[Chaos-l] UFO

[Tony Rice]

Sounds like a meteor.  The path sounds longer than any I've been lucky
enough to see but certainly possible.  Could have possibly been a
rocket body or some other satellite reentering the atmosphere.

I dont think it was a rocket or missile launch based on the direction
you describe as anything launched from Florida or Virginia is going to
travel from the south west to the north east.

The path you describe sounds orbital, but there shouldn't have been
any satellites visible, especially that bright, at that time of night.
 Most visible satellite passes occur within 3 hours of sunset.
Iridium satellites can be visible a bit later but not for that long.

-Tony

On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 12:36 AM, Michael Hrivnak <mhrivnak at hrivnak.org> wrote:
> Help me identify this flying object!
>
> At about 12:10am, just a few minutes ago, my girlfriend and I saw
> something very bright traveling fast across the sky from our NW
> Raleigh home.  It started in the north, and I first saw it just west
> of Cassiopeia, about 40 degrees above the horizon.  It went pretty
> much to the zenith, and traveled straight south.  I lost track of it
> around 30 degrees above the southern horizon.  It was a constant
> brightness, and there was no visible blinking.  It reminded me of a
> bright satellite, but MUCH faster.  I think it would have traveled
> horizon-horizon in about 7 seconds at the most.  I'm not sure exactly
> how bright it was, but it was brighter than any of the stars in
> Cassiopeia.
>
> We did not hear anything.  Its light was just straight white, and
> there was no visible trail (although the light pollution here is
> horrendous).  It obviously couldn't have been lit up by the sun.
>
> Any ideas on what it might have been?  My best guess at this point is
> some sort of military craft travelling quite high and VERY fast.  But,
> why would it have been so bright?  Perhaps it was a test of some large
> missile?
>
> Michael
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