Strange red object heading west tonight

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I was wondering if anyone else spotted the bright red object heading west about 5 minutes ago? It looked like a satellite however it was quite bright and red. Anyone know what it was?

[gary]

Hi Peter,

Coincidentally at 20:58 tonight Mai spotted what she thought was a meteor
with a red glow from our locale here in Sydney. It was in our southern skies
heading west to south-west, Given you are in Brisbane and the timing was 12 minutes
earlier, it will not be the same object, but, for example, perhaps it is associated
with the Piscis Austrinid meteor shower which starts around this time of the
year. However, you mentioned your object looked like a satellite so I gather
what you spotted was moving too slowly for a meteor. Couldn't spot any
satellite launches that may have taken place with the thought it might
have been associated with staging.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Thanks for your thoughts Gary. I've not seen anything like it before - might have been associated with a launch as you suggest.

[Jeeps (Sam)]

I saw something similar last year south west of brisbane and it was red and moving slowly. We were driving in the car and spotted it. Other vehicles also pulled over to the side of the road to get a look as it was very bright. Initially i thought it was the sun reflecting off a plane/jet at high altitude. It eventually broke into 2 pieces so i assume it was either a largish meteor or some space junk. It probably took a good 5 minutes to get from high in the sky to below the horizon. It just slowly got lower and lower over the horizon until it faded away, the sun was already below the horizon by this time.

I managed to snap a photo with my small point and shoot camera. Depending on your screen, you may be able to see the left part that broke away.

http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Meteor001.jpg


cheers

[Mervyn Fagg (Mervyn)]

For some weeks I have been watching a very bright object which transits Brisbane from circa 1800 to 2030 every evening. Course is east to approx west from directly overhead. Appears to be trending slightly to south of west each night until it disappears below west horizon. Very slow transit suggests high orbit. Any clues ???

[Vartigy]

Bout a year ago I saw 2 bright red lights (nonblinking) tracking at a steady pace across the sky in a westernly direction. They were fairly high up, large-ish distance between them. But they were moving at approximately the same speed (couldn't see their seperation distance changing). Might be related?

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Mervyn Fagg

For some weeks I have been watching a very bright object which transits Brisbane from circa 1800 to 2030 every evening. Course is east to approx west from directly overhead. Appears to be trending slightly to south of west each night until it disappears below west horizon. Very slow transit suggests high orbit. Any clues ???

I would surmise you are watching the Planet Venus