Help me understand what I saw over Kauai

[Jerry007]

Hi everyone.  Hey I joined this forum because I have been unable to find an answer to my question anywhere else.  So back in early January of 2018, probably the 6th or 7th, my wife and I were on vacation in Kauai Hawaii.  As many may know, the US navy has its Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands beach on Kauai.   We were laying on a beach probably 20 miles from the base.  It was sometime in the early to mid afternoon and as we looked up, almost directly overhead wearing only sunglasses (my hat brim covered the sun) I saw a bright light.  I was able to easily point this out to my wife who recalls this to this day.  It looked like Venus does as far as size an intensity only it was a cloudless sunny day.  It did not move and remained there for as long as we cared to look at it.  On subsequent days I was unable to find it in the sky.  I asked quite a few locals and they all acted quite odd and didn't engage in the subject which I thought was really odd.  I'm curious if anyone has seen this on Kauai?  I thought perhaps it was a geosynchronous satellite related to the Navy but I didn't think they can be seen due to their altitude and I am not aware of any celestial objects that are visible in bright daylight.

Thanks for your feedback in advance.

[JOC]

As far as I know it is possible for things like the ISS to reflect sunlight.

[900SL]

Likely aviation, or military. Unlikely to be a satellite mid afternoon stationary and that bright. The moon was high that day. Possibly a balloon?

 

Failing that, Aliens!

[ONIKKINEN]

Welcome to SGL,

No planets available on that date and time, except Venus which is very close to the sun and so absolutely not visible. Some bright stars close to the zenith but you would not see these with the naked eye in broad daylight.

When you say it did not move what exactly do you mean? Do you mean it stayed on the same spot overhead as in it did move when compared to the sun? Or do you mean it moved with the sun like the stars, planets and the Moon would. And what is "for long as we cared to look". Is it 2 minutes or 5 hours? Whatever the case, it will not be aliens and its fair to assume that the locals thought you were being weird for asking them about a strange light (which explains why you were ignored on that).

Both Geosynchronous and Geostationary satellites would appear directly overhead with the low latitude of the location. Its not impossible one of them just so happened to have its solar panels directly aimed towards you and reflecting sunlight. Although seems unlikely if the sun was also high in the sky. Geostationary satellites would appear to not move in the sky, but move in relation to the Sun. Geosynchronous satellites would be a bit of both (depends on the exact orbit). I think you already partially answered the question yourself and this was probably some hush hush navy aircraft, weather balloon, or a spy balloon (like the recent debacles with those being shot down). Balloons meant to fly high in the sky bloat to very large diameters, and are often made of reflective materials, so its not impossible you would catch a glimpse of one of those.

[The60mmKid]

It could have been another species' technology. There are many reports of such sightings. I had a sighting, once.

[Jerry007]

I can easily rule out the ISS as that orbits and this did not seem to move.  When I say as long as I cared to look up it was there...I would say the hour and a half we were on the beach plus an occasional glance up over the next hour or so before we kinda grew tired of monitoring it.   Without having it in a telescope view finder I can't say whether it moved in unison with the sun or not.  It sure seemed to be in the same location above us though.  I have seen a weather balloon when I was a teenager back in the 70's and I suppose it could have been a balloon at extreme altitude.  I appreciate the input from everyone.  I guess at the time I wrote it off to a US military satellite that was stationed directly over the Navy base but wasn't sure if you could actually see that in the daylight?

[ONIKKINEN]

19 hours ago, The60mmKid said:

It could have been another species' technology. There are many reports of such sightings. I had a sighting, once.

Like what species? Dogs? Cats?

[The60mmKid]

55 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Like what species? Dogs? Cats?

No, but if those are all of the species that your mind can encompass, further explanation wouldn't go far 😁❤️

[Cjg]

On 16/07/2023 at 15:46, Jerry007 said:

Hi everyone.  Hey I joined this forum because I have been unable to find an answer to my question anywhere else.  So back in early January of 2018, probably the 6th or 7th, my wife and I were on vacation in Kauai Hawaii.  As many may know, the US navy has its Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands beach on Kauai.   We were laying on a beach probably 20 miles from the base.  It was sometime in the early to mid afternoon and as we looked up, almost directly overhead wearing only sunglasses (my hat brim covered the sun) I saw a bright light.  I was able to easily point this out to my wife who recalls this to this day.  It looked like Venus does as far as size an intensity only it was a cloudless sunny day.  It did not move and remained there for as long as we cared to look at it.  On subsequent days I was unable to find it in the sky.  I asked quite a few locals and they all acted quite odd and didn't engage in the subject which I thought was really odd.  I'm curious if anyone has seen this on Kauai?  I thought perhaps it was a geosynchronous satellite related to the Navy but I didn't think they can be seen due to their altitude and I am not aware of any celestial objects that are visible in bright daylight.

Thanks for your feedback in advance.

Did you attempt to photograph the bright light that you and your wife saw, perhaps with your phone camera?  

[Carbon Brush]

I'm in the high altitude balloon camp. Shiny objects are visible at great distance.

As a young child I remember being told about the 'Echo' balloons. The passes being notified in a daily newspaper.
I went outside at the right time and sure enough a slow moving 'star' was there.
These were 30-40M diameter in 1000KM(?) orbits.

Something this size and shiny in the upper atmosphere would surely be daylight visible.
Apparent motion being entirely determined by the wind at altitude.

[jjohnson3803]

I've never seen a satellite or ISS during the day (dusk yes, but not midday), but I have seen distant aircraft present like that.  If it didn't move much, I'd go with high altitude balloon also.