Did I see a satellite?

I'm sure that there are many threads like this...
But I kinda would like to know what I saw this evening?

Its been nice and clear these past few nights in the South East of England, so this evening I thought it would be a good idea to grab my telescope, binos and NVG's and go to an area where there wasn't as much light pollution as around my house.

At about 2100-ish GMT I was observing Orion and its Nebulae and the Pleiades.
I stopped to have a small break and got out my NVG's and began scanning the night sky.
When moving back over to the Pleiades I saw a small dot moving North to South across the sky. I tried to get my binos on them (Which are quite powerful) but I couldn't pick it up. Moments later it "ignited" into a bright yellow, approximately the size of Rigel (It was the closest star for comparison).
At this point is was visible to the naked eye.
However, through Binos it appeared to have a tale. Obviously perhaps I was out of focus/ or my hands were shaking.
About 30 seconds later it disappeared again. However, I was unable to regain visualisation with the NVGs. (IR)
Of course I am not suggesting that it was ET and that he zoomed away at the speed of light or anything silly

But I'm just a bit unsure as to what I saw :/
It wasn't a "shooting Star"/Asteroid as it was moving far too slowly.
However, as said, it did appear to "burn out" after it had lit up for 30 seconds?
I'm also not inclined to believe that it was a Chinese Lantern. But I suppose if it was then I will just have to except it lol!
Now, if I remember correctly there is a website that shows the path of Sats and the ISS. Can someone please remind me of what it is, so that perhaps I can try and work out what I saw?

Or can someone please tell me if my description matches your average sat zooming across the night sky?

Cheers in advance

Klis

reply to post by Kliskey


can't help you on this but from your description it looks like a satelite to me.

BTW, what city in Poland do you visit?

reply to post by Kliskey


Could have been an iridium flare, which is a bright momentary reflection off of an iridium satellite's antannea. The website you're looking for is heavens-above.com Good luck!

It could have been the ISS and Shuttle, go to NASA.gov and search sighting ops. Plug in your local and see if it matches.

Over a period of about an hour last night I watched about half a dozen lights move across the sky with my night vision scope. This is common and I can see them on any night that is clear. I assume they are satellites. They are not airplanes. I am a pilot and I have studied aircraft for almost my entire life. I spent four years in the a Airforce on the flightline and this along with my life long intrest in aviation allows me to consider myself a trained observer.
Last night one of these satelites began to glow brighter until it could be seen without the scope. It stayed bright for twenty to thirty seconds and then faded away to nothing. My opinion is that the reflecting surface on the object was no longer at an angle that would reflect light in my direction.
I use my night vision more than my telescope. It seems as though I don't have to wait more than ten minutes or so to pick up another star like light moving across the background starfield.
About a month ago I had an interesting unaided sighting. I watched as a tiny point of light appeared. The light grew in size and brightness in a matter of seconds and then poofed into a green puffball that vanished almost immediately. The light did not move in any direction. I think what I saw was a meteor whose trajectory was directly towards me.
Keep watching the sky!

Sounds like a satellite. The "ignition" could be it becoming brighter to be seen by the naked eye because I've seen a few satellites and they seem to appear and dissapear from and into nothingness as they start from one end of the sky to the other.

It was probably an iridium satellite flare. Although I have seen the International Space Station (ISS) go from being brighter than Venus to an almost invisible dot in about 30 seconds, but I don't think the ISS "brightly flares up" instanteously like you described. Its brightening and dimming could be quick, but more gradual than your account of what you saw.

You should check this site;
www.heavens-above.com...
It will tell you if there were any satellites in your location passing by..

Peace