Maybe something

Just a quick report.

So.. Sneaked out to walk the dog the other night..

By that i mean smoke, yeah i have been struggling to quit.

BUT, i was watching the moon, pretty cool, almost full, then i noticed a satellite going about, so was thinking maybe i am just going to watch it go for as long as i can, before getting too cold..

It went about, like a regular satellite, but as it got nearer the moon something odd happened, the brightness of the object dimmed out, maybe 25%
And it went like the Orville, just shot out in to the void, zing, gone. really fast, like a shooting star, but it did not leave a "streak of light" like a shooting star does. It just went.

The acceleration took place in a distance comparable to maybe four full moons side by side..


So what could it be?
Am i missing an obvious explanation?

Have been thinking maybe it was some Hypersonic gadget. Lots going around the web about those things.

I’ve seen this a fair few tunes also, no idea what it is, also seen stars which are pretty bright, as bright as anything else in the sky just blink off, after sitting stationary for 30 mins or longer

A lot of strange going on up their lately, always star watched, don’t remember it being this active

a reply to: TritonTaranis

Cool, was hoping to hear about someone else seeing this type of thing too.

That was most likely a satellite going into earth’s shadow, an artificial satellite eclipse.
I did a full explanation in another thread about Starlink satellites but it applies to all satellites. You saw something like in the video below but backwards as it disappeared instead of appeared.


Starlink and other satellites are not going to be a problem for astro photography as they are not visible in the Earth's shadow.

Facts on this:
1. The satellites are in low earth orbit. Around 310 miles up.
2. The sky is not dark enough to take photos until after astronomical twilight is over. That means the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.
3. The satellites are invisible when in the earths shadow. They have no light on them to reflect to the observer.
4. No one takes astronomical photos with the telescope pointing less than 30 degrees above the horizon. The closer to the horizon, the more atmosphere to look through and therefore bad photos. The only exception to this is Venus and Mercury but these are never time exposures.

I made this diagram showing the Earth and Starlink orbits to scale along with the shadow line where the satellites will seem to disappear and reappear as they travel out of and into the sunlight.



In this video, the telescope is tracking four satellites. The streaks are stars. It starts with two in partial eclipse and two of them in full eclipse shadow.



There should be very little if any interference with any astronomy at all as it is done when the sky is dark and not during twilight as that is the only time the satellites will be visible

The astronomers complaining have obviously not tried to look for low earth orbit satellites. They are only visible for a short period after sunset and before sunrise. This is when you can take pictures of the satellites but this is not when you try to take pictures of other things in the night sky.

Classic "Swamp Gas."
I have seen these things a few times.
I have isolated running water, limestone, and quartz granite deposits to be common factors.

originally posted by: solve
Just a quick report.

So.. Sneaked out to walk the dog the other night..

By that i mean smoke, yeah i have been struggling to quit.

BUT, i was watching the moon, pretty cool, almost full, then i noticed a satellite going about, so was thinking maybe i am just going to watch it go for as long as i can, before getting too cold..

It went about, like a regular satellite, but as it got nearer the moon something odd happened, the brightness of the object dimmed out, maybe 25%
And it went like the Orville, just shot out in to the void, zing, gone. really fast, like a shooting star, but it did not leave a "streak of light" like a shooting star does. It just went.

The acceleration took place in a distance comparable to maybe four full moons side by side..


So what could it be?
Am i missing an obvious explanation?

Have been thinking maybe it was some Hypersonic gadget. Lots going around the web about those things.

Used to enjoy watching satellites...Was watching one which all of a sudden made an abrupt 90 degree turn and continued on its way...Must have been a Russian satellite...I'm pretty sure ours can't do that...

a reply to: Iscool

For that one, I would have to see it or see a video of it to even start to speculate on what it was. I am not aware of the Russians having one of those yet.