I'll explain in detail in a minute. It started off me, my girlfriend and my friend went to watch the Eta Aquarids meteor shower tonight(Now May 5th). Saw a couple, nothing too spectacular. About 5:04 AM(Eastern) we witnessed a very bright light coming from the East and went to the West in a matter of 2 minutes I'd say. Started out decently bright and about 3/4 of the viewing it started to get real bright(had a blueish tint at this point, and very intense brightness). On it's path tho it went straight with a very noticeable swaying motion(My friend described it as "fishtailing"). Some of you might suggest it's a satellite, but we saw 2 satellites coming from the Southwest to the North East(Very straight, no swaying and really no noticeable brightness changes) and nothing like this "light".

I'm wondering if anyone else witnessed this "light". I've viewed meteor shows in the past and seen satellites and this was unlike anything I've seen. I was planning on bringing my camera to record some videos of the shower but figured my camera wouldn't be able to record anything in the sky with the darkness.

But like I asked earlier in this post, did anyone else witness this? It was unlike anything we've seen. Any ideas on what it could've been? I highly doubt it was a satellite or a meteor skimming the atmosphere. If anyone needs more details or questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

At to note, I just registered here so my claims might not be believed by some but I have been viewing this site for years now and never really needed to post here, until tonight. If you don't believe me, that's alright...and if you do believe me I appreciate the support. And no, I'm not crazy

But if anyone can help me identify this I'd appreciate it, or at least a suggestion on what it could've been. Thank you.


-Adam

[edit on 5-5-2008 by Gnihton]

Hi Gnihton, welcome to ATS and thanks for sharing you story.

My first guess would have been that you were seeing the ISS, until I read the "fishtailing" part. Rules that out.

I've seen many, many meteor showers. However, I'll never forget one in particular, probably about...well, let's just say many years ago. The meteors seemed to jet around fishtailing in all different directions. I have to this day never seen anything like it. I remember being pretty freaked out about it until I asked my father, an astronomy buff, who had an explanation for it. But I have to apologize, I can't remember the explanation. I will call him this morning and pick his brain.

I know this probably doesn't help. I'll post later this morning after I talk to him. Anyway, welcome again, enjoy your time here.


Rush

It sounds very much like a satellite to me. Either that or the Space station. All these things can get brighter than the planet Venus. If they are low down in the sky then the Earth's atmosphere will distort the light making them flash a rainbow of colours.

I would need to know your location, it's height in the sky and direction as well as the time to determine if it was a satellite.

Hope this helps,

Timelike

Originally posted by timelike

It sounds very much like a satellite to me. Either that or the Space station. All these things can get brighter than the planet Venus. If they are low down in the sky then the Earth's atmosphere will distort the light making them flash a rainbow of colours.

I would need to know your location, it's height in the sky and direction as well as the time to determine if it was a satellite.

Hope this helps,

Timelike

I gave alot of the info in my first post. The only thing I didn't include is the height. I'd say it was just above cloud level. Also my girlfriends dad saw the same thing that night since we told him about the shower, so I know there's 4 people(Including myself) that saw the light and we all don't believe it's a satellite or a space station by the movement. We saw a couple satellite's and this light did not look like the others by the movement. I hope this helps.