I know, many folks think seeing things in the night sky that can't be explained are examples of an overactive imagination or just a pure lack of prudence. I often thought the same thing especially being a member of the Air Force and an amature astronomer as well. I find myself quite regularly scanning the skies with my Mead telescope as well as binoculars usually after 11:00 PM EST, it is the vastness that intrigues me.
Several nights ago (July 24th to be exact) I was looking into the starry sky around 11:30 PM and noticed a bright object moving from my right to my left. The actual shape of this object was impossible to ascertain as it was quite high and I had only binoculars at the time. It moved at a speed that I would estimate as being easily twice that of a jet airliner. It crossed the visible sky in about 10 to 15 seconds and it was gone. There was no sound, and no trail as you'd expect from a meteor or a related object that has contacted our atmosphere. At first I thought maybe it was a satellite or space junk reflecting light from the sun. I kind of put the issue to rest.
A week later I was again looking into the same section of sky about the same time and to my amazement, I saw the exact same object in about the same piece of sky. I was sure that it was a satellite or junk. Just to be sure, the next night I went out at 11:20 PM and watched again. Ten minutes or so had passed when I saw the object for a third time, but to my extreme surprise, this time it was travelling from my left to my right.
I'm currently at a loss for explaining what I have seen. I will be watching more carefully in the near future and may buy a good video camera and tripod setup in the hopes of actually filming this event.
I have made an animated movie of what I saw. It is of course not the actual object but gives a really good idea of what I'm talking about. In the movie the object moves left to right, which it actually did the last time I saw it. As I said, the first two times I saw this it moved right to left.
See it here: Short Movie A new browser will open so you won't leave here. Let it play through more then one time as it will be smoother the second time and give a better idea of what it's supposed to represent. O, I don't have a very good animation program so this movie is not compressed and as a result is a large file. Sorry! Also, the movie is looped but I only saw the object cross the sky one time per event, not as the movie makes it appear.
I'd really be interested in hearing from anyone else who has seen this and may know what it is.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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