UFO sighting - Cardiff 2nd Feb '19 - Looking for explanations

I live in Cardiff, South Wales (UK) and I saw something that I can't quite fully explain and would like people to help me identify what I saw. It was Saturday 2nd of Feb, approximately 5:45am and I had just gotten into bed (yeah I know). My room is a converted attic space and I have a few skylight windows. All the lights were off so it was pitch black and I just happened to look through one of the windows when a short while later I saw what appeared to be a very bright star-like object travel in a southerly direction which immediately drew my attention. When it reached about 3/4 of the way down my window it suddenly disappeared. I sat there stunned for about a minute or so, trying to rationalise what I saw. I looked at my alarm clock which said 5:47am so I know it must've been about 5:45am when I saw this thing.

It was white hot like a star, there was no sound, no strobe lights and I saw no streaks like a meteor. I checked Flight Radar but couldn't see any aircraft over Cardiff and it certainly wasn't a helicopter as it would've made a lot of sound at that height (given how bright it was). I thought it might've been the ISS as that's the only thing that sprung to mind which could be bright. I checked ISS Tracker at that specific time and it was traversing the southern hemisphere between South Africa and Madagascar so it couldn't be it. I've also checked In the Sky at that time and again no known satellite or space junk was over or near Cardiff at the time.

The only thing I could say based on what I saw and recall is it was a drone, meteor (despite no streak), helicopter (that I somehow didn't hear) or satellite (far too bright though). Are there any other resources I could check? Not to sound weird but could others double check my timings on the sites I mentioned and any others? I do 'believe' but at the same time I think it's important to try and explain any sighting with rational explanations first before contemplating anything potentially non-terrestrial shall we say.

Many thanks.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

What color was the light?

My room is a converted attic space and I have a few skylight windows.

Perhaps that is what lost alien craft look for?
You were on their color board by mistake?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Retro~Burn

What color was the light?

It was white hot just like the average star. It wasn't red/amber so couldn't have been a Chinese lantern (which are illegal here I believe).

originally posted by: Slichter

Perhaps that is what lost alien craft look for?
You were on their color board by mistake?

Heh, I did say to myself semi-seriously that it must've 'shut off' the light as it realised it had been spotted. Although I can't read more into that without making too many suppositions!

a reply to: Retro~Burn

West to east? I don't know how early the sun sets in your area. But many satellites in my area after sundown hit the sweet spot of light coming off the sun... looks like an Arc Welder.
As I read, you removed 3 components.

Hmmm..

a reply to: Retro~Burn

The only thing I could say based on what I saw and recall is it was a drone, meteor (despite no streak), helicopter (that I somehow didn't hear) or satellite (far too bright though). Are there any other resources I could check? Not to sound weird but could others double check my timings on the sites I mentioned and any others? I do 'believe' but at the same time I think it's important to try and explain any sighting with rational explanations first before contemplating anything potentially non-terrestrial shall we say. 

Many thanks.

I'll try,
giving less than 30 days... but it sounds like you saw something over 50 thousand feet.

((( off to dig up THE LAPTOP ))😊

originally posted by: Retro~Burn

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Retro~Burn

What color was the light?

It was white hot just like the average star. It wasn't red/amber so couldn't have been a Chinese lantern (which are illegal here I believe).

originally posted by: Slichter

Perhaps that is what lost alien craft look for?
You were on their color board by mistake?

Heh, I did say to myself semi-seriously that it must've 'shut off' the light as it realised it had been spotted. Although I can't read more into that without making too many suppositions!

No chance that the color was green?

a reply to: TheGoondockSaint

Ohhh now you hit the button👍 I knew it would come up👍😊
But it was mentioned to be HOT WHITE

Edit: The Green Flame comes up in the aviation forums very very very very rarely.
Only twice since I became a member.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

Were you down chip alley at this time? I swear I saw strange lights stumbling down there once.

originally posted by: Bigburgh
a reply to: Retro~Burn

West to east? I don't know how early the sun sets in your area. But many satellites in my area after sundown hit the sweet spot of light coming off the sun... looks like an Arc Welder.
As I read, you removed 3 components.

Hmmm..

No this was travelling North to South. Really? As powerful as an arc welder?

originally posted by: Bigburgh
I'll try,
giving less than 30 days... but it sounds like you saw something over 50 thousand feet.

