Anyone else seen a black object fly across when viewing the moon? (+first moon pictures)

[Loopnova]

I've been watching the moon around the same time (19:10-19:30) for the last few evenings at around 19:20 a black object flies diagonally across it. I checked Stellarium and played the sky backwards but couldn't see any registered objects. Is it common to witness orbiting debris? I had wanted to take some pictures of it but it's just too fast and the focus on my phone is playing up at the moment so videos are useless. As a side note, I managed to get some lovely pictures of the moon (my first ever). Viewed with an Orion Optics 150/750 Europa series and unbranded 25mm and 10mm lenses. Did a bit of fiddling with the light levels on my phone too.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Loopnova
Reduced photo size

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Loopnova and welcome to SGL.

I have seen a few things do the 'fly by' thing. Things it maybe: birds, aircraft, ISS (Zaraya), other man-made satellites, space debris, etc.

A site worth checking out is: https://heavens-above.com/main.aspx

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Philip R

[DaveL59]

I occasionally see a bat flit thru the view when I'm out, there's a couple that scoot around by my garden which teases the cats a lot lol

[Ibbo!]

Seen a couple of birds fly across tonight.

Might even be one on the ser file I was capturing.

[MartinHiggins]

Nice pictures! I've seen some  flights of geese or swans  flit across and a couple of aircraft but all quite a rare event. Do remember that they jolted out my lunar reverie.

Cheers

Martin

[Phil Fargaze]

I have seen a small round black object travel quite fast through the scope in front of the Moon before, only once though.  Difficult to say how far away it was and the scale of things but my best guess is that it was probably a lost helium balloon, otherwise as we know, there is a whole load of stuff flying about in Earth orbit. 

[Paz]

I've seen birds and planes while observing the moon (and also when observing the sun), but I haven't yet seen anything I thought was a satellite.

[Bagginsies]

To be honest never seen anything go in front of the moon whilst viewing it, but I am normally taking pictures. Would love to get a plane or the ISS in one, but haven't been lucky enough. 

Impressed with the Moon pictures you have got with your phone. Still amazes me that phones can now get pictures like that. Very nice detail in the zoom picture!

Hopefully you will catch the dark thing in a picture 🤞

[Ludd]

I’ve captured a balloon once, and some planes in daylight. The balloon came as a complete surprise. 

[Pete Presland]

Saw a disc go in front of Jupiter a few years back. Certainly made for an interesting discussion online 🙂

[Bannon325]

I'm new to this. Signed up only to reply to this question. Yes I know this post is from 2020 but I found this post tonight while looking for an answer to what I saw tonight at 8:45pm Feb 16 2022. With my binoculars I witnessed something fly in front of the moon. Was round and black. Was not a bird or plane

[astrochumak]

1 hour ago, Bannon325 said:

I'm new to this. Signed up only to reply to this question. Yes I know this post is from 2020 but I found this post tonight while looking for an answer to what I saw tonight at 8:45pm Feb 16 2022. With my binoculars I witnessed something fly in front of the moon. Was round and black. Was not a bird or plane

Hello Bannon, welcome to SGL! It could probably be a balloon. Astrobiscuit once had a similar situation with an object flying in front of Mars. You can find this video on YouTube by searching "What is this dark object passing in front of Mars?" and get some ideas from it

[Pete Presland]

3 hours ago, Bannon325 said:

I'm new to this. Signed up only to reply to this question. Yes I know this post is from 2020 but I found this post tonight while looking for an answer to what I saw tonight at 8:45pm Feb 16 2022. With my binoculars I witnessed something fly in front of the moon. Was round and black. Was not a bird or plane

As i said above i saw a similar object and have seen another since i commented on this thread. Both were very likely to have been balloons of some description.

[mikeDnight]

Yes, many times.  There are many man made objects that are orbiting the earth which at times may cross the line of site of a earth based observer.  Nice images by the way! 

Edited February 17, 2022 by mikeDnight

[Debo]

I've seen objects pass in front of the Moon and the Sun on quite a few occasions.

I did catch one of these objects while doing some Solar imaging, most likely a weather balloon 🤔

[neilmack]

Anything like this?

[Mr Spock]

Birds, bats, balloons. Planes too - and the occasional mothership 😜

[Ian McCallum]

I can't see anything in the original images.🤔