Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Acerra]

Last winter when observing with my 8 inch reflector, I saw a something strange and still can't figure it out.  I was observing a magnitude 9 or so star cluster, when something moved across my field of view.  It was the same size and brightness of the stars in the star cluster, but it moved across my field of view with the same apparent speed and trajectory as a satellite seen by the naked eye.  It was far too slow and to faint to be a meteor, and to dim and fast to be a comet.  I've considered other things as well, and nothing seems to fit.  

I'm stumped... anyone have any ideas about what it was?

[skyjim]

Just a guess, but you might've caught a glimpse of a piece of  hardware - either booster debris or an actual satellite - in a high portion of an orbit like those used by some systems like the Soviet-era Molniya birds.  These were highly eccentric orbits with apogees around geosynchronous altitude (38,000 km, but perigees down around 1000 km.  These might display the type of angular rates you describe.

I doubt that it was natural - too high an angular rate to be an asteroid, unless earth had a VERY near miss that night.....


Jim