((( off to dig up THE LAPTOP ))😊

Thanks man, appreciate it! Only thing is this object was really bright and something 50,000 feet up wouldn't be that bright.

I will say this though, the path it was travelling funnily enough is roughly the same as 1 or 2 satellites I've seen, although they were going South to North along with 1 meteorite. What's funny is the other day I saw a very dimly lit object (in that same vicinity of the sky) move in a curved direction (looked too high to be an aircraft) but again I have to assume it was an aeroplane.

originally posted by: strongfp
a reply to: Retro~Burn

Were you down chip alley at this time? I swear I saw strange lights stumbling down there once.

Hah, not that kind of evening dude

a reply to: Retro~Burn

Still looking, but..

Thanks man, appreciate it! Only thing is this object was really bright and something 50,000 feet up wouldn't be that bright. 

Satellites tend to light up enough here to cause shadows off trees... why I said ARC WELDER.

I'm still going to keep looking what was flying😊 ADS-B isn't helping much either. But I'll do my best to fish out a lower flying cause. Lol.. not as easy as I type it out to be... You're smack dab in an international flight pattern👍😉

Edit: you have my attention.. you piqued my curiosity

You need to answer Zaphod58 and TheGoondockSaint.

I'm getting nothing.. just standard air traffic.

Edit:
Many Aviationist enthusiast tend to watch the UFO forums to find the next or existing unheard of technology.

originally posted by: Bigburgh

Satellites tend to light up enough here to cause shadows off trees... why I said ARC WELDER.

I'm still going to keep looking what was flying😊 ADS-B isn't helping much either. But I'll do my best to fish out a lower flying cause. Lol.. not as easy as I type it out to be... You're smack dab in an international flight pattern👍😉

Edit: you have my attention.. you piqued my curiosity

Those must be low altitude satellites. When you said arc welder made me think of blinding light! Yeah it's a busy area because we're on the route to London Heathrow and Gatwick as well as Bristol Airport along with mainland Europe.

originally posted by: Bigburgh
You need to answer Zaphod58 and TheGoondockSaint.

I'm getting nothing.. just standard air traffic.

Edit:
Many Aviationist enthusiast tend to watch the UFO forums to find the next or existing unheard of technology.

Appreciate it. I already did, hence white hot as in bright white like most stars although should've said colour. Yeah I imagine some keep tabs to see if anything might sounds like it could be experimental such as the triangular shaped craft.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

You'd be surprised at how bright some lights are now. When we were at Pease in the early 80s, they plugged the lights that were being tested for the KC-10 onto one of our KC-135s. The receiver called, and the tanker told him to let him know how far out he was when he finally saw the lights. The receiver called visual at 90 miles.

The new LED lights can be almost blinding when they're on final approach and you're close to them. Even at very high altitude you wouldn't have any problem seeing them.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Still out there. Just not talked about much anymore.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

Thats pretty cool and local.
Recent weather has seen the stars much brighter but since it disappeared that kind of negates that one.
We are on the flightpatb for CWL so you never know.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

I'd say it was most likely a satellite, it's direction fits, the peak in luminosity and quick fading out fits and the weather on that night would've added to it's brightness. The timing seems to fit too. Some of my better sightings have been between 4am and 6am in mid winter.

Given the direction it might've been military but the only way to truly know is by checking on a satellite tracker site or app, they're a great resource.

As a general rule satellites only peak my interest when they're heading east to west. Because then it probably isn't a satellite at all.

a reply to: Retro~Burn

From your description it appears to have been an Iridium satellite flare. If you have never seen one before they can be a bit puzzling.

I have just run your info through Stellarium and Iridium 91 was going over at the time North to South. Stellarium even shows the period of the flare.

Stellarium Link

Wiki Iridium Link

Iridium 91 is also visible in the "In the Sky" link that you posted. Just set the search to "Iridium"

In the Sky Link

This describes an encounter i had down to a T except, the object i saw was travelling on a northern trajectory. I live in Northern Ireland. It happened about 10/11 years ago, probably between 1am and 2am in the Summer time.

No one ever believes me, but i can still remember it. it seemed quite close, but there was absolutely no sound. I was out the back of our house, and the sky was very clear. But i could tell that the object was quite close in relation to size because it had 'a noticeable mass'... much bigger than how a star or planet might look in the night sky.