sattelite ?

GrahamL · #1 08-09-2006, 10:04 PM

Last thursday about 6.20 pm I happened to walk outside and look up as you do .. about 10 degrees + south of lira I saw a brightish orange object moving towards the east .. it seemed to be moving quite fast ..
brightness seemed to increase 2 or 3 times before it faded to nothing.
visible for 5-8 seconds i guess .

any ideas ?

edit meant south of lira ( not quite overhead )

gaa_ian (Ian) · #2 08-09-2006, 10:06 PM

Probably an Iridium Satt. seen through lots of atmosphere, making it orange in colour !

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #3 08-09-2006, 10:13 PM

Here's a nice page on them - and why they flare:

http://www.satobs.org/iridium.html#flare

Cheers
Chris

Astroman (Andrew Wall) · #4 08-09-2006, 10:29 PM

Could be a Mattweather Supernova

GrahamL · #5 08-09-2006, 10:48 PM

yeah I was thinking something was reflecting the last bit of sunset from the west.. it was moveing much faster than the most sattelites though
so wasn't sure what to make of it.