I'm sure that there are many threads like this...
But I kinda would like to know what I saw this evening?
Its been nice and clear these past few nights in the South East of England, so this evening I thought it would be a good idea to grab my telescope,
binos and NVG's and go to an area where there wasn't as much light pollution as around my house.
At about 2100-ish GMT I was observing Orion and its Nebulae and the Pleiades.
I stopped to have a small break and got out my NVG's and began scanning the night sky.
When moving back over to the Pleiades I saw a small dot moving North to South across the sky. I tried to get my binos on them (Which are quite
powerful) but I couldn't pick it up. Moments later it "ignited" into a bright yellow, approximately the size of Rigel (It was the closest star for
comparison).
At this point is was visible to the naked eye.
However, through Binos it appeared to have a tale. Obviously perhaps I was out of focus/ or my hands were shaking.
About 30 seconds later it disappeared again. However, I was unable to regain visualisation with the NVGs. (IR)
Of course I am not suggesting that it was ET and that he zoomed away at the speed of light or anything silly
But I'm just a bit unsure as to what I saw :/
It wasn't a "shooting Star"/Asteroid as it was moving far too slowly.
However, as said, it did appear to "burn out" after it had lit up for 30 seconds?
I'm also not inclined to believe that it was a Chinese Lantern. But I suppose if it was then I will just have to except it lol!
Now, if I remember correctly there is a website that shows the path of Sats and the ISS. Can someone please remind me of what it is, so that perhaps I
can try and work out what I saw?
Or can someone please tell me if my description matches your average sat zooming across the night sky?
Cheers in advance
Klis