Something Strange During 2015 Perseid Meteor Shower

originally posted by: Bobaganoosh
Well I believe the poster that responded to me is correct about the geostationary satellites. I just saw the exact same thing in the exact same spot one hour earlier than last night. Pretty cool. In all of my sky watching I haven't seen a satellite of this type and now I've seen it two days consecutive.

I am afraid that it is very unlikely.

To my knowledge a geostationary satellite has to orbit the equator and that does not seem to fit the description of most posts here.

It could, however, be a rotating satellite in a geosynchronous orbit. The farther the orbit, the slower it traverses the sky. If it is high enough up it would seem not to move between the flashes. Imagine that it rotates really slowly, and that it has it has two reflective panels in a narrow 10° angle (or broad 350° angle if you measure the other way around).

If a full rotation on such a satellite takes a long time, it could give off two reflective flashes within seconds (given the narrow angle). Then it could be 'invisible' for long enough (given the very broad angle) for it to move far enough to no longer be in a position where it could reflect light to the original viewer.

High orbit
Slow rotation
Narrow panel angle

That could explain my sighting.

HOWEVER!

I find it really intriguing that people from different places at different times seem to see it the same place in the sky relative to for instance Ursa Major. This should NOT be the case if it was satellite. Rather it seems to indicate that whatever courses the flashes originates from somewhere really far away - otherwise the position relative to the stars would differ greatly from viewpoint to viewpoint.

I am not sure what to make of it.

a reply to: Aqualung2012
Maybe if you could download Stelarium from the app store or to your pc. You could easily point out the directions in degrees or by compass. You also can see many other things like satellites and planets moons and stars systems..it really comes in handy if can't explain what you're looking atnight. . If it's not on that map then it's whatever it is...

I see these flashes all the time. Sometimes they last up to 45 minutes at 30 second intervals and always in the exact location. Other times they will only flash 2 or 3 times but in the same location. I attribute the single ones to meteors that are coming in at an angle that I only see the flash and not the trail but I have no idea how to determine what the other ones are. They arent aircraft. They arent meteors or satellites. I have never been able to come up with a solid explanation.

originally posted by: DupontDeux
I am afraid that it is very unlikely.

To my knowledge a geostationary satellite has to orbit the equator and that does not seem to fit the description of most posts here.

A) Topocentric Parallax - geostationary satellites will not necessarily be seen on the celestial equator exactly.
B) I already pointed out that geosynchs would basically look the same way.

originally posted by: ngchunter

originally posted by: Bobaganoosh
I know the many different ways satellites can present themselves, but for me they are always moving. It is even evident if they are only visible for a very short period of time.

Geostationary satellites do not move enough to see by eye. Even by telescope I can literally turn the power off and not notice any motion at all over several minutes. Most geosynchronous satellites would also likely not produce any visible motion over short time scales of a few seconds.

I wanted to give my input as well as I have seen the same general thing everyone else is. I always enjoy the Perseid Meteors as we typically are in a fairly bright area most of the year and can't observe the night sky that well. We take vacation far up north in Minnesota and it is very dark and great viewing. The last two nights (Aug 12 and 13)I have seen a bright flash on a few occasions in the exact same spot. It was like someone turned on or flashed a bright but condensed light. It came on for maybe half second or so then off, waited a few seconds, then came on and back off in the same exact way. The way the timing was, it felt like it was not random in any way. I have seen it a few times and it has had the same sequence to it when I have witnessed it in the same spot. I see plenty of satellites go by and it certainly is not one. No moment at all that I can see. I downloaded a star gazing app to point up to the sky to get a marking. I am not very knowledgeable about much in the night sky, just the basics. When I checked the app I noted a bright marking on it, it was the star Vega. I saw this while viewing from Longville MN. This was around 11pm Central last evening and I suspect it was roughly the same the night before. I did a search and saw the "STRANGE LIGHT PHENOMENA DURING PERSEID METEOR SHOWERS" site which made me realize I was not crazy. That then led me here and I was happy to see so many saw the same. I'll be down looking again tonight to mark exact times and any further pattern or observation. I am very curious at this point.

originally posted by: bwilson73
I see plenty of satellites go by and it certainly is not one.

You haven't ruled that out.

I do happen to have photographic evidence of this phenomenon. I was outside Thursday morning to photograph the meteor shower. My setup was as follows:

Nikon D7200
18mm lens
ISO 3200
F/3.5
25 second exposures at a 45 second interval
Total 244 exposures

When I was quickly going through them on my camera I noticed these random 'stars' that seem to appear for one frame and then disappear. To be honest I didn't think anything of them until I started reading this thread. I want to say I saw about ten of them over the almost two hour period. I didn't see them as they were happening. It wasn't until I reviewed my photos did I see them. Give me a couple of days and I'll try to make a time lapsed video. Can anyone suggest a good, free program for doing that?

