UFO Seen This Evening 9 Oclock BTS

This is my third attempt to post this, Did anyone else see the craft that just flew over the South of England?
It flew from West to East, along the South Coast shortly after nine.
It was similar in appearance to Venus or Jupiter, but much larger, it made no sound and had no nav lights or strobe lights, it dimmed from view as it flew int o the Earth's shadow, having been illuminated only by the Sun. I can only estimate it's height, at about 30/40 thousand feet, maybe more, speed ,I don't really know, it was only visible for less than a minute, I scarcely had time to run indoors and grab my binoculars.
It looked to be a large sphere.
Anybody?
Regards,
Horsegiver.



[Mod Edit - All caps in title]

[edit on 4/4/2008 by Sauron]

Hi Horse,

I'm not in England but going to give you a star and a flag so hopefully you will find some more in the UK in the area that you saw the UFO.

There sure have been tons of UFO sightings over there lately, ty for posting I can't wait to see if others saw it, got pictures or videos etc.

Good luck, will keep my eye on this thread.

Check out the site linked below. It gives info on visible sats from your location. Just enter city/local position etc.
I use it for the ISS info and it is very accurate.

www.heavens-above.com...

reply to post by horsegiver


Sounds like a satelite to me.
I would be concerned though if you heard much of anything from an object 30,000 feet up....hmmmm, a satelite at 30,000 feet would suck too.
I'm sure we will hear something soon from someone. I'll keep watching.

i live in england and from 1am ive been out all day... havent seen anything...

From the south of England the Space Station was visible shortly after 9.00pm (21.00) tonight.
I typed in Portsmouth, that's south. Hope the map comes out;

www.heavens-above.com...

I'm going to agree that it is probably the ISS. It appears brighter when lower in orbit, which it probably is because it just docked with the European ATV cargo vehicle. Just enter your location into the HeavensAbove database that way you can at least rule it in or out.

reply to post by alien life uk


Thanks alien life maybe that was it, last time I saw the ISS though it was flying South to North. Do you happen to know how long each orbit takes? as I could watch it come by again.
Regards
Horsegiver.

Hi Horsegiver,
Log on to the site linked in previous post. Put in your location from the database bit, then by nearest neighbourhood and it will geve the visible times. Next pass should be about 10.30 ish

Here you go:
It will be very dim this time around though. Minus means bright me thinks.
www.heavens-above.com...

Originally posted by horsegiver
It flew from West to East, along the South Coast shortly after nine.

Almost definitely the ISS, which always crosses the UK skies from West/Westerly to East/Easterly. The specific heading varies due to the Earth's rotation. The Heavens-Above website will explain everything.

It was similar in appearance to Venus or Jupiter, but much larger, it made no sound and had no nav lights or strobe lights, it dimmed from view as it flew int o the Earth's shadow, having been illuminated only by the Sun.

Again, the brightness varies with the position of the sun, ISS and viewing location. The brighter passes (magnitude -2 approx) are very impressive and do resemble a moving Venus.

I can only estimate it's height, at about 30/40 thousand feet, maybe more, speed ,I don't really know,

Height is around 200 miles. Speed is over 17,000 mph. Orbital period around 90 minutes. You'll usually catch two passes per day when the orbit is favourable. Of course it's going over before and after sunset every 90 mins, but most passes are invisible due to bright daylight or the Earth's shadow.

Many amateurs are able to take pictures/video. The ISS is currently a bit bigger due to the Jules Verne transport module being docked. This will be jettisoned later.

WG3

If you're not expecting it the ISS it's understandable to think it's a UFO (which, technically of course, it us until you identify it )

As the OP say - bright as Venus and silent. Can be quite a sight!

Thank you all for you replies and input, I had not seen the ISS for some time when it was flying South to North, so what I saw was completely unexpected, and of course seemed significant, but this time I was wrong.
Thanks again,
Horsegiver.