Which satellite is this?

[Old Janx Spirit]

Has anyone checked the luminosity index of the object? If it's as or nearly as bright as the sun then we have an extremely reflective object. If it were a nearly frictionless surface it might reflect more brightly.

It seems to be at agreat distance from Earth since the length of the streak (recorded over the same length of time one presumes) is much longer and clearer when overhead than when aproaching the horizon where it progressively gets smaller and more diffused. This may indicate a forshortening from our perspective, but would also indicate it's great distance from us. The gradual increase in 'fuzziness' could be explained by the 'piling' on top of one another of the light rays. It may also indicate the length of the object as well (function of time, luminosity & length). It may also indicate a curved surface.

What do you think?

[Zig]

The APOD object reminds of something I saw in the middle of night when I was a child sleeping out under the stars. It took me almost 25 years to figure out was it was. Actually there were 2 warm orange objects each the apparent size of the full moon traveling about the speed of a satillite from the northeast to the southwest, but in 1962 I had not yet seen a satillite pass overhead. The second object appeared about a minute after the first one disappeared over the horizon and was virtually identical to the first one. Each took a couple of minutes to traverse the sky. Turns out they were undoubtedly meteors caught in Earth's orbit that eventually eroded into the upper atmosphere. They were huge, so probably big enough and slow enough to have landed in the ocean since I only lived about 20 miles from the ocean in a remote area of California near the Oregon border. Two years ago I met someone who also saw it who was out driving a Willey's Jeep on top of a mountain about 25 miles south of where I lived. I figure they were about 60 miles up when I saw them.

The APOD object is larger and more diffuse than the one I saw, thus it might be more of a cometary substance that eroded slightlyl as it grazed the upper atmosphere. But it was moving so slowly?? I can't figure how that would be possible.

[passing thru]

The object moves at about the same rate as the dark area (clouds?) on the top of the frames in the GIF. It has to be in the atmosphere.

[Guest]

If the APOD animation is a good indication, the object appears to have slowed down rapidly. It starts off as a thin streak and appears to be coming closer as it's aspect increases, and it suddenly seems to slow down. What do you think?

That's a visual anomaly caused by the fish-eye lens.

[Jerry Fishman]

BOB-
I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS JUST THE RE-ENTRY of an un-cataloged piece of spacecraft or upper stage that could have been in orbit for many years. It could have been something as small as a large explosive nut or bolt used to tie satellites to an upper stage.

Best Regards, It was good to see you in San Diego. Keep up the good work on APOD.

Jerry Fishman
NASA-MSFC

[Guest]

Ok. Here's an eyewitness account. I had forgotten about this event until I saw the Astro Picture of the Day site earlier this evening.

I live in South Kona on the Big Island. I awoke in the very early AM. The sky was quite clear that AM. As I gazed up towards the zenith, tracking close to Leo was a very large "white blob". Being a frequent star gazer my initial response was "What the f#$# is that"!. I have never seen an object like it before. It's size was approximately twice, maybe a little more, than the Full Moon diameter.

After watching it track very slowly for about 10 minutes, I decided it was worth a look in my telescope. I have a 4" Vernonscope Refractor. Magnification was 20x. The wide field revealed a very soft light - no it was not a weather balloon as others have suggested - with stars visible behind it. Rather than some distinct object it seemed that a light was shining on part of the sky!

Even stranger was what I observed on the southern side of the object. About 3 full moon diameters away was a small dot of pale yellow/white light that looked and tracked like a satellite, however, moved much slower. Don't know about distance above the Earth, however, if it was in the atmosphere, there was no sound of any engine noise (I live in a very quiet area of the Island and any atmospheric sound from an airplane etc. would be audible). Also, there was no observable beam of light coming from the small object.

From the time I picked up the object until it disappeared into the East about 45 minutes later, it remained "parallel" to the "white blob", never varying its distance or speed. I have observed airplanes across the sky here, and this was not moving like an airplane. This tells me the object's distance from the Earth Surface was significantly higher.

One impression was a possible UFO, however, as I mentioned, there was no erratic pattern in its flight. Certainly doesn't rule it out, however, from what I've read (no I've never seen a UFO) UFO objects usually fly in erratic patterns.

Curious if anyone else saw this event Naked Eye???

[it'sjustspacejunk]

"BOB-
I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS JUST THE RE-ENTRY of an un-cataloged piece of spacecraft or upper stage that could have been in orbit for many years. It could have been something as small as a large explosive nut or bolt used to tie satellites to an upper stage. "


A piece of space junk, a nut or bolt, re-entering the atmosphere for 45 minutes? Are you serious? Please explain how this is even a remote possibility.

[davidmatthews]

there are some brilliant people out there

[skysat]

This would appear to be a fuel dump. The AMC-16 satellite was launched at 12:07 UT. Spacecraft separation was scheduled to occur 1:49 later (13:56 UT). I don't have the times but what followed next was the Contamination and Collision Avoidance Maneuver (CCAM). The first photo is at 14:19 UT. Twenty-three minutes seems like a reasonable time to wait before the fuel dump. 'Guest' probably saw AMC-16 in addition to the fuel (why didn't he see the Centaur upper stage)?