Are there words on what these lights are? Maybe exploding meteors?

a reply to: ratcals
If you are using one of the Windows Operating Systems, you can try using the Windows Live MovieMaker. If you can't find it, click your start button and in the little white box just type Movie and by the time you are done typing it, you should see it in the list of choices.
For Windows 8 and newer, search for it from your applications pane, use the search box typically located all the way over top right of screen.

You may have to publish it to Youtube or something then link it here. I'll let the more experienced ATS'ers out there chime in.

I am curious to see what you have as my viewing location was completely clouded over the last two nights.

a reply to: ngchunter

I should clarify. I posted before I read this whole thread. It is not any normal orbiting satellite as it is stationary when I have seen this occur. I didn't (still don't) know much about the others mentioned such as a geostationary. I just saw found the links to track satellites so I'm going to try and witness again, and see if I can rule out anything based on the help of these sites (www.n2yo.com... and www.satflare.com...) and my location, date/time, viewing angle etc. I am a newbie at all this, but I have to say I am pretty intrigued all the sudden after seeing what I did a few times now. I'm sure there is a great explanation and perhaps it will just be a satellite but I just dont feel like it was unless it is stationary in that spot and has something that flashes, or, something that just happens to rotate the same speed to reflect light the exact same way every time I see it which could certainly be the case. Whatever it is it has my interest now

a reply to: evc1shop

Thanks, I'm at work right now and they strip all the cool software off our computers here.

I had to drive about ninety miles to find somewhat dark skies. It was dark enough to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. I did manage to photograph about fifteen meteors and a very good Milky Way picture. I'm afraid it's not a priority for me right now so give me a day or two to stitch the pictures together. I plan on going back out tonight in hopes of catching some more.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

I can see your logic applying to just after dusk or just before sunrise, but these flashes were seen all throughout different times and locations during the night… in the center of the night sky in some cases.

You mean straight up? Thats when its most prevalent because the sun has long since set. Satellites are two hundred miles up though and obviously lit by the sun, thats how we see them. As far as variations, the satellite can be crossing from darkness to daylight too, appearing to blink on just as passing to darkness, they appear to blink off.

Other factors are the orbital path north to south or east west, the time of the evening or dead of night matters little for them, they circumvent the globe every hour and a half or so. Darkness is required to see them at all as they are sunlit against the dark sky. Turning on or off is a factor of passing the terminator, anytime of night. There are apps that track sats on your phone, you hold the cell up against the sky and it shows where they currently are. That should help to locate when they are abut to appear or disappear.

Not addressing the so called iridium flares, those are reflections from tumbling or reflections off smooth surfaces like solar panels for instance.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you.

originally posted by: bwilson73
a reply to: ngchunter

I should clarify. I posted before I read this whole thread. It is not any normal orbiting satellite as it is stationary when I have seen this occur.

Apparently you still haven't read the thread since geostationary satellites don't move and geosynchs and other mid to high altitudes move too slowly to see by eye in a second or two.

I have an app for my phone called Satellite AR. It shows all potentially visible satellites and / or all known satellites. Does anyone know how accurate those apps are. I've been able to rule out a lot of things I see using it but it still doesnt account for some of the flashes. Especially the ones that flash in the same place every 30 seconds for over 45 minutes

I am from your area op about an hour and a half away in sterling IL. I have seen exactly tje same thing and also a few weeks ago noticed something very bright in the sky. I thought it was a star until it blinked out and then showed up a few feet to my left. It did this 3 times each time being in a diffremt spot then it vanished and didnt show again

originally posted by: Tybrus
I have an app for my phone called Satellite AR. It shows all potentially visible satellites and / or all known satellites. Does anyone know how accurate those apps are. I've been able to rule out a lot of things I see using it but it still doesnt account for some of the flashes. Especially the ones that flash in the same place every 30 seconds for over 45 minutes

45 minutes? Sounds like you're just seeing twinkling stars. Apps like that generally won't include classified satellites, and sometimes even the main catalog is incomplete when it comes to unclassified satellites. FindSat allows for a complete comparison to a master TLE catalog for a given set of coordinates, location, and time.
www.prismnet.com...

McCants also keeps a curated master file of classified satellites as tracked by amateurs:
www.prismnet.com...

Instead of vague reports of naked eye observations it's much more helpful if you can actually take a picture of what it is you're seeing relative to the stars. Anyone can do this with a standard SLR or other camera capable of long exposures and a tripod. If you can post pictures of what satellites/stars you might be seeing I can help you positively identify them.

I just got home and had a chance look at my pictures. There is one 'star' that repeatedly blinks in and out, but not with any regularity. There are a couple shots where numerous ones appear. I will try to find time this evening to stitch them together.

originally posted by: ratcals
I just got home and had a chance look at my pictures. There is one 'star' that repeatedly blinks in and out, but not with any regularity. There are a couple shots where numerous ones appear. I will try to find time this evening to stitch them together.

Can you post the raw images? That's far more useful than stitched images.

a reply to: ngchunter

There's 244 of them equaling 1.5Gb. I guess I don't really mean stitching so much as making a time lapse of them. I can upload the specific ones though, but watching them right after the other makes it easier to spot the 'stars' that blink in and out.