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#1
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What did I see? Pons-Winnecke?
I'm not a contributor here or even a lurker but I thought I'd ask some help on
something I unexpectedly saw last week. Date of viewing: 26 June 2004 Approximate time: Roughly 2130 EDT. I did not have a watch with me and did not indicate the precise time. I was at a drive-in theatre with my children and some friends. Location: Town of Lockport, NY Description: From approximately due west I saw what appeared to be roughly 5-6 objects traveling very slowly in a SSE direction. The entire transit took about 6 minutes where it disappeared from view. Magnitude at brightest I would estimate at -10 at roughly SSW of Lockport. They were not in any sort of "formation" nor do I believe that this was a UFO or other type of sighting. The course was perfectly straight however it did appear that it was shattering into pieces the longer it was in the sky. Speculation: What I thought I was seeing was the breakup of a satellite or a high-altuitude aircraft. As the objects traveled, they seemed to split into smaller parts, leading me to believe that this was some sort of disastrous re-entry into Earth atmosphere. I shortly turned my car radio to news stations to hear if it was some sort of disaster but there was no mention. It was clearly visible to the roughly 2000 people at the large drive-in. I read on the www.space.com website that this could probably be the breakup of the Pons-Winnecke comet. The time indicated in the article does correspond roughly with the time it was seen. I am skeptical that an old cometary breakup would be so bright and travel so slowly across the sky but with the lack of news regarding a man-made disaster I don't know what else could possibly be the culprit. It was certainly not typical of the June Bootids. So, I ask the group, was this Pons-Winnecke or was it something else? The article I'm refering to in my post is here? http://www.space.com/spacewatch/boot...rs_040618.html Rich Goranson Amherst, NY, USA |
#2
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Sounds like reentering space junk. Meteors typically enter the atmosphere
much faster than that, and comets (the parent bodies for meteor showers) are solar system objects that travel much slower in their orbits around the sun. "Lord Calvert" wrote in message ... I'm not a contributor here or even a lurker but I thought I'd ask some help on something I unexpectedly saw last week. Date of viewing: 26 June 2004 Approximate time: Roughly 2130 EDT. I did not have a watch with me and did not indicate the precise time. I was at a drive-in theatre with my children and some friends. Location: Town of Lockport, NY Description: From approximately due west I saw what appeared to be roughly 5-6 objects traveling very slowly in a SSE direction. The entire transit took about 6 minutes where it disappeared from view. Magnitude at brightest I would estimate at -10 at roughly SSW of Lockport. They were not in any sort of "formation" nor do I believe that this was a UFO or other type of sighting. The course was perfectly straight however it did appear that it was shattering into pieces the longer it was in the sky. Speculation: What I thought I was seeing was the breakup of a satellite or a high-altuitude aircraft. As the objects traveled, they seemed to split into smaller parts, leading me to believe that this was some sort of disastrous re-entry into Earth atmosphere. I shortly turned my car radio to news stations to hear if it was some sort of disaster but there was no mention. It was clearly visible to the roughly 2000 people at the large drive-in. I read on the www.space.com website that this could probably be the breakup of the Pons-Winnecke comet. The time indicated in the article does correspond roughly with the time it was seen. I am skeptical that an old cometary breakup would be so bright and travel so slowly across the sky but with the lack of news regarding a man-made disaster I don't know what else could possibly be the culprit. It was certainly not typical of the June Bootids. So, I ask the group, was this Pons-Winnecke or was it something else? The article I'm refering to in my post is here? http://www.space.com/spacewatch/boot...rs_040618.html Rich Goranson Amherst, NY, USA |
#3
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Sounds like reentering space junk. Meteors typically enter the atmosphere
much faster than that, and comets (the parent bodies for meteor showers) are solar system objects that travel much slower in their orbits around the sun. "Lord Calvert" wrote in message ... I'm not a contributor here or even a lurker but I thought I'd ask some help on something I unexpectedly saw last week. Date of viewing: 26 June 2004 Approximate time: Roughly 2130 EDT. I did not have a watch with me and did not indicate the precise time. I was at a drive-in theatre with my children and some friends. Location: Town of Lockport, NY Description: From approximately due west I saw what appeared to be roughly 5-6 objects traveling very slowly in a SSE direction. The entire transit took about 6 minutes where it disappeared from view. Magnitude at brightest I would estimate at -10 at roughly SSW of Lockport. They were not in any sort of "formation" nor do I believe that this was a UFO or other type of sighting. The course was perfectly straight however it did appear that it was shattering into pieces the longer it was in the sky. Speculation: What I thought I was seeing was the breakup of a satellite or a high-altuitude aircraft. As the objects traveled, they seemed to split into smaller parts, leading me to believe that this was some sort of disastrous re-entry into Earth atmosphere. I shortly turned my car radio to news stations to hear if it was some sort of disaster but there was no mention. It was clearly visible to the roughly 2000 people at the large drive-in. I read on the www.space.com website that this could probably be the breakup of the Pons-Winnecke comet. The time indicated in the article does correspond roughly with the time it was seen. I am skeptical that an old cometary breakup would be so bright and travel so slowly across the sky but with the lack of news regarding a man-made disaster I don't know what else could possibly be the culprit. It was certainly not typical of the June Bootids. So, I ask the group, was this Pons-Winnecke or was it something else? The article I'm refering to in my post is here? http://www.space.com/spacewatch/boot...rs_040618.html Rich Goranson Amherst, NY, USA |
#4
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How many times a month do NASA launch something into space. Probably allot
more than they say. LJ |
#5
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How many times a month do NASA launch something into space. Probably allot
more than they say. LJ |
#6
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Sounds like reentering space junk. Meteors typically enter the atmosphere
much faster than that, and comets (the parent bodies for meteor showers) are solar system objects that travel much slower in their orbits around the sun. That was my guess as well. It took about six minutes to cover roughly 150 degrees of arc. In my experience that is far, FAR too slow for any meteor shower and the appearance as if it were debris led me to believe it was a space object breakup. If it means anything to anybody, the coordinates of the theatre is roughly 43.103184 N, 78.703346 W. (these are the coordinates of the North Buffalo Suburban airport, which is across the street). That roughly translates into 43° 6' N, 78° 42' W. |
#7
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Sounds like reentering space junk. Meteors typically enter the atmosphere
much faster than that, and comets (the parent bodies for meteor showers) are solar system objects that travel much slower in their orbits around the sun. That was my guess as well. It took about six minutes to cover roughly 150 degrees of arc. In my experience that is far, FAR too slow for any meteor shower and the appearance as if it were debris led me to believe it was a space object breakup. If it means anything to anybody, the coordinates of the theatre is roughly 43.103184 N, 78.703346 W. (these are the coordinates of the North Buffalo Suburban airport, which is across the street). That roughly translates into 43° 6' N, 78° 42' W. |
#8
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How many times a month do NASA launch something into space. Probably allot
more than they say. The Niagara Frontier is quite a significant distance from any space launching site. There is a guard/reserve military airbase nearby at Niagara Falls but nothing they have could have looked anything like this. I would have thought that if this was man-made (and it certainly appeared to me that it was) that there would have been some mention of it somewhere. |
#9
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How many times a month do NASA launch something into space. Probably allot
more than they say. The Niagara Frontier is quite a significant distance from any space launching site. There is a guard/reserve military airbase nearby at Niagara Falls but nothing they have could have looked anything like this. I would have thought that if this was man-made (and it certainly appeared to me that it was) that there would have been some mention of it somewhere. |
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