Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => Alerts! Questions? Discussions... => Topic started by: Marek on Apr 05, 2014, 20:32:37

Title: A meteor?
Post by: Marek on Apr 05, 2014, 20:32:37
Hello everyone!
Yesterday was very long and tiring day for me at work,spontaneously i decided to go out and watch the stars last night,I went to the Ashdown forest just off  East Grinstead,I got there just before midnight,and stayed till 2.30 A.M.,while watching i had an enormous pleasure to see something strange that I've not seen befor ,not sure  it was  something due my tiredness or late night but I could swore that i have seen a meteor X2,the very first one was minutes after midnight and i thought that I'm halucinating,the second one was visible in Leo around 2.00 AM could see something very blurry moving fast few degrees from west towards the east,lasted only for a second,could it have been a meteor?let me just mention to you that both objects were quite dimm they weren't moving points rather  small clouds moving very fast ,awaiting for your opinion:)
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: mickw on Apr 06, 2014, 09:07:44
Unlikely to be a meteor without it leaving a trail.
Very likely to be one of the many satellites in orbit which appear as dots and move fairly slowly.
You could get lucky and spot a "flare" which occurs when the sun (below the horizon) reflects off the satellite's array, these make them flash very brightly.
Another thing you may be lucky to spot would be the ISS, this appears brighter than a satellite and moves much faster.

You can find details of satellites, flares and ISS here -
http://www.heavens-above.com/ (http://www.heavens-above.com/)
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Marek on Apr 06, 2014, 11:46:59
Thanx for the link Mick I am familiar with the website,it could has been a flare as you say ,not the satelite  ,the object was very diffused , hope to see something like this in the future left a very nice imprint on my astropersonality:)
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Rick on Apr 06, 2014, 15:40:57
Satellite flares usually look quite clear. I suspect you probably did see meteors. Not all of them have obvious trails, particularly fainter meteors, and where they do, the trails are fainter than the meteor itself.
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Mike on Apr 06, 2014, 22:39:26
A flare will be slow and look like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI_iUOeJEGg

A meteor is very fast and looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPb0wUUVzmc
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Marek on Apr 07, 2014, 11:16:55
Judging by the speed of it ,it was meteor,but it was very diffused, as i mentioned that before,thanx for your help folks,at least someone belives me  and seriously  takes it ,unlike my work collegues:)
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Rick on Apr 07, 2014, 12:52:23
Was there high thin cloud? That'd make the thing look blurry.

If you wear glasses you also have to watch out for reflections, which are much more obvious against a dark sky than they are in daylight.
Title: Re: A meteor?
Post by: Marek on Apr 07, 2014, 15:17:44
The sky was clear and quite dark much darker that in my usual place in Headley Heath,no clouds were there,and the aparent meteor was very high in the sky !
Cheerio:) P.S bare sighted no glasses as yet:0)