Satellite Orbiting the Moon???

Hey everyone -

I just saw something bizarre and I am thinking one of three things is
happening:

1. I am totally nuts
2. My eyes are getting whack faster than I thought, or,
3. I just saw a satellite orbiting the moon. ??

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

Thanks for any info on this - I am going nuts!

Brian

In article ,
wrote:

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

To the best of my knowledge, there are no satellites known to still be
orbiting the Moon - there are a couple of dead probes from the 60s which
may or may not still be in high orbits, but virtually everything else
has... um. Re-entered isn't the right word, really, more "crashed".

The Moon is inhomogenous, and has concentrations of denser material;
these "mascons" (mass concentrations) make lunar orbits unstable, which
tends to perturb any satellite into being a thin layer of tinfoil quite
quickly (as such things go).

You may possibly have seen the ISS; I don't know where you are, but it's
been known to cross the moon (I've seen recognisable pictures of it
doing so - I'll have a look so you can compare them), and could be seen
as having a "dumb-bell shape". I very much doubt you could see anything
regognisable - or indeed see at all - the transit of a satellite a
quarter of a million miles away with an 8" scope g

--
-Andrew Gray

In article ,
wrote:

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

To the best of my knowledge, there are no satellites known to still be
orbiting the Moon - there are a couple of dead probes from the 60s which
may or may not still be in high orbits, but virtually everything else
has... um. Re-entered isn't the right word, really, more "crashed".

The Moon is inhomogenous, and has concentrations of denser material;
these "mascons" (mass concentrations) make lunar orbits unstable, which
tends to perturb any satellite into being a thin layer of tinfoil quite
quickly (as such things go).

You may possibly have seen the ISS; I don't know where you are, but it's
been known to cross the moon (I've seen recognisable pictures of it
doing so - I'll have a look so you can compare them), and could be seen
as having a "dumb-bell shape". I very much doubt you could see anything
regognisable - or indeed see at all - the transit of a satellite a
quarter of a million miles away with an 8" scope g

--
-Andrew Gray

Thanks for the insight Andrew - and Paul. Your points are quite valid and I
wasn't thinking so late at night. g

I suspect I saw some Earth satellite such as the ISS at the moment it
crossed in front of the moon. Probably the sharp contrast looked so dark I
percieved it as shadow. Quite interesting to see anyway!

Is it fairly common to see a satellite cross in front of the moon?

Thanks!
Brian


"Andrew Gray" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
wrote:

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the
moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing
the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which
I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty
dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object
was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of
the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part
of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

To the best of my knowledge, there are no satellites known to still be
orbiting the Moon - there are a couple of dead probes from the 60s which
may or may not still be in high orbits, but virtually everything else
has... um. Re-entered isn't the right word, really, more "crashed".

The Moon is inhomogenous, and has concentrations of denser material;
these "mascons" (mass concentrations) make lunar orbits unstable, which
tends to perturb any satellite into being a thin layer of tinfoil quite
quickly (as such things go).

You may possibly have seen the ISS; I don't know where you are, but it's
been known to cross the moon (I've seen recognisable pictures of it
doing so - I'll have a look so you can compare them), and could be seen
as having a "dumb-bell shape". I very much doubt you could see anything
regognisable - or indeed see at all - the transit of a satellite a
quarter of a million miles away with an 8" scope g

--
-Andrew Gray

Thanks for the insight Andrew - and Paul. Your points are quite valid and I
wasn't thinking so late at night. g

I suspect I saw some Earth satellite such as the ISS at the moment it
crossed in front of the moon. Probably the sharp contrast looked so dark I
percieved it as shadow. Quite interesting to see anyway!

Is it fairly common to see a satellite cross in front of the moon?

Thanks!
Brian


"Andrew Gray" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
wrote:

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the
moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing
the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which
I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty
dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object
was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of
the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part
of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

To the best of my knowledge, there are no satellites known to still be
orbiting the Moon - there are a couple of dead probes from the 60s which
may or may not still be in high orbits, but virtually everything else
has... um. Re-entered isn't the right word, really, more "crashed".

