Another SE Oregon object???????

[latenight]

Don't know if I am just lucky or what but this is the second time in a week I have seen something unusual over the Wallowa mountains.A few days ago it was a meteor.<br />At 11:28 pm PST I was again looking up to our clear night sky,lots of stars tonight.And was watching a jet cruising up at about 35000 ft.<br />Turned around and right where the Big Dipper was from here about NE,a white blinking light appeared out of nowhere.Was way up there.Funny thing was it was a slow blinking white light not like a plane or such and it would go straight then left or right and then straight again.It was really moving along but not as fast as a jet at high altitude cruising speed.I saw it for about 30 seconds and then it disappeared.<br />Watched for another 10 minutes and it never appeared again.<br />Any ideas?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Sounds like a flashing satellite.<br /><br />I know you won't believe me, but in thousands of hours watching meteors I have seen many satellites, and especially with slow moving ones they <i> appear </i> to move left and right when in fact they are just moving straight. The slow motion gives plenty of time for your eyes to play tricks on you.<br /><br />How often was in flashing? Once a second, once every few senconds?<br />How bright were the flashes compared to the Big Dipper's stars?<br /><br />Can you give me a town or Lat/Long location so I can look up the satellites that might have been there?<br /><br />Can you be more specific about where in the big dipper? Near the Bowl? Near the handle? Above or below the handle or bowl?<br /><br />Finally, how accurate is your time estimate?<br /><br />Is it based on a watch? If so, have you compared the watch time to an accurate time source?<br /><br />Sorry to ask for so many details, but when tracking down unknowns, the more accurate the details, the better the chance the source can be found.<br /><br />During my meteor watches this week, I had that one satellite I saw on two nights that was flashing very rapidly, about 5 times per second. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it!<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[latenight]

Hi again,the time was as stated and will recheck the time from now on with the atomic clock.<br />Enterprise is at Lat. 45.42 N and 117.28 W.<br />My thought that it was a satellite also.It was brighter than the Dipper and first saw it at the top of the bowl of the Dipper between the top 2 stars.<br />I am not used to seeing so much action in the sky.But being at nearly 3800 feet elevation and no city lights around,it really lets you do some great viewing.<br />The flashing was less than 5 times a second and it was traveling straight,then left,then right,then straight,then left,right,straight and then disappeared.<br />Hope I helped!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

Great info so far.<br /><br />The other questions:<br /><br />If it wasn't 5 times a second, what was the rate?<br />1 a second? One every 5 seconds? Every 10?<br /><br />You saw it first between the stars at the top of the bowl of the big dipper. What direction was it moving?<br /><br />Was it just flashes, or did the bightness smoothly ramp up and down?<br />Was it visible at all between flashes?<br /><br />Where was it when it disappeared?<br /><br />As I said, though you don't want to hear it, <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> it is quite likely that the left and right deviations were an optical illusion.<br />Trust me on this, I know.<br /><br />I once tracked Arcturus making such movements, when in fact it is absolutely stationary against the background stars. And I have thousands of hours of time watching the whole sky.<br /><br />When you do it enough, it is amazing what the eye-brain system can do to observations.<br /><br />It's rather amusing at times!! <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[mstar218]

are you sure it's not the Oregon Air National Guard?<br /><br />They are having some practise flights this week. <br />Btw, they lost an F-15 Eagle 40 miles west of Astoria a few days ago. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#003366">It's better to be a Pirate than to join the Navy</font> <em>~ Steve Jobs</em> </div>