At about 740 pm cst while looking through my telescope I saw something "explode" or break apart. Was this likely one of the Chinese satellites that bumped recently?
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There are several other much more likkely things that come to mind, but....
Your post was lacking a lot of detail...in fact any detail at all
That makes it hard for us to figure out.
Here's a list to work with:
Where are you?
Did you mean CDT, in the central US, not cst?
What were you looking at with the telescope?
How high up in the sky was it pointed, and in what direction?
About the explosion, exactly what did you see?
Was it a flash a tenth of a second long, or did it last longer? If so, how long?
Did it break into pieces? Or just a single object?
Was it moving? If so, how fast through your field of view?
What size scope and lens?
If we get these clues, we can make some educated guesses.
Wayne
There are no scheduled or expected reentries at this time.
There are several other much more likkely things that come to mind, but....
Your post was lacking a lot of detail...in fact any detail at all
That makes it hard for us to figure out.
Here's a list to work with:
Where are you?
Did you mean CDT, in the central US, not cst?
What were you looking at with the telescope?
How high up in the sky was it pointed, and in what direction?
About the explosion, exactly what did you see?
Was it a flash a tenth of a second long, or did it last longer? If so, how long?
Did it break into pieces? Or just a single object?
Was it moving? If so, how fast through your field of view?
What size scope and lens?
If we get these clues, we can make some educated guesses.
Wayne
Have you thought about programming your F-keys with standard responses to save time, MW?
"Oh, that's an F7" "Oh, that's an F4"
"Oh, that's an F7" "Oh, that's an F4"
LOL, actually I have thought about it for the standard "Introduction to Heavens-Above" script. :lol:
But unknown sightings require a less rote response, depending on the circumstances, what is reported, and how much detail is there
MW
But unknown sightings require a less rote response, depending on the circumstances, what is reported, and how much detail is there
MW
MeteorWayne":2z68mhxj said:Welcome to Space.com
There are no scheduled or expected reentries at this time.
There are several other much more likkely things that come to mind, but....
Your post was lacking a lot of detail...in fact any detail at all
That makes it hard for us to figure out.
Here's a list to work with:
Where are you?
Did you mean CDT, in the central US, not cst?
What were you looking at with the telescope?
How high up in the sky was it pointed, and in what direction?
About the explosion, exactly what did you see?
Was it a flash a tenth of a second long, or did it last longer? If so, how long?
Did it break into pieces? Or just a single object?
Was it moving? If so, how fast through your field of view?
What size scope and lens?
If we get these clues, we can make some educated guesses.
Wayne
I live in Mississippi. Around 730 Spet 5th I looked up and noticed a bright light high in the southwest sky. By the way I am a rookie! I brought out my Orion Starblast 6. I got the object in the finderscope crosshair then I dropped in a 25mm eyepiece and the object was almost out of view. I centered the object and swapped to a 10mm eyepiece and again the object was almost out of view. I found it and noticed that it was moving faster than any planet. Again I was thinking Jupiter with one moon visible until I noticed that the "moon" was rapidly moving around the object. I then noticed that the "moon" was attached to the object. My wife was outside and she came over and looked at the object in the scope then me then her and then me again. At this time the larger sphere/object broke into multiple pieces. I could not believe what I was seeing. The debris quickly began to move out of my scopes view however I caught a red object sinking into the west. I followed it in the scope until it went behind the trees in my back yard. I came inside and grabbed my phone and noticed that it was 744. I came inside a little while later and drew a few illustrations describing what I had observerved.brock1":1u2wg6sj said:MeteorWayne":1u2wg6sj said:Welcome to Space.com
There are no scheduled or expected reentries at this time.
There are several other much more likkely things that come to mind, but....
Your post was lacking a lot of detail...in fact any detail at all
That makes it hard for us to figure out.
Here's a list to work with:
Where are you?
Did you mean CDT, in the central US, not cst?
What were you looking at with the telescope?
How high up in the sky was it pointed, and in what direction?
About the explosion, exactly what did you see?
Was it a flash a tenth of a second long, or did it last longer? If so, how long?
