Extra bright and VERY fast satellite

[LewisM]

I am not up on satellite chasing, but I saw a VERY bright and VERY fast satellite heading due east at 1743 tonight - bright enough to see it through the high cloud patches. No trail, so not a meteor.

My lat/long is 26°38'36.79"S / 153° 4'30.55"E

ID would be appreciated

[moonunit (Joe)]

At a guess ISS.
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSum...&alt=0&tz=AEST

[LewisM]

No, wrong direction.

Seems probable CZ-3 R/B. Mag -1.6, right time, speed, end direction

[mozzie (Peter)]

Best I could find for your location
CZ-3 R/B -1.5 17:38:10 10° WSW 17:40:26 75° S 17:41:55 11° E

[astro744]

ISS is currently making morning passes.

Define VERY bright and VERY fast. ISS magnitude varies with altitude and Sun illumination and is often around -2 to -3 mag but can be brighter at zenith and optimal sun angle. It also takes many minutes to cross when at a good altitude (6-8 minutes or so). I would not call this VERY fast, but as to VERY bright it can be brighter than Venus during an optimal pass and for that the term VERY may be appropriate.

I would not call any satellite pass as being VERY fast but it comes back to your definition of VERY, 6-8 minutes to cross or 6-8 seconds to cross? If it was only a few seconds then back to the possibility of it being a meteor.

You say it was through high cloud so the possibility of seeing a meteor trail is substantially reduced which means it still could have been a meteor in which case both VERY bright and VERY fast may apply.

[Pinwheel (Doug)]

Maybe it's that classified Satellite "Black Night" no orbital data available.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread950743/pg1