Strange sightings....

[Newbie karl 1]

I have just seen something I gave never seen before... I happened to be looking up at mars and out of the corner of my eye noticed something whizzing past. I initially thought asteroid or something of that nature but it didn't go out of view just carried on its coarse right across the sky... what could it have been?

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[SunBear]

Probably a bolide of some sort. They can be very spectacular under the right conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolide

PS: I don't suppose it had a big, red "S" on it, did it?  

[Schorhr]

Hi :-)

Was it a Satellite?

http://stellarium.org - ctrl + Z to enable sat trails.

[dubyad40]

I saw it too, I am in Chester and was also looking at Mars when the fast travelling object appeared and shot across the sky travelling towards the East.

[Newbie karl 1]

I'm really not sure, I have never seen a meteor travel so far across the sky, could be a satellite I guess... was pretty awesome whatever it was! I love how even without a telescope I can be utterly fascinated by the sky!!

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[Myopicus]

"When you hit the planet you'll start to burn . . . what a beautiful way to die . . . "

[dubyad40]

Wasn't a satellite, just checked on Stellarium.

[cotterless45]

They're back.

Klingons !

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

They're back.

Klingons !

Nick.

Or Vogons!

Difficult to say what it was. I do not think Stellarium has all satellite data, so it could be a satellite. Bolide is also possible

[Skyline]

Here's some food for thought:

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/NASA-photo-of-strange-light-on-Mars-has-UFO-buffs-5387337.php

[Moonshane]

when you say whizzing past, did it last just a split second or many seconds to a minute?

it sounds like a standard satellite to me or maybe space junk.

[Newbie karl 1]

Many seconds, I watched it go right across the sky

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[Moonshane]

surely a satellite then. they are everywhere!

[Paul M]

I've almost given up trying to identify bright satellites now. There are so many that you can't look at the sky for more than a few minutes without one showing up.

I saw a bright one a few nights ago. Passed right overhead on a track that was easy to remember yet SatelliteSafari didn't offer any solutions even down to satellites that were forecast to be below naked eye visibility. Probably some military equipment that isn't cataloged.

So any star like object that takes a few minutes to cross the sky and perhaps steadily fades or brightens is almost certainly a satellite. A fast moving "streaking" object that takes a second or two to cross the sky is almost certainly a meteor or less likely some space junk burning up on re-entry.