Identification help - Unidentified object transiting 2015 lunar eclipse

[neilcreek]

Hello folks!

I recorded some video of the 2015 lunar eclipse, but it wasn't till after I processed and uploaded it that I realised I had captured an unidentified object passing in front of the moon! I extracted the frames from the video and re-centred the motion so that the object was stationary.

http://imgur.com/gallery/klZcLU4

Can anyone help me identify this? Is it a satellite? If so, which one? (I can provide location and time details to help) It appeared to emerge from the shadow of the Earth, so it can't be anything within the atmosphere. I'm hoping it's an undiscovered asteroid, but I reckon I have a better chance of winning the lottery than that being true :)

Here's the original video: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153231946816660&set=vb.171152886659&type=2&theater

[blink138]

rather interesting, good capture whatever it turns out to be!
pat

[doppler]

It looks about the size that you would expect for the ISS. Great capture:thumbsup:

[neilcreek]

Thank you :) I'd love for it to be the ISS! My only concern about the apparent size is that the elongation of the shape is along its direction of movement, so I'm thinking it could possibly be motion blur (1/30sec frames) rather than actual physical size?

[bkm2304]

Well it wasn't the ISS. It was not up at that time. What time exactly and for how long was the object in your frames?

Richard

[neilcreek]

I don't know the exact time because I was using Magic Lantern RAW video, and the record time isn't written to metadata, but it was not long after 9:20pm AEST daylight saving time. It was visible for about 1.6 seconds but in that time traversed about half the frame, or approximately 1.5 moon diameters.

[doppler]

Just checked at Heavens above web site, It was not ISS or huble and none of the other brighter satellites passed in that direction at that time.
http://www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx?lat=-21.1412&lng=149.1856&loc=Mackay&alt=11&tz=UCTm10

It was either a UFO or just a high flying plane going to Cairns.

Rick

[neilcreek]

Thank you for checking!

Have a look at the video. The reason why I suspect it isn't in the atmosphere is because it appears to emerge from the Earth's shadow. If you draw the imaginary circle of the shadow that's partially visible on the moon, the object emerges from darkness at its edge.

If there's no satellites in the area, could it possibly be a small asteroid? Surely if it was though, someone else would have seen it and reported it? I haven't heard any reports, but I haven't gone looking for them.

[cometcatcher]

Looks like a satellite to me, just not on the list. It's variation in brightness as it passes through the frame suggests tumbling. Meteors at that focal length I think would be faster. In any case a very good catch!

[ZeroID]

Looks like a satellite to me also. Solar panels extended is the impression I get from the shape. Have you tried sharpening single frame ? Might give a better indication of shape, central section and solar panels possibly.

[bkm2304]

OK,

If we do a bit of trig the following falls out of the sky!

Plato makes a nice comparator on the moon. The image is fairly well focussed so we can deduce that Plato at 109Km diameter and the moon at 397,900 Km during mid - eclipse gives Plato an angle of .94 Arc minutes. Comparing the shape when it is actually crossing the moon is a better estimate than the flare it takes on when against the darker sky. I estimated the shape "solid" at about 0.8 diameters of Plato giving an angular size of approx. 0.75 Arc mins.



Applying trig to these values we get the following table (Note this is DISTANCE from observer NOT Height ABOVE the surface):

Object Size Distance
.1m (bat, Owl) 450m

1m (Flying Black Swan) 4.5km

10m (Light Aircraft) 45km

50m (Commercial Airliner) 228km

100m (ISS or similar) 456km

Given the moon was at 45 degrees altitude mid eclipse (ish) then we need to adjust for this. I will leave it to the true geometers to do the correct adjustment from the surface of the earth above the object at different distances from the viewer.

But adjusting for the altitude angle using more trig we get:

Object Size Corrected Distance(Height)

.1m (Bat, owl) 320m

1m (Flying Black Swan) 3.2km

10m (Light Aircraft) 32km

50m (Commercial Airliner) 161km

100m (ISS or similar) 318km

Bats and swans don't fly at 320 and 3,200m respectively. Cessna 4 seaters don't ever get to triple the height of Mt Everest. Airbuses certainly don't go to lower Earth Orbit. So, on the size of it, that leaves a rather largish satellite. It is NOT the ISS as it was set, nor was it the Hubble which is too small anyway. It may be a satellite with panels out but I have no idea which one it is.

Based on these calcs a satellite in low earth orbit fits the bill.

Cheers,

Euclid ....er sorry, .... Richard.

[ZeroID]

Nice Trig ... but I hope it DOESN'T fall out of the sky .. :lol:

Sounds about right to me though...

[Tony_]

Iridium 86 clipped the moon from your location at 9:38pm at a similar speed to your video.

Tony.

[RobF]

Nice work. Fascinating how clear it is in the video frames.
Love the trig! :thumbsup:

[Tony_]

Only problem with Iridium 86 is that it was travelling in the opposite direction to your video (from west to east). If it was a relatively low satellite, I think it would be in Earth's shadow?

Tony.

[el_draco]

Nibiru... :face:

[cometcatcher]

Can't be Nibiru. That impacted Earth and killed us all in 2012. Oh wait... :P