Satellite ?

[ZOG]

I just managed an hour out with the dob before the cloud and rain hit. I had just been looking at M38 and was just panning around looking for double stars when something shot through Auriga travelling fast. It just looked like an orange dot of light and seemed too slow to be a meteorite but too fast to be a military aircraft.

Does anyone have an idea of what I saw ? I'm thinking satellite but it was fast.

[thing]

Could be a satellite, but I've never sen an orange one. A jet would have whizzed through in no time and a meteor even faster. You catch satellites all the time when you're observing.

[ZOG]

I've seen satellites before but not orange, the other thing is, when I took my eye away from the scope, I couldnt see it naked eye.

[Bigwings]

If you have the correct time we could playback Starry Night Pro and have a look

[scotastro]

If you could see a moving bright dot it was a satellite. If it was just a streak of light then it was a meteor.

Mike

[mdstuart]

Probably an iridium flare from an iridium satelite. Look at heavens above for timming..these can look orange and a bright for say 20 secs and then fade....

Then again a UFO?

[jgs001]

I've seen several satellites that look a sort of orange red including the ISS. Normally as they are passing into the earths shadow, I think they are then not light directly, but by refraction from the earths atmosphere.

[ZOG]

Then again a UFO?

Shhhhhh THEY will come and get you. :mrgreen:

I think I'l stick with satellite

[Bruce MacDonald]

Many satellites look golden or orange. Many have gold-coloured insulation on them and a satellite heading into the Earth's shadow will become progressively darker as it travels through the penumbra.

When were you observing? If it was a couple of hours before sunrise or after sunset, it is likely to have been a satellite. If you have your exact position (lat/long) and time of observation there's a good chance the sat can be identified.

[ZOG]

Hmm, Latitude = 55.0140, Longitude = -1.6496 best I can do with the time is 1830 to 1930

[Bruce MacDonald]

I've had a look. One possibility is an old Soviet SIGINT satellite, Cosmos 1626 (1985-009A, 15494). From your location it entered shadow on 18 January at 18:41 just after passing through Taurus and just as it was entering Auriga. Its path should have taken it right through the M36-M38 chain in Auriga.

Though Heavens-Above says it was in shadow, experience has taught me that satellites often take a fair while to be completely obscured by the Earth's shadow. If it was in penumbra then there's a very good chance it will have had a golden/orange tint.

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/tselinad.htm

[ZOG]

That would be the one I think, and it would also explain why I couldn't see it naked eye.

Thanks for the help Bruce