Ufo

[simmo]

Sorry alien lovers , no, probably not a real one but the term still fits.

Was out tonight looking around waiting for Saturn to come up. About 11:30 wandered over to M65/6 area to have a look and while I was focusing in on them I noticed a little white blip in my ep.
At first I wasn't sure what it was and thought I was seeing things but after a while I noticed it travelling slowly across my ep. Single blips came at about an average of 3 to 4 secs. It was moving quite slowly (not like a usual see it now, see it not, satellite) in a NNW direction.

I'm guessing it's some kind of aircraft flying at altitude (couldn't see it with the naked eye) ? A plane spotted after this, that was leaving Perth, had a white tail light but it was flashing every second or faster. So I was a little confused by the variation of intervals.

Any aviation buffs out there with some information to help confirm what I saw.?

Regards

Simmo

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Could it be a geosynchronous satellite? They move quite slowly back and forth over a period of some hours.

[Chif (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

Could it be a geosynchronous satellite? They move quite slowly back and forth over a period of some hours.

That's what I was thinking.

I doubt it'd be an aircraft flying that high that you couldn't tell what it is, especially if you're looking through your scope. As far as I know the strobes can't flash more than 100 times a min and less than 40 or 50. So if it was once every 3 seconds then it's too slow to be an aircraft.

[Russ59]

Yep a slow moving satellite or some sort of debris in orbit rotating which causes them to 'blink'. You'll see thousands of them in this hobby.

[simmo]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I had never heard of a geosynchronous satellite before so you have given me some interesting homework to study up on.

I was really puzzled by the "UFO's" characteristics. It was so small and the flashing sequence was something I couldn't recognise. I wasn't sure if planes changed their flashing pattern once they had left/or arrived at a certain altitude so that is why I put the question out there.

Thanks again

Simmo

[torr (James)]

I was looking at M42 while it was overhead last week with my 24mm stratus ep, when a SMB (slow moving object) went across the centre of fov , I got all excited , 1st satalite I've seen with my scope.
No flashing , just a solid pinpoint of light about mag 8 maybe brighter.
It took about 10 seconds to cross my field of view.

Awesome suff, fantastic hobby

[Chif (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by torr

I was looking at M42 while it was overhead last week with my 24mm stratus ep, when a SMB (slow moving object) went across the centre of fov , I got all excited , 1st satalite I've seen with my scope.
No flashing , just a solid pinpoint of light about mag 8 maybe brighter.
It took about 10 seconds to cross my field of view.

Awesome suff, fantastic hobby

Same thing happened to me last Thursday I think. I wonder if we were watching at the same time haha. I've managed to track a few satellites before but what are the chances of it just wandering into your FOV lol.