Not sure what I saw..

Sorry no pics, no video, just my story.

I stepped outside to take the dogs out for their nightly and as usual I scanned the skies. I immediatedly saw what I thought was Jupiter directly overhead. But wait a minute, I've been watching Jupiter this month and it shouldn't be there. In fact this is moving about as fast a plane towards the east. I look to the south and see Jupiter, this moving thing is probably about a magnitude brighter than Jupiter which would put it somewhere between -3 and -4 magnitude. Very bright and therefore would've been very low if was a plane. There were no flashing lights and no sound, and it is quiet in my neighbourhood. I initially saw it directly overhead and it took about 30 seconds to reach the eastern horizon where it disappeared into the clouds on the horizon.

We do have a major airport near by but it was not travelling in that direction. I've been watching the skies all my life and have seen many satellites and the space shuttle once. Now it's the latter that I'm wondering about. Does anyone know how to determine if this could have been the space shuttle. It was at about 8:30 PM PST at 123 degrees West and 49 degrees North on September 10th, 2009.

Hi there!

Thanks for posting your account honestly, and for doing it so soon after the event.

Upon reading your report, I think you saw the ISS (International Space Station). It usually tends to dim out as the Earth blocks the sun from reflecting off of it.

Here is a page that will give you the orbit data for the ISS:
www.heavens-above.com...

Best of luck in your investigation!

-WFA

Originally posted by WitnessFromAfar
Hi there!

Thanks for posting your account honestly, and for doing it so soon after the event.

Upon reading your report, I think you saw the ISS (International Space Station). It usually tends to dim out as the Earth blocks the sun from reflecting off of it.

Here is a page that will give you the orbit data for the ISS:
www.heavens-above.com...

Best of luck in your investigation!

-WFA

Hey WitnessFromAfar, I think you're right. I found this information SATELLITE SIGHTING INFORMATION FOR *****Vancouver***** and sure enough on Thursday, Sep 10 at 08:34 PM the ISS approached from the South West and travelled to the East. Although the maximum elevation doesn't seem to fit, i.e. directly overhead to me should've been about 90 degrees, whereas this site said it was 47 degrees. but the time and the direction is as I said.

That's pretty cool, I can now add the ISS to my list of 'things I've seen in the sky'. I still haven't seen a UFO yet but I keep lookin' up.

Cheers.

[edit on 11-9-2009 by Neo__]

reply to post by Neo__


I saw it Sunday night and was amazed at how bright it was, even though I had seen it before. I swear it's brighter now than it was the first time!

reply to post by Neo__


Congrats! Isn't it cool when investigations lead to results?
I'm really pleased that you took the initiative, and checked the data out yourself.

Welcome to my friends list fellow researcher

-WFA

reply to post by gemineye


Yea, it was super bright and looked just like Jupiter. According to that web site it's going to pass overhead again at 9 pm tonight. I'm going to have take the dogs out again at that time.



[edit on 11-9-2009 by Neo__]

reply to post by Neo__


Now that's what I call repeating the experiment for verification!

Well done Neo. The force is strong with you

Do let us know tomorrow if this was indeed what you saw...

-WFA

Originally posted by Neo__
but the time and the direction is as I said.

If you look at the bottom of that page, you'll see it could also have been the shuttle.

The sky was very clear last night, wasn't it?

[edit on 11-9-2009 by Clickfoot]

reply to post by Clickfoot


Ok, now I'll have to go out a little earlier tonight and try to see both of them, within 10 minutes! Cool.

Also found this new site. Not sure where it originated from but it was probably Mountain Standard Time since they are reporting it occuring at 9:30 PM.

Originally posted by Neo__
Also found this new site.

Interesting That does sound like the ISS/Shuttle they're talking about, BUT there was definitely a meteor or something also, going SE/NW at one point. I saw about 5 things last night

Ok, it was definitely the International Space Station that I saw last night because I saw it again tonight at the predicted time.

Check out this picture I took of it:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ac26534b6499.jpg[/atsimg]

Ok, I didn't actually take that. But I could of, if I was closer. This image was taken only two days ago, presumably by the Space Shuttle that was docked there and just left, hence the close orbits that they shared over the last couple of days.


I took this one tonight with my Nikon and 70 mm lens. With a little imagination it almost looks the same as the one above:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5518ef4668e8.jpg[/atsimg]

I took another interesting shot of Jupiter. Actually you can't see Jupiter in this frame, it's off screen on the bottom right, but check out the mysterious triangular image in the top left of this picture:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cef86d6a25b0.jpg[/atsimg]

Strange uh? When I took this picture it was flashing and moving towards the airport. Could be anything, I suppose. Perhaps a Censsa or maybe even a Lear. Whatever it was, it's definitely an 'unidentified' flying object.

****

Even though there was no Space Shuttle tonight, it apparently landed in California today, the ISS alone was enough to get my whole family out there in the back field tonight. Much to my 13 year old's chagrin and protests, he could've been at home on the Internet after all.

So we're going to get another show just like this in Vancouver on Sunday night at 8:15 PM. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as tonight was.

Cheers everyone.


[edit on 12-9-2009 by Neo__]

reply to post by Neo__


Awesome Neo! Thanks for the update
Keep your eyes to the skies, and let us all know if you see anything mysterious

By the by, great work taking your camera with you to attempt to document your confirmation! You've got an investigative journalist hiding inside you

-WFA