Moon and Jupiter - Now

[Pupp]

[mattviatura]

Sorry for the thread hijack but this sort of thing used to go in the planes forum and I'm damned if I'm asking in the UFO thread. Around six o'clock a very clear shooting star passed roughly East to West, quite long duration. Probably the brightest I've ever seen. Anyone know if we've got a shower to look forward to?

[nellyleelephant]

Not sure where the space station currently is, but it could have been that. Eric is your man!

[Eric Mc]

Space station is an early morning object at the moment. It would be visible in the evening sky over the UK for at least another four weeks.

There is no way you would mistake the space station for a meteor.

[nellyleelephant]

Eric Mc said:

Space station is an early morning object at the moment. It would be visible in the evening sky over the UK for at least another four weeks.

There is no way you would mistake the space station for a meteor.

It was the long duration bit that made me think that!

[jmorgan]

What colour was it?

[Eric Mc]

nellyleelephant said:

It was the long duration bit that made me think that!

The speeds would be massively different. The Space Station takes about two minutes to pass from horizon to horizon. Even a "slow" meteor would cover that distance in a matter of seconds.

[nellyleelephant]

Eric Mc said:

The speeds would be massively different. The Space Station takes about two minutes to pass from horizon to horizon. Even a "slow" meteor would cover that distance in a matter of seconds.

I realise that, I've seen my fair share. I skimmed the thread and only took notice of the 'slow duration' and 'ufo' bit.

[jmorgan]

Nosing through Starry night and nothing obvious but I may have been fast forwarding too fast. Iridium? They are always wandering around.


Edit. East to west?

Edited by jmorgan on Thursday 2nd February 08:01

[Eric Mc]

There are plenty of random meteors about. They are usually the best ones too.

[jmorgan]

Why I asked the colour, bit of a give away if its not white.

[mattviatura]

Thanks all, it definitely wasn't an artificial satellite (and completely the wrong direction of travel for the ISS) unless it was something falling and burning up. It was a shooting star (meteor?) and I wondered if it was part of a shower or anything. When I've seen them before they tend to flash quickly, this one lasted for the best part of a second or so - very clear indeed and a long trail.

[mattviatura]

nellyleelephant said:

I skimmed the thread and only took notice of the 'slow duration' and 'ufo' bit.

Which is why I AVOIDED the UFO thread.

[Eric Mc]

Pretty much definitely a meteor, I would say.

A second or so visibility is far too quick to be anything else.

The perceived speed of a meteor can depend on a number of variables such as the direction at which it approaches the earth i.e with or against (or angles in between) the direction of the earth's rotation, the steepness of the entry into the atmoshere, the position of the observer etc.

[nellyleelephant]

mattviatura said:

Which is why I AVOIDED the UFO thread.

Wasn't a dig at you, it was me that didn't read properly.

[mattviatura]

nellyleelephant said:

Wasn't a dig at you, it was me that didn't read properly.

No hard feelings, I dislike being lumped in with that set. I'm familiar with satellites and the ISS and being close to Manchester Airport see a lot of aircraft movements at various altitudes. It appears it was random and I was lucky enough to be looking at exactly the right part of the sky at the time.

Having said that, and back on topic, the Moon, Jupiter and Venus were in fantastic alignment around 7PM yesterday evening.