seeking explanation following star gazing and satellite observation.

hello ATS

So I have very low knowledge on what's going on up there in the night sky but would like someone to explain me a couple of things regarding my observations.
It was yesterday the 11th of july in France near Lyon. Unfortunately I had no mean to check the time and forgot to do so after. Was between midnight and 1:30 am.
Clear sky.
During my star gazing I saw:
- 8 satellites
- 4 shooting stars
- 5 very rapid flashes (like camera flashes, nothing to do with iridium flares) all coming from the same area, betwin flash 1 and flash 2, nearly one minute went on then it went on three or four time within a 20 seconds. I am really curious if you guys have any explanation. Could it be a Geostationary orbit? But why was it so random then?

to go back to the satelites I also have questions as I saw most of them going in the same direction (in the same corridor) on a South to North direction, but I saw one going opposite, North to south, which I understand is quite common?

BUT I also clearly saw one go in a West/South West to East/North East direction... What could this be??

unfortunaltely I did not see any funny stuff or even a crazy Iridium flare that lit up the sky for a few secs like last time when you just go woooooOOOOOAAAAAAAAAW

so the thing that lights up the entire sky is a iridium flare? *note*

also i've been observing satellites going almost every direction. more of the north to south kind which at first puzzeled my because i thought almost every satellite goes the east - west route.

star gazing is cool, you never know what you'll be observing next

originally posted by: Logiciel
- 5 very rapid flashes (like camera flashes, nothing to do with iridium flares) all coming from the same area, betwin flash 1 and flash 2, nearly one minute went on then it went on three or four time within a 20 seconds. I am really curious if you guys have any explanation. Could it be a Geostationary orbit? But why was it so random then?

While iridium flares are some of the most impressive flashes, they aren't the only ones. Other satellites flash less impressively but they still flash, which is probably what you saw.

Satellite_flare-Non-Iridium_flares

There are many controlled satellites in addition to Iridium satellites, which can also flare, but most flares of these satellites does not exceed magnitude −2, therefore, they are often overlooked.

MetOp-A and B, however, can produce predictable flares up to −5 mag. Four COSMO-SkyMed satellites can produce flares up to −4 mag., but their peculiarity is that they last much longer than the Iridium flares.

Most flares from other satellites are almost indistinguishable from dim Iridium flares.

a reply to: Logiciel

Lightning.

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: Logiciel

Lightning.

There was no storm nearby, but the temperature was hot enough for "heat lightning," which happens when lighting activity beyond the horizon gets reflected by the atmosphere but not the sound of the thunder. (Simplified version.)

thanks for this info but I doubt it was any type of lightning.
It looked like Mag 3 at least. exactly like if someone was taking pics with a flash (therefore I could see the exact source) very, very far away in the sky.
i would tend to think that a satelite would have some kind of "fade-in/fade-out" kind of light unless their rotation speed is super fast but then wouldn t make sense?
I have seen flashes that are non iridescent type before in a plane flying to china. Four bright orange flash coming straight from above our flight altitude. MMMMmmmmmysteries of the universe

a reply to: Logiciel
Out of control satellites can give off flashes. There are even some failed iridium satellites, and when they are out of control they don't flash the same way as the controlled iridium satellites. Here's a Chinese satellite that looks like it's out of control, giving somewhat random flashes as it tumbles:

Chinese reconnaissance satellite Yaogan 6 tumbling and flashing

Some of those flashes look a little like a camera flash to me; look around the 1 minute mark, there are four bright flashes at 1:02, 1:05, 1:07, and 1:08, and they are very quick. The flashes aren't as bright before and after that but there are others.

originally posted by: Logiciel
BUT I also clearly saw one go in a West/South West to East/North East direction... What could this be??

Polar orbits (north to south or vice versa), as far as I know, are preferred for imaging/radar/spy satellites, as it allows them to "see" all of the Earth's surface as it rotates beneath them.

But a lot of satellites I observed went (roughly) west-east, so it's quite common too. Launching a rocket towards east allows the Earth's rotation add to the rocket's velocity, which saves on fuel.

There's a great website that lets you know in advance which satellites will be visible over your location, including Iridium flares and the ISS: heavens-above.com...

At that site you can view the sky-path and the ground-path of the satellites, for example this 1.9 mag Terra satellite that can be seen over France and the UK tonight: heavens-above.com...

keeping in mind that it was very localised (apparently not moving even though couldn't say precisely if same exact spot) for an overall period of at least 3 to 4 mn

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I also....am curious about the flashes
chaulk it up to what a world...so far....

originally posted by: Logiciel
keeping in mind that it was very localised (apparently not moving even though couldn't say precisely if same exact spot) for an overall period of at least 3 to 4 mn

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Just because you don't notice movement in 3-4 minutes doesn't mean an object is stationary. Geosynchronous satellites are so far away that if they flash it will be very dim, so based on your description of the brightness, it's more likely to be something closer where you just didn't notice the movement.

I've seen this many times. Once I timed a flashing stationary light that was blinking every 39 seconds. I got bored after a while.

a reply to: DJW001

Yes, that's what I meant. I'm seeing it now on my horizon as I type.

must unbderstand that there is an awful lot of covert survielance satelites that are now in orbit with more being put up every year.
Now the crunch is no-one and I mean no-one on here or anywhere public can tell you what satelite is what. Yes, yes the ISS and well known satelites, but there are more covert, publicly unknown, satelites and that includes their orbit paths.

A couple of years ago I saw something similar. A light which flashed 4 or 5 times, seemingly quite regularly, over a period of maybe 30 seconds. I could not discern any movement relative to nearby stars. I saw nothing more after that.

I've seen many satellites, flashing and otherwise. Since this was nearly directly overhead, it could not have been a geostationary satellite. If it was moving, it was moving so little that it would have had to be at a very high altitude. It was also many hours after sunset. Highly unlikely to have been any sort of satellite.

I have no idea what it was. I could speculate that it was a hovering aircraft (a quad?) but the purpose of the strobe?

a reply to: Phage

Hi Phage.

Yeah.. a quad... or little green men high on oxygen:
- "hey! you stoopid human! can't you see I'm flashing a light at you?"
- "haha Joey forget about it they're dumb I told you..."
- "all right # it let's go to Mars's mini-golf"

a reply to: Logiciel

Alien kids buzzing the Uncontacted and giving them the willies. Douglas Adams had a name for it. Anyone remember what it was?