The Moon is inhomogenous, and has concentrations of denser material;
these "mascons" (mass concentrations) make lunar orbits unstable, which
tends to perturb any satellite into being a thin layer of tinfoil quite
quickly (as such things go).

You may possibly have seen the ISS; I don't know where you are, but it's
been known to cross the moon (I've seen recognisable pictures of it
doing so - I'll have a look so you can compare them), and could be seen
as having a "dumb-bell shape". I very much doubt you could see anything
regognisable - or indeed see at all - the transit of a satellite a
quarter of a million miles away with an 8" scope g

--
-Andrew Gray

wrote in message
...
Thanks for the insight Andrew - and Paul. Your points are quite valid and
I
wasn't thinking so late at night. g

I suspect I saw some Earth satellite such as the ISS at the moment it
crossed in front of the moon. Probably the sharp contrast looked so dark I
percieved it as shadow. Quite interesting to see anyway!

Is it fairly common to see a satellite cross in front of the moon?

Not unheard of, but I suspect it's more common to see birds crossing one's
FOV, while viewing the Moon...
--
Stephen
Home Page: stephmon.com
Satellite Hunting: sathunt.com

wrote in message
...
Thanks for the insight Andrew - and Paul. Your points are quite valid and
I
wasn't thinking so late at night. g

I suspect I saw some Earth satellite such as the ISS at the moment it
crossed in front of the moon. Probably the sharp contrast looked so dark I
percieved it as shadow. Quite interesting to see anyway!

Is it fairly common to see a satellite cross in front of the moon?

Not unheard of, but I suspect it's more common to see birds crossing one's
FOV, while viewing the Moon...
--
Stephen
Home Page: stephmon.com
Satellite Hunting: sathunt.com

wrote:

Hey everyone -

I just saw something bizarre and I am thinking one of three things is
happening:

1. I am totally nuts
2. My eyes are getting whack faster than I thought, or,
3. I just saw a satellite orbiting the moon. ??

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

Thanks for any info on this - I am going nuts!

Brian





YOU NOT THE FIRST! BEEN THARE! SEEN THAT!! ;-)

ABOUT AN YEAR AGO.. TO COOL :-)

I JUST PULLED MY CCD OUT.. :'(



BYE

MITCH

wrote:

Hey everyone -

I just saw something bizarre and I am thinking one of three things is
happening:

1. I am totally nuts
2. My eyes are getting whack faster than I thought, or,
3. I just saw a satellite orbiting the moon. ??

I was looking at Mars with my 8" telescope and decided to check out the moon
before calling it a day. As I was moving my sight around the moon, I
suddenly saw an object shaped like a dumbbell weight quickly crossing the
lunar surface and casting (I'm pretty certain) a shadow. !

It IS possible I was experiencing a visual thing like a "floater" which I
experience fairly often - especially as I had been looking at pretty dark
stuff for quite some time and I was suddenly looking at the very bright
surface of the moon. But I don't think that's what it was. This object was
moving just the way a satellite moves, and I really think there was a
shadow. It took about 3 seconds to cross about 1/4 of the diameter of the
moon or so.

Maybe I am showing some ignorance here. Are there lunar sats? Is there
something up there at the moment? Could it possibly be a discarded part of a
long-ago lunar exploration rocket? What WAS IT??

Thanks for any info on this - I am going nuts!

Brian





YOU NOT THE FIRST! BEEN THARE! SEEN THAT!! ;-)

ABOUT AN YEAR AGO.. TO COOL :-)

I JUST PULLED MY CCD OUT.. :'(



BYE

MITCH

Hi Mark,

Did you ever find the list?

Of course, with high orbits, they wouldn't be moving as fast and in any
orbit, they wouldn't be big enough to display the shape described.

I would bet on ISS or a bird.

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

"Mark" e wrote in message
. ..
To the best of my knowledge, there are no satellites known to still be
orbiting the Moon - there are a couple of dead probes from the 60s which
may or may not still be in high orbits, but virtually everything else
has... um. Re-entered isn't the right word, really, more "crashed".

Coincidence - this month's Astronomy Now has an article on satellites
believed to still be orbiting the moon (albeit in high and eccentric
orbits). It listed 4, although I can't remember which ones they were.
I'll find the article and post the list here later.

Mark