Did it break into pieces? Or just a single object?
Was it moving? If so, how fast through your field of view?
What size scope and lens?
If we get these clues, we can make some educated guesses.
Wayne
OK, here's what we can say so far. If your time is accurate, from anywhere in Mississippi, the sun was still above the horizon, so you were looking through a very turbulent, bright, evening sky. Jupiter is still below the eastern horizon, so was not visible. It doesn't rise until 9 PM.
The bright object in the SW is Venus, about a 1/3 lit crescent. VERY bright! Reddish Mars is about 5 degrees (half a hand width held at arms lenght) to the right. If you did not see a crescent shape, either the turbulence was so bad, or your scope badly needs collimation. Have you done that yet? Also, there's no way it could have adapted to the ambient temperature yet, so in your eyepiece was a swirling mess.
With the 10mm lens, any planet or star is going to be in the field of view for a short time.
I suspect all the movement and explosion was simply atmospheric turbulence distorting the image severely...quite likely in the daytime so low to the horizon. BTW, Venus (which would have been the only bright object in the sky visible other than the sun) was only about 20 degrees (2 fist widths) above the horizon. Not exactly high. Overhead is high (90 degrees elevation)
I suspect the red object sinking in the west was a jet in the far distance reflecting the reddish setting sun, and unrelated to what you were watching through the scope.
That's my best guess so far.
Wayne
The bright object in the SW is Venus, about a 1/3 lit crescent. VERY bright! Reddish Mars is about 5 degrees (half a hand width held at arms lenght) to the right. If you did not see a crescent shape, either the turbulence was so bad, or your scope badly needs collimation. Have you done that yet? Also, there's no way it could have adapted to the ambient temperature yet, so in your eyepiece was a swirling mess.
With the 10mm lens, any planet or star is going to be in the field of view for a short time.
I suspect all the movement and explosion was simply atmospheric turbulence distorting the image severely...quite likely in the daytime so low to the horizon. BTW, Venus (which would have been the only bright object in the sky visible other than the sun) was only about 20 degrees (2 fist widths) above the horizon. Not exactly high. Overhead is high
(90 degrees elevation)I suspect the red object sinking in the west was a jet in the far distance reflecting the reddish setting sun, and unrelated to what you were watching through the scope.
That's my best guess so far.
Wayne
I am a rookie but not that much of a rookie! Venus was much closer to the western horizon. Jupiter was not high enough to see. It was a perfect night for stargazing in central mississippi that entire evening. The scope was more than ready for viewing. I have viewed Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn many times and this object was NOT a planet! It was mechanical. The object rapidly broke apart.
Also the object was very high in the sky as I was looking at it. Venus was well below in the west. The object was a perfect sphere before it broke apart into many pieces. There was no turbulence at all that evening. I am located at 32.28 89.99.
It was dark enough to see Venus and this object. Again another reason this caught my eye. Not being sure where Jupiter was that evening at that time I wondered a bit and that is why I got the scope out. I was expecting to see Jupiter however it most certainly was not Jupiter. After reading a few online articles about the Chinese satellites bumping it makes some sense now that a piece may have broken loose and was swinging around the satellite and I happened to catch it in my scope as it broke apart.
OK, it may make sense to you, but not to anyone familiar with the situation. Any piece of any satellite bright enough to be seen with the sun still out would be tracked and the reentry predicted. It would cover the sky from that elevation in about 20-30 seconds. At no time would it be stationary long enough for you to get a scope on it.
So the reentry scenario is impossible.
There is no other celestial object that would be bright enough to be seen with the sun 8 degrees above the horizon. Even the mag 0 Arcturus, above and to the right (54 degrees elevation) would not have attracted your attention without the telescope.
So with all that as the facts, the only other option is reflections off a jet aircraft, highly distorted by the early evening atmosphere. The fact that it was moving "faster than a planet" confirms this.
I know you don.t want to hear it, so I will withdraw from this conversation now.
Wayne
So the reentry scenario is impossible.
