Originally posted by C.H.U.D.
reply to post by Mclaneinc

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Perhaps odd for a satellite, but what if that was not the case...

Appearances can be deceptive, and although it might have appeared to be a single satellite, the OP has no way of knowing that for sure.

What if there were two satellites, and just as one moved into Earth's shadow (it would seem to disappear), the second happened to move out of Earth's shadow, making it appear as if one satellite had made an impossible turn?

In this diagram satellites A and B reach point X (on the boundary of Earth's shadow) at the same time - As A disappears, B appears.

There are certainly enough satellites up there for this chance occurrence to happen every so often, and more go up every year, so it will become even more frequent.

No one can say for sure if that is what the OP saw, but it is a possibility. As an astrophotographer I have taken tens of thousands of images of the sky, and captured 100's if not thousands of satellite passes (often as many as 3 on just a single frame), many that were barely visible to the naked eye, but I have never come across an object that makes a sharp turn.

If there are indeed objects that make true 90 degree turns, then why has one not been caught on film/camera? There are lots of others like me out there, so there is no reason they should not have been imaged if they did exist..

edit on 24-2-2011 by C.H.U.D. because: (no reason given)