Guest guest Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hi Valarie, Nice to hear of this, it is fun to see these things. If it was 3-4 seconds it likely was a meteor. A re-entering satellite or rocket body typically is traveling much, much slower than meteors. I have had the great fortune to see two different satellites re-enter in the span of 2 months a few summers ago. One I was tracking, looking/hoping for and one totally random, odds are very very low. Satellite re-entries are unimaginably spectacular. Think big chunk breaking apart creating multiple (half dozen or more) " smaller " chunks burning off leaving a fantastic plasma trail of debris burning up. The two I saw spanned the sky in about 30 seconds or so. It is truly a remarkable sight. I'll attach a posting I reported on a satellite observers group from the day after I saw the first one. If you need to know for sure, you can post as much information you have to that group and they will know if it was space junk or a meteor. They track everything up there, including the tool bag that astronaut " dropped " a year ago or so, which has since re-entered IIRC. Their site it http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html Here's my report from the first one I saw: *************************************** May 6, 2004 From Erie, PA I saw that same incredible pass from 06:15 to 06:17 UTC. Max altitude of 60 degrees at Az 30 from 40.072N, 80.143W. For me it was at least -3 magnitude with the plasma trail Ted mentioned BUT there were two bright objects following approximately 30 and 35 seconds behind the satellite estimated -2 magnitude. The two objects disintegrated just past max altitude at a few degrees above delta draconis. Raduga 33 kept on at the same intensity until I lost it behind the trees in the East. No other pieces noted although too bad the moon was full. My first decay, woo-hoo! That pass is burned in my skull, I'll never forget it. Amazing. Did anyone get any pics or video? Bill Mitchell *************************************** And here's my report from the second one I saw, I'll attach the original posters comments since they're a bit more descriptive: ******************************************* June 27, 2004 What an awesome show that was! Three of us saw it too except it was more like 7-8 fireballs. We picked them up in the handle of the big dipper (trees block the rest of the West sky), and watched them through Draco, Lyra and Altair (roughly, I was too excited to pay close attention to exact location). Lasted about 45 seconds and ended at 22:52 EDT June 26, 02:52 June 27 UTC. Fantastic sight, better than Raduga 33. Especially since we were just sitting around BSing and was totally unexpected! Bill Mitchell --- Terry Pundiak <terrypun wrote: > > Definitely, I saw the same thing... while at Lehigh Valley > Amateur Astronomy Society's monthly public star party in Allentown, PA , about 20 to 30 of us saw it, too... > At first, I thought it was an airplane with its landing lights on, > but it had a grainy sparkly contrail. So I though it was the beginning of a fireworks finale slowly rising rocket above the trees and it had a few companion rockets... but it just kept rising and rising very nearly past zenith and to the other side of the sky... it seemed to be breaking up as it went on, maybe 10 to 15 pieces - some moving ahead of the the others and some showing flare brightening for a few seconds. All in all it was exactly like videos that we all on TV on the space shuttle reentry disaster videos in Texas, only not as brilliant. The event would not be even noticed in the daylight. > The brightest objects were about -2 or -3 magnitude. > I wish I had a video camera to keep a record... it was so exciting. I looked at my watch when it was over... It was 10:54:45 EDT. The speed was a bit faster than most all satellites, starting in the WSW, getting to about 80 degrees (South) and dimmed quit a bit when it headed to the horizon at ESE. > Terry Pundiak, > Allentown, PA ******************************************* Apologies for turning this into a satellite observation thread, but I just wanted to share and possibly clarify what people might be seeing when they look up at night (my specialty :^) Satellite reentries (decays) are very thrilling to see, and quite rare. They can be referred to as " once in a lifetime " and somehow I had the fortune to witness two in two months. So I count every day I wake up as a blessing, lol. Blessings, Bill , " Valarie " <vjvousden wrote: > > This isn't K related but my daughter and I were just outside (it's night) and right overhead, a white-hot ball with a blue-green glow and tail flashed over us. 3 or 4 seconds and poof, it was gone. But how awesome (truly!) and beautiful it was! We wanted another but that was it. I just had to share that. Wonder if it had copper in it? Satellite debris? Who knows? But it was like a gift. I've seen shooting stars but nothing like that, lower than a plane flies! > > Love to everyone! > Valarie > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Wowzers, Bill & Valarie. I felt like I was gazing up into the sky and observing this all as I read through these posts " past & present " . The excitement in the writings literally jumps off the page. Thank you for this " star " gazing in the middle of my day. -Danielle , " William " <astronutski wrote: > > Hi Valarie, > > Nice to hear of this, it is fun to see these things. If it was 3-4... I've seen shooting stars but nothing like that, lower than a plane flies! > > > > Love to everyone! > > Valarie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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