There is no other celestial object that would be bright enough to be seen with the sun 8 degrees above the horizon. Even the mag 0 Arcturus, above and to the right (54 degrees elevation) would not have attracted your attention without the telescope.
So with all that as the facts, the only other option is reflections off a jet aircraft, highly distorted by the early evening atmosphere. The fact that it was moving "faster than a planet" confirms this.
I know you don.t want to hear it, so I will withdraw from this conversation now.
Wayne
I am certain your overall knowledge on this matter is greater than mine. That does not change the facts of what I saw. The object did break up into multiple pieces and scatter in a very short period of time. This was not a jet aircraft...I know what one of those looks like! What little I know about satellites leads me to agree with you about the speed of the object. Again there was NO distortion at all in the atmosphere for the entire day and night here in central MS. I thought the Chinese satellite article was the only thing that could have made any possible sense of what I saw. I do not pretend to know the details of what I saw...that is why I am talking with you. I know that your explanation of my observation does not explain what I saw that evening. If only I had a camera!!! I am not some loon looking for crazy things in space. I am 43 and a middle of the road kind of guy who received a telescope as a gift a couple of years ago. I get it out sometimes to look at some of the obvious items in space and I just happened to witness what I have described to you. Let me know if you hear of any other similar reports. Thanks.
>> there was NO distortion at all in the atmosphere for the entire day and night here in central MS.
That explains it. I believe MeteorWayne was assuming you were observing from Earth.
At no time on earth is there ever a time when our atmosphere isn't distorting our view of the heavens. Every astronomer wishes there were, and many many millions of dollars get spent trying to compensate actively for the changing distortion, but ultimately, the only way to get a clearer view is to do it from space. Otherwise - the Hubble wouldn't exist.
That explains it. I believe MeteorWayne was assuming you were observing from Earth.
At no time on earth is there ever a time when our atmosphere isn't distorting our view of the heavens. Every astronomer wishes there were, and many many millions of dollars get spent trying to compensate actively for the changing distortion, but ultimately, the only way to get a clearer view is to do it from space. Otherwise - the Hubble wouldn't exist.
I understand that there is always some level if distortion. What I am saying is that September 5, 2010 was about as good as it gets for viewing here in Mississippi. I have used a telescope in all seasons of the year at different temps that we experience here.
Again I acknowledge and assume that you folks have a much broader knowledge than I do when it concerns these topics however that does not mean that I do not have some working knowledge of these topics and also some common sense.
I regret that you choose to mock the messenger instead of paying attention to the message.
Thanks for your more "intelligent" time.
Again I acknowledge and assume that you folks have a much broader knowledge than I do when it concerns these topics however that does not mean that I do not have some working knowledge of these topics and also some common sense.
I regret that you choose to mock the messenger instead of paying attention to the message.
Thanks for your more "intelligent" time.
brock1":1i82xuas said:
Hello Brock1,
I'm sorry if you are having trouble getting an answer to your question here. I am not sure what Chinese satellites you are referring to. Could you post a link to an article about it?
You said that the object traveled across your telescopes field of view faster than a planet. How much faster, 2X, 5X? Satellites that would be visible in your finder scope will usually travel across your telescopes field of view within a couple of seconds which would not have realistically given you time to switch from the finder scope to the telescope and change eyepieces as well.
From your description it sounds like what you saw was something falling, maybe a piece of an aircraft. From living near a large Air force Reserve base I can tell you that this happens allot more often than you would think. We've had large sections of wing and such land in people's back yards and more recently a pair of wheels fall off a Galaxy C-5 cargo plane. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... y_fly.html
Unfortunately the wheels landed in a swamp, it would have been interesting to see how far they would have bounced if they hit asphalt! It's amazing what can fall off a plane without it crashing.
You saw something and noticed more and more detail about it (because it was getting closer and closer) it broke apart (because it maybe broke apart) then rapidly traveled out of your field of view and behind the trees at the horizon. That's perspective for you!
Please note, I did no mocking. I invested a considerable amount of my time, tools, and decades of sky watching experience in trying to solve the mystery.
