okay, somebody identify this wierd thing I saw in the sky tonight

[phaseolus]

...and I'm wondering what it could have been. When I saw it tonight at 5:58 PM CST, a little after sunset, It was directly overhead, and motionless. Much brighter than a planet -- it looked as bright as the ISS was when I saw it going overhead once. It caught my attention because I don't see really bright motionless things directly overhead all the time, and wondered what the hell it was. About five seconds after I noticed it, it dimmed & looked like a very faint star.

Of all the really unlikely things I suspected it might be (supernova, meteor headed directly at me) I'm thinking it's a piece of something in some sort of stationary orbit that was briefly illuminated brightly, but which came into the earth's shadow. (This was maybe 45 min or so after local sundown.) But if that's what it was, how come I don't see it all the time? Of all the junk in orbit around the sky, are there things in an *almost* geosynchronous orbit that actually was moving w.r.t. my position, but moving so slowly that I didn't notice movement??

Just wonderin'...

[ooglymoogly]

1. hmmmmm the elohem perhaps

[Jackpine Radical]

2. It would have to have been damn big

if you saw it in a geosync orbit. Geosync is really pretty high.

Speaking of high...
(Well, somebody had to say it)

[Speck Tater]

5. Also geosynch, by definition

is above the equator, so it stays at a visual angle (measured from straight up = 0-degrees) equal to your latitude. If it was overhead it wasn't geosynch unless you live on the equator.

[phaseolus]

8. ah. I'm at 42 deg N

...more or less. Milwaukee.

[bananas]

12. Pick the closest location.

Pick the closest location,
then see what satellites were visible.
http://heavens-above.com/Neighbours.asp?PlaceID=619865&lat=0&lng=0&alt=0&loc=Unspecified&TZ=CET

[Orsino]

17. True, if longitude is equal...

..that is, if the satellite look-down point shares your own longitude.

I worked in Germany, tracking an Indian Ocean and an Atlantic satellite, and both appeared just above the horizon. The little figure eights that all geosynch satellites make per day were also highly skewed by the difference in longitude.

[salvorhardin]

3. Could have been a piece of space trash deorbitng

:shrug:

[bananas]

4. probably a satellite

probably a satellite
maybe an "Iridium Flare"
that's when a panel on an Iridium satellite
reflects sunlight right at you,
they can be very bright but only last a few seconds.
Here is a satellite locator service,
you don't have to register.
http://heavens-above.com/

[phaseolus]

11. it was an Iridium Flare, thanks!!!

http://heavens-above.com/flaredetails.asp?SatID=24969&Session=kebgceegahmejgodmahffbgj&Date=38387.9983273217&Mirror=1

That's the exact time I saw it...

[bananas]

13. You're welcome

They can be astonishingly bright.
Anyone who hasn't seen one should take a look,
you just need an accurate watch, the predictions
are down to the second.

[slutticus]

14. This is really freakin' cool!

I'm going to have to check out these flares for myself.

[Negatron]

6. It was the last spark of Joe-mentum.

Fading, fading, fading... gone.

[ooglymoogly]

16. lol

[TreasonousBastard]

7. My first guess would be simply an airplane...

I've sene quite a few of them around here that looked stationary and could be confused with stars or planets. There are many optical illusions in the sky that aren't readily apparent.

Under certain sky and cloud conditions, a turning plane looks identical to descriptions of "lights in the sky" that move at incredible speeds. In clear skies, a plane at just the right distance, direction, and speed often looks like a planet until it moves far enough along or turns. Some of them that I've seen I couldn't identify as a plane until I saw the navigation lights flashing. And, they are tough to see at that distance without aid.

Could be any number of other things, though.

[mike_c]

9. iridium flare?

http://satobs.org/iridium.html

I presume they're still up there.

[dweller]

10. Swamp gas

it's always swamp gas, isn't it?

dp

[LearnedHand]

15. Could have been an Iridium flare

Iridium flares (sunlight reflected off Iridium satellites) behave exactly as you described. I've never managed to see one, but there's a website that tracks them (as well as all other space objects viewable from earth) and tells you when you can expect to see one in your vicinity.

http://www.heavens-above.com/

[atommom]

18. heavens-above.com is a cool site, and also has an Avantgo channel!

:thumbsup: