the reflection of
the
setting sun.

At least I hope it was, else I will have to assume that little grey
aliens
are here after all !!

Does anyone know what it was ?

Is there a website out there which lists these things ? (I have
Googled
around a bit & couldn't find anything very helpful)

Thanks

KK

PS I'm in Gloucestershire , UK

Never assume that an aircraft will be audible. They often aren't.
Even when you'd think they should be. Aircraft can make brilliant,
often dazzling reflections in wonderful shades of gold to deep orange
(in the evening) regardless of their angle to you or the sun or their
distance. The brilliance often inflates the apparent size of the
object seen. This can occur even when you think the sun has set and
the aircraft is very low in the east. This happened to me only a month
or so ago. I was (almost) convinced my sighting was a real UFO. Then I
repeated exactly the same observation the following evening and the
next at the same local time (10pm). I am often surprised how bright
aircraft can appear to the naked eye. Normally airliners can be
recognised for what they are even at very high altitiudes.Though they
don't always drag a vapour trail they are usually visible as a tiny
cross thanks to their considerable real size. Presumably most military
aircraft have low albedo coatings to avoid such brilliant reflections.