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av005/status.html
http://www.ilslaunch.com/launches/cbin/ ... _16_MO.pdf

[JustAGuess]

A liquid wouldn't have the reflectivity seen in these images, although from the timing it does seem likely the object is something from the AMC-16's launching vehicle. Separation was due to occur 1:48:42 after launch.

[Marthe]

Well, whatever it was, it certainly wasn't a UFO... even if it was unidentified, flying, and an object. Because we all know that those don't exist, don't we? Rational people wouldn't dare go there.

Honestly, you people crack me up. Hundreds of daily UFO sightings, and those people bold enough to admit seeing them become "kooks" looking for attention.

Yes, that must be it: it's a balloon. Or a space rock that hovered around for a long time. Whatever helps you get to sleep at night.

- Sorry, my english is very bad.
In my country I see a ufo go from the ocean to the star.
and I can sleep all the night very well, thank you.

in my country there is no luminance pollution and I can see all the nights the sky, thanks to the warm climate that we have. I have seen very strange things. The more rare that to me happen was for 20 year ago, when saw leave a ship from under the sea, and lose in the sky.
hasta la vista Baby!

[/i]

[HerbRaab]

A liquid wouldn't have the reflectivity seen in these images, although from the timing it does seem likely the object is something from the AMC-16's launching vehicle.

I saw a fuel dump some years ago (in the early 1990's) over Europe. These clouds can get bright. I would estimate that the peak total magnitude of the fuel cloud I saw to first or second magnitude, slowly getting dimmer with time. The cloud was visible, nearly motionless, for maybe an hour or so, shaped like a mushroom, streaming out of the point-like spacecraft, which was visible in a telesope only.

Having seen a fuel dump myself, I would certainly conclude from the observation posted above that this was a similar event.

[MartinN]

Using both the Mauna Kea CONCAM and the original image in Haleakala , use parallax to make an estimate of the height of the object - this will help determine what the object is.

cheers
Martin
( www.mgnastro.org )

[Guest]

AMC-16 was bound for an orbit of about 36,210km above the earth.

Okay, originally I was going to calculated what altitude the centaur module would have reached over a period of 23 minutes so we could then compare it to the rate at which an object moving at that speed at that altitude should move compared to the streak. Then I realized that as gravity changes as a function of the square of distance I don't know the math to calculate where it would actually be, because I need distance to calculate acceleration due to gravity, and I need the acceleratin due to gravity to calculate distance.

So now I'm just going to post what I *do* know (the altitude AMC-16 would have separated from the module, 22,500 miles or about 36,210 km) and let people more educated than I handle the rest.

[HawaiiArmo]

Perhaps the streak was a fragment of space debris. Some form of Spacejunk that could easily have escaped detection considering the vast amount in orbit.

[bilbo]

This is all so much sophistry without distance and speed measurements.
The calculations require basis references which others posses.
To whom are such requests sent?

[Guest]

If the targeted orbital altitude was 36,210 km, it would have perfromed its seperation long before that height wouldn't it?

However, that distance or something short of it, but close to it, would explain the duration of the event.

[Guest]

It was ball lightning...or else a bird frozen in a time warp.

[John Trainin]

The pun I most liked was Assurantorix (comprehensive car insurance).

Could M. Lavedar tell us about the others ?

[Cindy]

Atlas 3B rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2003 0230 GMT (9:30 p.m. EST Wed.) 0302 GMT (10:02 p.m. EST Wed.) At 10:34 p.m. EST the U.S. Navy's Ultra-High Frequency Follow-On F11 communications satellite was released into space following launch by the fourth Lockheed Martin Atlas 3 rocket. Mission officials report that the orbit's apogee is 35,911 km for a targeted 35,905 km, perigee is 288.3 km for a predicted 287.1 km and inclination right at 27 degrees.

[TWahlman@aol.com]

I think it was a meterorite.

[TheVinenator]

since the description indicates that TWO sites recorded the event, doesn't that imply that it's distance can be determined rather easily?

has anyone done that yet?

[astro8345]

Hello,

I'm very courious what magnitude the object had... After looking at the images I think it was about mag -4 or -5.

PS: This is my amateur deep sky astronomy page. Hope you will like it

http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata

[Calculus]

Could a set of possible orbits/courses be plotted and then extrapolated to where it is now and then look in these locations?

[kfetter]

I did a check, as some said it could be a fuel dump. I checked the data and trajectory the rocket took after it was launched, it matches what was observed. The AMC 16 would have seperated from the centaur upper stage at around 13:52 UTC, after which the fuel dump will occur.
So the camera captured the fuel dump. I have seen one fuel dump, from a atlas 2AS launch this past aug, very cool.

Kevin