Ouroboros Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 Some of you might like a go at suggesting what this was ... At about 7:45pm tonight (in Oxfordshire) I was out facing south towards the Moon when I saw a bright flash of light out of the corner of my eye, and almost directly above me. At first I assumed it might be flashing plane lights or even an Iridium flare. I looked up and saw it again - a bright pulse of white light with a discernible rise and fade in intensity lasting half a second or so. I then found it through binoculars. It was a very slow moving object, like a very slow satellite, very faint, but producing an intermittent pulse of light without necessarily any definite time between pulses, maybe 5 to 10 seconds. There appeared to be no other lights on the object, permanent or flashing, or of different colour suggesting that whatever it was it wasn't a plane. It was moving west to east at an elevation of maybe 80°. I followed it through bins for maybe 3 or 4 pulses of light and then it suddenly disappeared completely whilst still high in the sky. I've looked on heavens above.com and not found anything obvious. Could this have been a piece of tumbling space junk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Drew Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 Most likely a tumbling satellite or space junk. The fact that it disappeared during a west to East direction suggests that it entrered the earth's shadow at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMrGecko Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 The best object I can find that best suits your description of time and location is the NOSS 3-4, An American satellite operated by the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) Designed for Ocean Surveillance. But to explain why it was pulsing will take a better man than me. Maybe seeing conditions are to blame or as said above maybe it was spinning. Intriguing either way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Don't see too many blinking satellites, but have caught a small number that behave like this over the years. I guess they must have panels or arrays that catch and reflect sunlight in our direction momentarily as they rotate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 7 hours ago, TheMrGecko said: The best object I can find that best suits your description of time and location is the NOSS 3-4, An American satellite operated by the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) Designed for Ocean Surveillance. But to explain why it was pulsing will take a better man than me. Maybe seeing conditions are to blame or as said above maybe it was spinning. Intriguing either way! OK. What list are you looking at? There were a couple of NOSS 3-3 satellites at 20:08 but no NOSS 3-4 around the 19:45 time on Heavens Above. As for seeing it was pretty much uniformly clear as far as I could tell. I'm wondering whether it was a discarded rocket not listed on Heavens Above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMrGecko Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 10 hours ago, Ouroboros said: OK. What list are you looking at? There were a couple of NOSS 3-3 satellites at 20:08 but no NOSS 3-4 around the 19:45 time on Heavens Above. As for seeing it was pretty much uniformly clear as far as I could tell. I'm wondering whether it was a discarded rocket not listed on Heavens Above. I didnt know your exact address so i just gave myslef a +/- 20 minutes. I think the one at 20:08 is the one i was referring too. There must be hundreds of unlisted secret satellites up there or maybe a discarded upper stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 36 minutes ago, TheMrGecko said: I didnt know your exact address so i just gave myslef a +/- 20 minutes. I think the one at 20:08 is the one i was referring too. There must be hundreds of unlisted secret satellites up there or maybe a discarded upper stage. Yep. I think we have a plausible explanation anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badweather Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 On 10/29/2017 at 16:51, Peter Drew said: Most likely a tumbling satellite or space junk. The fact that it disappeared during a west to East direction suggests that it entrered the earth's shadow at that point. And the flashing? Could have been bands of clouds the sun had to go through to hit the sat, basically the sat ranging through a bunch of crepuscular rays and shadows as it hit the terminator and then into earths shadow? That wold nicely explain the irregularity of the flashing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Drew Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 8 hours ago, Badweather said: And the flashing? Could have been bands of clouds the sun had to go through to hit the sat, basically the sat ranging through a bunch of crepuscular rays and shadows as it hit the terminator and then into earths shadow? That wold nicely explain the irregularity of the flashing... A tumbling object can present different faces to the Sun providing illumination of varying duration and intensity. Interesting observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badweather Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 8 hours ago, Peter Drew said: A tumbling object can present different faces to the Sun providing illumination of varying duration and intensity. Interesting observation. True. I mentioned the cloud bands and crepuscular rays and shadows to explain the flashing if it wasn't tumbling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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