A wee bit confused...

[Jimbob]

Well I was out satellite spotting the other night and I saw something that I'm pretty sure was a satellite, although it didnt look like any other satellites I've seen before...

It moved at a constant speed (that of a satellite), made no noise and was just a point of light (so not a plane). But the strange thing was, was that the light that was coming from it was like that of a lighthouse... like it was bright then went dull, then bright, then dull etc etc.

I'm sure it was some sort of satellite but I just want to be sure

Jamie

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Some satellites spin or tumble as they orbit for some reason, I've no idea why, or if its meant to. Heavens above describe some of these.

Edit - well I thought they did, I read it somewhere, but none of the ones listed for me today have any info at all.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[AlphaTau]

I've seen a few of these thingys and come to the conclusion that many of them are probably space debris.

Every now and then I pick up a not so bright one in my binoculars and these tend to flash on and off with a highly irregular pattern. Looks strange to say the least! This could be why they arn't listed in Heavens Above too KK.

Cheers

Andrew

[Ant]

Yeah I agree I've seen a few of them!

Tumbling satellites. Haven't seen one for a while though!

Ant

[Vega]

These can be quite impressive. Sum can tumble like 3 times a second like a strobe light, and others once every 4-5 seconds.

[Jeff RV]

Maybe it was the Fridge?

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,29103.0.html

Jeff.

[Jimbob]

Cool thanks guys, I've done a bit more research to this and most places are saying that it's a rotating satellite too. Good to know that's what I saw lol