The poster got some answers. Like so many others who come here asking, they were not the answers he expected or wanted, so he got frustrated. Just as I get frustrated when people come here asking for expertise and refuse to accept the answers.
Look through the Ask the Astronomer threads. There are literally hundreds of people who don't like the answers they get. I only put in so much effort before I just give up.
That's why I withdrew from further comment.
MW
The poster got some answers. Like so many others who come here asking, they were not the answers he expected or wanted, so he got frustrated. Just as I get frustrated when people come here asking for expertise and refuse to accept the answers.
Look through the Ask the Astronomer threads. There are literally hundreds of people who don't like the answers they get. I only put in so much effort before I just give up.
That's why I withdrew from further comment.
MW
You can Google "chinese satellite" and see several articles on the subject. It appears that two satellites bumped sometime around August 18 according to reports.
I am not upset because I have not received an answer and I understand that you have to be skeptical of any information that comes your way and I am sorry for overstating the obvious with regards to the distortion in the atmosphere.
I reached out to you folks hoping you have more tools than I do for trying to explain what I saw. I do not have the answer.
Thanks
I am not upset because I have not received an answer and I understand that you have to be skeptical of any information that comes your way and I am sorry for overstating the obvious with regards to the distortion in the atmosphere.
I reached out to you folks hoping you have more tools than I do for trying to explain what I saw. I do not have the answer.
Thanks
Here it is!
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ch ... 00903.html
"There's no evidence there was any damage to the satellite or debris, so I wouldn't characterize it as a collision," Weeden told SPACE.com. "More like a bump."
According to the article one satellite maneuverd close to another and may have come in contact. No explosion. I still think you saw something falling from an airplane. If the plane didn't crash, had cargo instead of passengers and the picecs didn't land on someones house, lawn or in a parking lot or something it wouldn't get mentiond in the newspapers.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ch ... 00903.html
"There's no evidence there was any damage to the satellite or debris, so I wouldn't characterize it as a collision," Weeden told SPACE.com. "More like a bump."
According to the article one satellite maneuverd close to another and may have come in contact. No explosion. I still think you saw something falling from an airplane. If the plane didn't crash, had cargo instead of passengers and the picecs didn't land on someones house, lawn or in a parking lot or something it wouldn't get mentiond in the newspapers.
The reports that I have seen indicate that the two satellites bumped August 18. My observations were September 5. It is possible that at least one of the two satellites suffered enough damage to cause one of them to break apart by September 5th. At least one of the reports that I read based the "bump" analysis on previous contact between two US satellites several years ago. They indicate that the two Chinese satellites were moving at much slower speeds but that does not mean that severe damage could not have happened when the two Chinese satellites bumped.
What I saw appeared to be tethered to the main object as though it had broken loose and maybe over several days it stressed the main object until its structure broke into pieces.
I am only guessing.
The article that you posted said there was no evidence of damage however they do not report any evidence that there was no damage. The answer to that question is left open at the time of the article.
What I saw was NOT a plane!
What I saw appeared to be tethered to the main object as though it had broken loose and maybe over several days it stressed the main object until its structure broke into pieces.
I am only guessing.
The article that you posted said there was no evidence of damage however they do not report any evidence that there was no damage. The answer to that question is left open at the time of the article.
What I saw was NOT a plane!
You were tracking satellites moving across the sky that took 15 mins to traverse it, swapping eye pieces, and making out details on them with a low-end 6" dob mated to high power optics, that has no tracking of any kind?
It appears from reading through the thread again that you already know what you've seen. You don't need any help in identifying what you were looking at. You've scooped the airforce and NORAD's millimeter radars, beaten out space defense, and you've positively identified what it was. I don't think you need any assistance from the likes of us!
It appears from reading through the thread again that you already know what you've seen. You don't need any help in identifying what you were looking at. You've scooped the airforce and NORAD's millimeter radars, beaten out space defense, and you've positively identified what it was. I don't think you need any assistance from the likes of us!
I can describe what I saw. I can not tell you what it was that I saw. Your elitist attitude certainly can not say what it was. You have a nice day!
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