Unidentifird object, possibly in orbit observed around 21:50 UT?

[Leo S]

This was heading WSW to ENE at quite a pace. It seemed to travel faster than a satellite, and quite bright @ around -1 mag. I half dismissed it initially, thinking it was just an extra stealthy small aircraft, but it seems to have been picked up by multiple UKMON cameras (eg here and here) too, so it must be high altitude!

At least one of my cameras should have caught it (I'll check them tomorrow).

Anyone else catch it?

[Elp]

Not the ISS?, it's usually the brightest moving object W to E on most nights, sometimes multiple times a night. Stellarium shows its presence around the time you state quite low in altitude.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Elp

[Leo S]

Definitely not the ISS. No visible passes predicted for weeks here. This was faster, and headed a bit more to the north than the ISS usually does. Apart from that it did look similar. From my point of view it traveled near parallel with the horizon and around 35-40 degrees above it. I lost it in trees after perhaps 15-20 seconds.

No beacons or noise, which is unusual, if it was an aircraft.

Edit: Just checked stellarium, and I see the pass you mean, but way too low and early to be what I observed.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Leo S

[Leo S]

Here's some footage.

 

[mikeDnight]

We were out of cheese and it was a bank holiday. I really didn't think we'd be noticed!

 

[Elp]

Definitely not another like Tiangong? Certainly mimics the ISS in intensity and movement speed. Most other satellite's are much smaller dots.

[w5jck]

HST flyover on 17 May 2023 from north Texas. This was a mag +1 flyover and looks similar to what you saw. Did you try to see if any HST flyovers occurred in that timeframe?

Edited May 30, 2023 by w5jck

[Leo S]

2 hours ago, Elp said:

Definitely not another like Tiangong? Certainly mimics the ISS in intensity and movement speed. Most other satellite's are much smaller dots.

I'm not seeing anything in Stellarium that comes close to matching this object, but perhaps I need to load up more TLEs.

As you say, this is relatively big/bright, as well as speedy. It does stand out from most other objects in orbit in my experience, which is why I'm thinking this might be temporary (rocket/missile test related perhaps) or something new.

[Leo S]

1 hour ago, w5jck said:

HST flyover on 17 May 2023 from north Texas. This was a mag +1 flyover and looks similar to what you saw. Did you try to see if any HST flyovers occurred in that timeframe?

I checked for HST passes on Heavens Above, but none listed anywhere near the time.

BTW Jack, my browser comes back with an error saying that the file you posted if corrupted, and it won't play.

[w5jck]

Leo, I uploaded an MP4 created via DaVinci Resolve 18.5 from my MacBook Air M1 rather than linking to a Youtube video. Here is a link to a Youtube video, but it is at 2x speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmM2QfqzqWI

[Leo S]

That works. Thanks Jack. I agree - it does look similar.

The object still remains a mystery though, and I can't think what else can be done to solve the mystery, so I emailed DR Marco Langbroek who is probably the most qualified person I know when it comes to tracking satellites. Hopefully he can give us some ideas.

[Leo S]

Just caught what appears to be the same object again ( ~21:18 UT), a fair bit higher in the sky this time. Cameras should have caught it again.

[w5jck]

Quite few countries with the ability to put satellites in orbit now, so it might be a new one that hasn’t been publicized yet, or another spy sat they want to keep quiet about.

I managed to catch the ISS flyover last night (3 June 2023) about 21:14 CDT before astronomical twilight. Captured with my Sony ZV-E10 and FE 28mm f/2 lens at 24p 100M using PP7. Arcturus was at mag. +0.15 and the ISS at mag. -2.7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ubdC6aZtXs

Edited June 4, 2023 by w5jck

[Leo S]

I agree - that is most likely the case. I'm just curious why no one else appears to have picked it up, given how bright it is. Having observed it visually twice now, it also seems significantly faster. That combination makes it quite eye catching!

Unfortunately it appeared during my first clip of the night, and the focus was off on one camera, the camera that points up and would have got the best shot of it. Another camera did catch it, just as it became visible. No obvious stars visible since it was just starting to get dark (I like to start early since I'm finding it harder to stay up as late as I used to).

Hopefully will catch it again tonight.

 

Nice footage of the ISS Jack, but perhaps slightly out of focus? There are no high passes of the ISS here for at least the next few nights - next good pass I want to try the EF 800/5.6 + 2x TC.

[w5jck]

The trees are out of focus because they are in the foreground, but the stars were in focus. I probably should have tilted the camera up to capture just sky. Without shooting at wide open aperture the trees were actually too close to get in focus, and the ISS was so bright I decided to stop down the aperture for a better image.