MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Saw this on tues night about 9.15 - 9.30 ish whilst looking for the ISS.
Four lights in a line, the two centre ones were considerably brighter and closer together than the outside ones which were slightly blueish, if that makes sense, and not flashing. It was travelling W to E at a fair pace but hard to judge because I couldn't tell how high it was, which also made the size difficult to judge. It was silent (or very high which would make it mahoosive)
Do planes fly at night without red/green wing lights?
Military maybe? (heading towards Sheffield city centre so probly not)
Ideas?
Thanks 🙂
The ISS maybe?
Thats what I first thought but it was too big, the ISS is a single point of light apparently.
Looking on the ISS tracker site I dont think it would've been visible this far north either.
It was at least 3 times wider than the jets I could see on the Manc airport flight path.
Hmmm....
Swamp gas
did you catch it on tape like this UFO??
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the ISS is a single point of light apparently
Yep, it shows up as only one point of light, like a very bright star moving quickly. But depends on how many beers you've had beforehand? 😉
Didnt they launch a rocket to take a coffee machine up there on Tuesday evening?
Didnt they launch a rocket to take a coffee machine up there on Tuesday evening?
Yeah, the SpaceX Dragon has also been visible apparently, bit more here (scroll down a bit for Dragon):
http://www.meteorwatch.org/uk-iss-passes-april-2015.html
It was at least 3 times wider than the jets I could see on the Manc airport flight path.
Or it was closer, Dougal.
Jive has been quiter lately, maybe he's been out for a quick orbit?
never mind the ufo, did you see this?!?!?!?
(spaceX attempting to land a booster on a barge)
Pfft, landing a rocket on a barge. Mtbel could do that whilst bunnyhopping a unicycle over an angry goat.
Or it was closer, Dougal.
As I said, I couldn't tell how high it was. The jets were the only reference I had to go on.
Belated thanks Mrsalmon, good shout on Dragon.
It had not long launched and was over uk at the time. The solar arrays had deployed which looked like the wings of a plane.
Chuffed with that, a lucky spot 🙂
You are joking surely? It's considerably smaller than the ISS which itself is a single point of light to the naked eye.
Never joke about UFO sightings, you WILL be probed 😉
I asked the same question on Facebook, info I got was it was spotted over Ireland at roughly same time, 20mins after launch. The solar arrays had just been deployed and was visible as 4 lights in a line - which is what I saw.
I like to know what the altitude was though at that point. Reasonably conclusive though?
certainly heard the spackx was visible from UK/Ireland, but I thought the photos one guy put up was 2 dots (I'll have to search farcebook to find it again).
from that ISS thread, I sussed out it wasn't ISS, cos the times didn't match at all.
solar arrays don't reflect Sunlight. 1. they absorb as much light as possible. 2. they point towards the Sun (although in that very first orbit could be pointing anywhere, while it acquires the Sun, and gets itself all pointing the right way).
4 lights in a line at that altitude would be 4 separate objects. Only time I've seen that is an Ariane night launch when the boosters drop off, or Shuttle about to rendezvous with ISS.
Hi Andy,the four lights (2 central and 2 dimmer further out in a symmetrical line) were without doubt all part of same object. I had a great view, followed it across the sky with 10x50 bins.The size is puzzling though, bigger than what I would've expected it to be. Any way to find out what the altitude would've been at say 20mins after launch?
4 lights with naked eye as well? or 1 that showed up as 4 when looking thru bins?
20 mins after launch from florida is about right for the time you could see shuttle launch. so must be about the same for spacex.
altitude would be couple of 100km, although distance from you to it (slant range, if you prefer the technical term), assuming it's not directly overhead, could be a couple of 1000km. I'd need to get the calculator out and also double check the ISS orbital parameters too.
going to need to seek out my bins. only ever used them for viewing space debris (rocket boosters etc.), and never for the ISS (which is large enough to show some shape, I expect).
4 lights through bins. Didn't look with naked eye, didn't want to loose it. Did look big though...What do you think?
(I need closure 😀 )
baby robin?
I'm thinking those aliens must have a really good anesthetic for that anal probe 😉
surely there must have been something you saw with naked eye and then trained the bins on it? or was it just pure random luck?
will look for pics tonight. best i could think of (for thru bins only), was 2 stages and release of payload shroud. so yes all from one object, but by then 4 objects, but wouldn't be in a straight line.
I was half looking for the ISS but wasn't sure if it was visible from where I was so yeah just randomly looking up. Look forward to any pics you can find [heeelllp meee];)
Well well. Seems it wasn't anal probing at all. Filmed over France:
However, it is apparently more than just the capsule, hence why it looked so large.
Just a thought about solar panels. They must reflect some light, otherwise they would be invisible.
That's the one, well found old boy! so I've not been bummed by ET after all..I feel a little empty inside.