Help with what i saw..

[keyser187]

👋 Hi all from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

( Kit is a Nexstar 6se, f/6.3 FR, 25mm eyepiece)

Long story short. after setting the scope up i slewed to the Eagle nebula (which at the time was in the South East, about 20-30° up) and when i looked i saw a small white dot moving towards the 5'o'clock position. The dot was about the size as the stars around it maybe a little smaller and dimmer (although it did seem to slightly increase in brightness sometimes). i thought it might have just been my eyes so i manually slewed it to the center and i could see it moving especially when it past others stars. It took at a guestimate about 10-20s to move from the center of the eyepiece to the edge at about the 5'o'clock position where i could easily slew it back to the center.

So did i just see my very first random asteroid through my own scope?? if so thats amazing! 🤩

Regards.

[dobblob]

No asteroid I'm afraid. Asteroids move very slowly and it may take many nights to detect the change in position.

It was likely a satellite. Programs such as Stellarium or sites like Heavens Above can show what satellite was passing at the time and position you saw it.

These days it is difficult NOT to see a satellite scooting through the field of view...

[John]

1 minute ago, dobblob said:

...These days it is difficult NOT to see a satellite scooting through the field of view...

Indeed. I was observing the Ring Nebula last night and 3 went through the field of view in a period of just a few minutes.

It must be frustrating for the imagers.

 

 

[markse68]

I always get a little thrill when one shoots through the fov 😬😉

[keyser187]

damn! thats a shame, i did originally think satellite but i was thinking it was moving too slow to be a satellite lol as it was taking about 15s to move across the eyepiece.

i just tried stellarium and the satellite button but theres nothing showing for me unless you have to DL the data?

maybe you can clarify with the other 2 things i saw.

both saw with the naked eye and i have seen shooting stars before but not like this

1. was a white light moving from east to about south eastish, straight line, constant speed. initial reaction was a satellite so i started watching it. It then all of a sudden got  really really bright for about 2 secs faded back to its original brightness then slowly faded out. i assume this was a meteor or did Elon lose one of his sats?

2. was just a bright flash/burst in the southern sky around the same place as the meteor shower ophiuchids on stellarium so i assume this was also a meteor but coming straight at me lol?.

either way it was some interesting viewing.

[Swoop1]

1. was probably a satelite flaring the sunlight as it progressed across the sky.