andyclimax Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hey everyone,First time poster here, so apologies if this has been brought up before.Last week my girlfriend and I were enjoying the beautifully clear skies of Cornwall in the south west of England. Being from London, where it seems like the only visible celestial body is the moon, we were blown away by the clarity of the sky, and spent hours counting meteors and satellites (not to mention seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye!).I came here to ask a question about the path of a satellite that surprised us. I've looked elsewhere online, but could only find things related to UFO or conspiracy theory websites, which I have no truck with, so thought someone here may be able to help.We were facing south, and noticed a satellite appear in the top left of our peripheral vision, moving towards the horizon in the south. It followed a straight path as we expected, but after a while as it got farther away, it veered over towards the horizon and eventually dimmed to nothing.Is this a normal thing to see? Is it just the rotation of the Earth making it look as though its course changed because it had moved so far away from us? Was it the light refracting as it had a greater path to travel to reach us nearer the horizon?Or is it MAGIC?I've attached a crude picture to help with my garbled description.Thanks,Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul2015 Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Sorry mate,Not a satelite, It was my diy orbital rocket lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Clear Skies Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Welcome to the forum.One possibility is that it was a chinese lantern and the wind changed. It can be quite confusing looking up without many points of reference. I've also seen satellites that seemed to be wobbling back and forth in their orbits. I'm not sure what was giving me this impression, possibly atmospheric twinkling was fooling my eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swag72 Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Can't help you with your initial question I'm afraid as I never look up But welcome to SGL - Good to have you on-board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I understand that refraction should make it, very slightly, veer upwards as it approaches the horizon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Seen stranger, and I assume that it was a high altitude military plane.The whatever I saw blinked as if it were aircraft lights, the path was just weird but too high to be commerical and too fast. I assumed it was a military surveilance or similar.You may have had another.I doubt that Flightradar24 lists them either.A constant light especially if orange/yellow can be a chinese lantern, they are difficult to determine the distance/height also and they move, or can move, erattically in the atmosphere. Which may explain what you saw. They are actually more difficult to identify then many think.If you look up you will see quite a bit that does not quite fit the normal or expected objects. They make life a little interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Can't help you with your initial question I'm afraid as I never look up But welcome to SGL - Good to have you on-board wow....you really are missing so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesM Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi and welcome to the forumClear skies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hello Andy and welcome to SGL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmorris Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Welcome to SGLIt sounds like a low Earth orbit satellite fading as it's crosses in to the Earth's shadow. It can be notoriously difficult to accurately track an object's path in the night sky, especially if you haven't had much practice at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowjet Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi Andy and welcome to SGL, I would agree with Michael above, also difficult to observe, as the atmospheric conditions can play a big part in what appears to be a change of path, as the subject nears the horizon.Keep both your eyes skywards, you will be amazed what can bee seen on a still crystal clear night, from a dark observation point. Over a period you will see numerous points of light moving, some brightening with a flash of light ( Iridium Flares ) it is not magic, just the reality of the many thousands of man made objects that move around and lie outside our Earths atmosphere.If observing as a pair, invest in low powered green lasers, it is easier to quickly draw your partners attention to what you see, so you can both make a logical judgement of what you observe, enjoy the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Presland Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michigander Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Welcome to SGL, Andy!Dana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazabone Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Hi and welcome to SGL and glad you enjoyed the county I'm lucky enough to live in. As others have said, there are a few explanations but as it was near the horizon when it 'went off course' and you saw it fly straight and true for quite a while beforehand I would think it was a satellite and atmospheric disturbance was to blame. A few nights ago I saw Capella rise above the horizon and it was doing quite a dance around the sky, it was almost like a search and rescue helicopter doing a search (except there were no blinking lights) and it was undoubtedly Capella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laudropb Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakalwe Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Seagulls?http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/238885-ufo-spotted/?p=2589678 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charon Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Welcome aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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