Can anyone please ID this satellite?

Hi all

This morning (29-11) Heaven's Above predicted that ISS was going to pass over my house at approx. 6:44 (that's 5:44 GMT). Since we had a clear sky I went out and almost immediately spotted it in the western sky. Or so I thought.
Because the longer I looked the more I started to doubt whether it was ISS. Althought very bright, it just wasn't enough. What *really* got me thinking was the fact that it passed overhead north of the zenith, which ISS never does at my location (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 51.9170°N, 4.4830°E). I saw the object move from south west to north east. In the eastern direction it's brightness decreased suddenly very quickly, becoming almost impossible to see, but still a very small dot (moving into earth's shadow I presume).
Then I turned around, and ...... saw ISS coming right at me, unmistakably, as bright as the sun, following a path from a more north western to south eastern direction.
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity and tell me what object I saw? It looked far too bright for just any satellite.

Thanks,

Margreet Mol

M.H. Mol wrote:
Hi all

This morning (29-11) Heaven's Above predicted that ISS was going to pass over my house at approx. 6:44 (that's 5:44 GMT). Since we had a clear sky I went out and almost immediately spotted it in the western sky. Or so I thought.
Because the longer I looked the more I started to doubt whether it was ISS. Althought very bright, it just wasn't enough. What *really* got me thinking was the fact that it passed overhead north of the zenith, which ISS never does at my location (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 51.9170°N, 4.4830°E). I saw the object move from south west to north east. In the eastern direction it's brightness decreased suddenly very quickly, becoming almost impossible to see, but still a very small dot (moving into earth's shadow I presume).
Then I turned around, and ...... saw ISS coming right at me, unmistakably, as bright as the sun, following a path from a more north western to south eastern direction.
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity and tell me what object I saw? It looked far too bright for just any satellite.

UARS (1991-063B / 21701) matches your observation well:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet...9050.237921015

Ted Molczan

Thank you very much! Those pass details match perfectly! The details say
this satellite was deployed from the Space Shuttle, so it's probably not the
smallest satellite around. I guess that might explain the unusual
brightness. When it passes again tomorrow morning, I'll be looking :-)

Margreet Mol


wrote in message
ps.com...
M.H. Mol wrote:
Hi all

This morning (29-11) Heaven's Above predicted that ISS was going to pass
over my house at approx. 6:44 (that's 5:44 GMT). Since we had a clear sky I
went out and almost immediately spotted it in the western sky. Or so I
thought.
Because the longer I looked the more I started to doubt whether it was
ISS. Althought very bright, it just wasn't enough. What *really* got me
thinking was the fact that it passed overhead north of the zenith, which ISS
never does at my location (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 51.9170°N, 4.4830°E). I
saw the object move from south west to north east. In the eastern direction
it's brightness decreased suddenly very quickly, becoming almost impossible
to see, but still a very small dot (moving into earth's shadow I presume).
Then I turned around, and ...... saw ISS coming right at me, unmistakably,
as bright as the sun, following a path from a more north western to south
eastern direction.
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity and tell me what object I saw? It looked
far too bright for just any satellite.

UARS (1991-063B / 21701) matches your observation well:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet...9050.237921015

Ted Molczan

Hi Margreet,

Observing from Leiden, I had exactly the same experience with UARS and
ISS as you this morning! I too initially mistook UARS for ISS. See my
message at the SeeSat mailing list:

http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2006/0283.html

I was photographing at that time, so I shot pictures of both UARS and
ISS. URL's to those pics are in the Seesat message on the URL above.

Cheers,

- Marco :-)

(with thanks to Ted Molczan for pointing me to your message: I normally
don't read this newsgroup)




M.H. Mol schreef:

Thank you very much! Those pass details match perfectly! The details say
this satellite was deployed from the Space Shuttle, so it's probably not the
smallest satellite around. I guess that might explain the unusual
brightness. When it passes again tomorrow morning, I'll be looking :-)

Margreet Mol


wrote in message
ps.com...
M.H. Mol wrote:
Hi all

This morning (29-11) Heaven's Above predicted that ISS was going to pass
over my house at approx. 6:44 (that's 5:44 GMT). Since we had a clear sky I
went out and almost immediately spotted it in the western sky. Or so I
thought.
Because the longer I looked the more I started to doubt whether it was
ISS. Althought very bright, it just wasn't enough. What *really* got me
thinking was the fact that it passed overhead north of the zenith, which ISS
never does at my location (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 51.9170°N, 4.4830°E). I
saw the object move from south west to north east. In the eastern direction
it's brightness decreased suddenly very quickly, becoming almost impossible
to see, but still a very small dot (moving into earth's shadow I presume).
Then I turned around, and ...... saw ISS coming right at me, unmistakably,
as bright as the sun, following a path from a more north western to south
eastern direction.
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity and tell me what object I saw? It looked
far too bright for just any satellite.

UARS (1991-063B / 21701) matches your observation well:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet...9050.237921015

Ted Molczan

Hi Marco

Thank you for your reply. For a few months now I've been lurking in the
Seesat-D mailing list, so I read your email in the latest digest yesterday
when I got home. It was very amusing to read we had such a similar
experience :-)

Greetings,

Margreet Mol



"SatTrackCam" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi Margreet,

Observing from Leiden, I had exactly the same experience with UARS and
ISS as you this morning! I too initially mistook UARS for ISS. See my
message at the SeeSat mailing list:

http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2006/0283.html

I was photographing at that time, so I shot pictures of both UARS and
ISS. URL's to those pics are in the Seesat message on the URL above.

Cheers,

- Marco :-)

(with thanks to Ted Molczan for pointing me to your message: I normally
don't read this newsgroup)




M.H. Mol schreef:

Thank you very much! Those pass details match perfectly! The details say
this satellite was deployed from the Space Shuttle, so it's probably not
the
smallest satellite around. I guess that might explain the unusual
brightness. When it passes again tomorrow morning, I'll be looking :-)

Margreet Mol


wrote in message
ps.com...
M.H. Mol wrote:
Hi all

This morning (29-11) Heaven's Above predicted that ISS was going to pass
over my house at approx. 6:44 (that's 5:44 GMT). Since we had a clear sky
I
went out and almost immediately spotted it in the western sky. Or so I
thought.
Because the longer I looked the more I started to doubt whether it was
ISS. Althought very bright, it just wasn't enough. What *really* got me
thinking was the fact that it passed overhead north of the zenith, which
ISS
never does at my location (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 51.9170°N, 4.4830°E). I
saw the object move from south west to north east. In the eastern
direction
it's brightness decreased suddenly very quickly, becoming almost
impossible
to see, but still a very small dot (moving into earth's shadow I presume).
Then I turned around, and ...... saw ISS coming right at me,
unmistakably,
as bright as the sun, following a path from a more north western to south
eastern direction.
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity and tell me what object I saw? It looked
far too bright for just any satellite.

UARS (1991-063B / 21701) matches your observation well:


http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet...9050.237921015

Ted Molczan