What did I see?

rockmongrel

Hey all.
Having no experience in astronomy I have no idea what I just saw, so thought this the best place to go :P
About ten minutes ago, walking home from the bus stop in Templeogue Village on the southside of Dublin, 21:40 or so, I saw something in the sky. It was a fiery orange and flickering and almost certainly outside of the atmosphere. Now usually I'd put this down to see a planet or something else. But what really shocked me was the speed at which it was travelling, far faster than any plane/jet/anything I've ever seen in the sky move. So what did I see does anyone know? Meteor? Shooting star? Satellite?

Just so its known, I'm quite a sceptic so am in no way insinuating some form of E.T. :pac:

jumpguy

Lacross 5 (US spy satellite) made a pass pretty much at that time. It wasn't very bright (not close to the ISS), but sometimes Lacrosse 5 looks abit orangey.

Could've been another Chinese lantern, but it's speed would be unusual. It'd also be a big enough coincidence if it was a satellite pass just at that time.

calchas

What you describe could be a bolide. A meteor burning up in the upper atmosphere. They can be pretty spectacular.

rockmongrel

Hmmm, from pictures in see on Google images, the colour was far more intense than that of the Lacrosse ones, much more orange, and it certainly didn't look like a bolide :P

jumpguy

Really? Lacrosse 5 can be pretty orange. The other Lacrosse's appear more the conventional white.
http://www.tracking-station.de/images/lacrosse/2006-07/lac5-06-07-25lr.jpg
That shows the orangeyness, you can see it especially towards the end of the pass.

rockmongrel

Oh yeah, that looks far more like it now! Thank you very much

aten

Something similar seen by me on Wed 23rd @ 23.54 in Dublin. on a similar trajectory and speed to the ISS, it had an orange glow and looked like as if it was rotating . Am I alone in this observation ?

garser353

I seen a bright orange light in the sky last night at about 2300 and was moving slowly. looked like something burning.

Anyone know what it might have been?

over tallaght in Dublin

dlofnep

My father said he saw something bright and orangey in the sky too.. He said it was moving pretty fast. At first I thought it was one of those lanterns, because my friend used to set off a few of them - but he said it was moving quickly so that ruled that out. Must have been that Satellite.

garser353

dlofnep wrote: »

My father said he saw something bright and orangey in the sky too.. He said it was moving pretty fast. At first I thought it was one of those lanterns, because my friend used to set off a few of them - but he said it was moving quickly so that ruled that out. Must have been that Satellite.

Taught the same myself looked like a flare but was way to high to be one so i dont know what it was