Does anyone know what this is?

[Mick UK]

AT 3.38am 8th April i was about to shoot the Great Cluster in Hercules (M13), and as i was looking through the veiw finder of my Canon 350d attached to my Skywatcher 250pds Newtonian just having achieved focus, i saw what at first i thought due it its brightness, was the ISS.

Instead i saw a bright constant light pass through the veiwfinder in about 2 seconds that looked more like a large uneven shaped boulder that was turning on its self as it went past and it was really bright!

Once the object had gone out of veiw in my veiw finder, i immediately looked up with the naked eye to see if i could see it, but there was nothing there. (i must admit here, my eyesight isnt that great!)

After about 5 or so seconds of looking i quickly pressed the shutter button, and this takes 2 seconds for the mirror to lock up and then the shutter to open, so what ever went across my veiw finder had obviously gone.

This is the image i took of the M13..i forget how long the length was, but it was between 10 and 30 seconds as thats all i had been setting the camera for due to me not properly alligning my mount because i was only wanting to do some images of Saturn and didnt have a lot of time to play with.

This image looks like a satellite passing by, but whatever i saw, had long gone before the image was taken.

Could a satellite leave a trail like this?

[Neo_uk]

Hi Mick,

Could have been a iridium flare.... from one of the iridium satellites the sun catches there solar panels which make them shine really brightly then fade as they loose the suns light.

cheers chris

[Mick UK]

Thanks Chris,

Ive been looking at some clips of iridium flares on youtube and i must say, they could explain the thing i seen in the veiw finder, but none of them left a trail like the one i captured when it had gone out of the veiw finder.

[ollypenrice]

I doubt that the trail in the image is really connected with what you saw, but many satellites travel in pairs or groups so could this be a second one after the first?

Or just a coincidental second satellite?

Olly

[Mick UK]

That sounds a feasible explanation Olly, i certainly dont think i will get a better possible explanation, thats for sure!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Looks like a standard satellite trail to me. Certainly not an Iridium flare or meteor.