Possible UFO?

I'm just asking a UFO related question to anyone that knows anything about aerospace?

Basically tonight I looked up to the stars whilst on my balcony having a ciggie, something I do pretty much every night. I looked up to one of the starts and about the same height in the sky I saw a white light moving really high in the sky, I thought it would just be a plane, but I tracked it with my eyes for about 10 seconds then it disappeared because clouds then came into view and blocked it out.

I didn't see any flashing lichts, just a white light, it certainly wasn't a shooting star because I've seen plenty of those before, and it's movement was like it was some sort of powered craft, but obviously too high up to make out any shape.

I personally do not think it's a plane because it was too far up, and I live about 5 miles from the airport and see planes all the time coming in to land or taking off, and flashing lights are always visible, and they never go that high, or at that speed.

So I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this? Cheers

reply to post by 4hero


May have been the I.S.S , here is a link for I.S.S tracking for you to check .
spaceflight1.nasa.gov...

I have seen quite a number of these recently and I assumed that they were satellites.

About the size of a star, no flashing lights moving at quite a speed across the night sky.

However, the other night, I saw a flash and a similar size object looked like it was descending, then made a 90 degree turn, before shooting off at such a speed, I couldn't even guess how fast. Strange, very strange.

reply to post by 4hero


im in atl,,and i see the same thing. i look up at the stars every night and every now and again i see a "moving" star.it doesnt move very fast then it disappears.its not a shooting star.i tend to think my eyes are seeing what my mind wants to see,,,but im quite sane,,,i dont know hero

reply to post by 4hero


Sounds like a satellite. At night, they look to be really high up and are about the same brightness as a star. They also move pretty fast

You wouldn't happen to be in Virginia would you?

You may want to check out the following sites to see what was "flying" over you....just plug in your location, etc

Satellites, ISS:
Heaven's Above
NASA - Human Space Flight
Spaceweather

Thanks for all the rapid responses, I live in Manchester Uk at present, and even thought I'm fairly close to he airport I've been here long enough to know that it wasn't one. The satellite suggestions sound very feasible, I'll check out the info you provided for me tomorrow after I've had a sleep.

Strangely, not long after I posted on here a friend posted on facebook that a dead dove came crashing down to earth and just missed their head, which is a very odd thing to happen, and seeing as it was a short time after I saw the light in the sky, and the fact they live about 40 miles away initially made me think they might possibly be related. Obviously just a mad coincidence that she reported about the dove so close to my sighting, and the old imagination started coming up with all sorts of crazy stuff! Silly I know!

Anyway, thanks to all thus far, and cheers for the info.

It sounds like a satellite to me.

What you have described fits exactly what I have seen when I have seen satellites at night.

reply to post by 4hero


The next time you see a high, moving light in the sky, keep this factoid in mind:
If it is a solid white light (non-blinking), swift and going more or less due east, more than likely it is a satellite.

Most satellites that we can see move in that direction. A few go in polar orbits.

Also, if it fades out while still high in the sky moving east, that is another indication that it is a satellite. What is happening when it fades is that it is losing the sunlight being reflected as it moves deeper into the night side in the east.

Early in the evening, a reflecting satellite will remain visible longer as it moves east because the sun has not moved very far below the western horizon at its light still hits the satellite. The later in the night a satellite passes over your head, the quicker it will start to fade because the sun is further down below your western horizon..

reply to post by 4hero


It certainly sounds like a satellite. More of them are visible in the Northern hemisphere in the summer because the Earth's shadow is farther south.

How did you estimate its altitude?

I don't know why I initially never thought of it being a satellite myself, after weighing up everything that has been written in the comments I would agree that it is a satellite. I have never seen one before and I've gazed at the stars at night from that position on literally hundreds of occasions, so I think seeing one is quite a lucky event for me!

To answer the question of how did I guage it's altitude, I obviopusly could not say the exact height, I was viewing it with the naked eye, but I have a good mental picture of how high the planes fligh around here, and what they look like, and it seemed way up higher, and much more faster than planes. So I ruled planes out because I've never seen a plane up that high and moving that fast. Also, the planes you see around here are normally easily recognisable.

What do I do now, should I delete this post or leave it in place in case other people see similar things and are also unsure what they are? Cheers everyone!

Anoter thing, I'm not a regular poster here, I'm more of a reader, but why has someone flagged this? Aren't flags usually to say you have done something wrong? Did I do something wrong when I made this thread?!

Originally posted by 4hero
Anoter thing, I'm not a regular poster here, I'm more of a reader, but why has someone flagged this? Aren't flags usually to say you have done something wrong? Did I do something wrong when I made this thread?!

No mate , flags denote threads of interest , the more flags a thread gets shows that members found it interesting .
One member one flag per thread