(meteorobs) strange sight in Pegasus

Robert Lunsford lunro.imo.usa at cox.net
Tue Aug 10 14:15:59 EDT 2004


Richard,

I have seen the same occurrence several times and I have come to the
conclusion that it is indeed a satellite. My first thought is always a
"point meteor" but then the second flash discounts this possibility. It is
indeed an interesting phenomena that all observers will see sooner or later.

Clear Skies!

Robert Lunsford

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Kramer" <kramer at sria.com>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 9:26 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) strange sight in Pegasus


> While observing last night with the great square overhead, at approx 01:12
> EDT, 10 Aug, I saw something strange right next to the star Alpheratz.
> Practically on top of this star, less than a minute to its east, I saw
what
> I, at first, thought was the strobe light of a high flying jet. But the
> "strobe" was not translating across the sky. Also, each succeeding "strobe
> flash" did not really have the character of a strobe flash, but was
> extended a fraction of a second in time. In total I saw four flashes,
> bright white, perhaps magnitude 0 or -1, one after the other, during the
> course of some 6 or 8 seconds. The dark intervals between the flashes were
> not uniform, nor were the flashes themselves of uniform duration. My
> thoughts went something like this...
>
> Where did that airplane suddenly come from ....  it's not moving.....  a
> tumbling satellite in high orbit?  ...  .... could that have been 4
meteors
> entering vertically ? !!! ? .....
>
> Since I'm not really sure what this was, I didn't log these flashes as
> meteors.  But the more I think it over, the more I'm inclined to believe
> that I saw 4 successive meteors entering vertically. I'm not sure if I can
> trust my perceptions, but the third of the four flashes seemed to look
more
> like an extremely short line (or track) rather than a pure point.
>
> Any thoughts or explanations?
>
> Richard
>
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