shooting star????

[KerryAnn23]

Hi guys,last night while watching Jupiter I was looking at stars nearby when I seen something shoot across towards but underneath Jupiter,bit was about 10pm, did anyone else see this? I honestly don't know if I was seeing things but I followed it for a few seconds then my arms began to shake again and I lost it x

[Kung-Fu_Kills]

If you managed to follow it for a bit I very much doubt it was a 'shooting star', as they appear and dissapear almost in the blink of an eye. Most likely a satalite, I would guess, buy I'm a novice myself so maybe wrong.

[Nova]

Think you would have to of been very quick to keep up with a meteor. Ill also bet it was a satalite. You could have a look here and see if you can figure out which one. You can also see timings for other satalites passing over your location and try and spot them

Heavens-Above Home Page

[JimStan]

The ISS made a pass over us last evening, travelling from NNW to pretty much straight E before going into the Earth's shadow.

This link shows you flyovers in the U.S. and Canada. You should be able to find a link for your location, Just "Google" ISS flyovers

There is a separate window for other parts of the world.

good lujck !

The link: Spaceweather.com's Simple Satellite Tracker: International Space Station, spy satellites, Hubble Space Telescope

Jim S.

[KerryAnn23]

well i had stellarium running but it showed no sats around at the time, it was only the space of 2 seconds or so but like i sed i lost my stability for a split second and it was gone. it may be my imagination then but i cant see why it would conjure that up lol

[Nova]

I dont think Stellarium shows every single satalite. Could be wrong about that but there is a heck of a lot of them up there. I quite often see things dart across my FOV when using the scope

[Capricorn]

There are about 13000+ satellites up there but they don't move in angular terms that quick, tracking one is fairly easy once in view. Done it many times.

No reason why you didn't have a meteor in view, you simply could have been pointing the binoculars at the right place at the right time. It is not forbidden by the laws of chance.

I would also bet that it seemed like 2 seconds but was less. Consider, one falls into view, you automatially follow it. A second maybe a bit more, depends on the angle that it burns up as well.

May be worth looking to see if Jupiter was positioned where there was a recent meteor shower. One may have been late to plunge to its demise, also each year there are a few "showers" that never get mentioned as the number is pretty low, may have been one of them.

[JimStan]

There is always a chance of seeing a stray meteor, and some of them can be pretty bright ! But they are also pretty much "streaks" and are gone before you know it !

A lot of the satellites are very dim, and unless you are really watching carefully, you are probably going to miss them.

The ISS OTOH, is usually quite bright, sometimes getting to a magnitude of -2 or brighter. Imagine Jupiter moving across the sky !

If it catches your attention out of the corner of your eye, and you can follow it for a minute or more, it is almost certainly the ISS ( make sure there are no running lights blinking ! )

Jim S.

[Capricorn]

Quick check and there are 2 weak meteor showers at this time:

Alpha Aurigids and Pi Eridanids that are in the right area.

Aurigids would come from a point just above and to the left of Jupiter. Their period is 25 Aug to 8 Sept with the peak being Sept 1.

Eridanids would come again from the left and just below Jupiter and their period is 20 Aug to 5 Sept, peak is 25 Aug.

There is a third but the constellation isn't (as best I can tell) visible so discount that.

Both are weak showers but in the right place and they increase the number of meteors that are possibly visible.

[MorningMajor]

More or less everytime I use my bins on a clear night I pick up a satellite within about 5 mins of looking - there are loads of them and Stellarium doesn't have them all - so, in a roundabout way - I rekon it was a satellite

[KerryAnn23]

Well i was thinking more about it today and i really dont think it will have been a satellite as it had a trail, it was really quick and came from the left of jupiter and was heading just below jupiter. i dont think the satellites have a trail?!?! all of my books tell me that i probably did see a meteor due to speed and a trail x

[MorningMajor]

No, satellites don't have tails - but it was just the fact that you could follow it - even with bins - that made a satellite more likely - if it was a meteor - well done for tracking it!

[KerryAnn23]

It was literally a quick follow, i think it felt longer than it really was, it was probably a second if that. i was very suprised so thats why i think it felt like a longer time aswel as i was thinking about it straight after lol x