Hi all, this is my first post.

Monday night i went out in the back garden (Yorkshire, UK) to let the dog go for a pee, it was about 8.15, and as i stood waiting i looked up at the sky, it was a cold night, and had been snowing on and off, and visibility was excellent, the stars looked beautiful, then i noticed an object that looked like a regular star but it was moving across the sky in a straight line, so i called to my girlfriend to come have a look, she did, and said 'whats that?' at that moment, another star like object caught my eye that was also moving in a straight line, but in a different direction, i pointed and said 'look another one', as we turned our attention to this other object, all of a sudden there was what i can only say was a very bright flash that shot upwards, so fast my eyes couldnt stay trained on it, my g/f saw it too, we both were like 'whoa what the hell was that' my mind started getting carried away thinking it was aliens and such.
Anyway after a while my g/f goes inside, cos she's a cold arse, but i stay watching, scanning the sky, then out the corner of my eye, another flash, i turn and look to see a glowing object, with a reddish tinge, moving through the sky, this was a very brief sighting before it disappeared, this like the other flash were different from the star like objects, they were bigger, the star objects i would say must have been in orbit, anyway i shouts my girl again, and says you gotta keep looking tonight cos theres some freaky # going down out there.
So we watch, and watch.. and then there, another one the best sighting of all, this bright object hurtling through the sky in a straight line, but i could see a trail coming from it, like smoke, i grabs my g/f head and tries to position it so she sees it 'look at that' i said, or words to that effect, then like the others it disappeared she missed it, i was gutted for her, because this one was the best of all.
Anyway after seeing this last one it was a let down for me in a way, because it confirmed that what we must of been seeing was comets, or meteors?, im still not sure, hence, why ive registered here to try and get some answers, i initially thought these things could have been ufo's, but im a rational person, and im sure, like i say that these were comets or meteors, even so to see three in one night was still amazing.
Anyway what i want to know is what the star like objects are? are they sattelites?, i know there are a lot of them out there, and like i said, im pretty sure they were in orbit/space, so any answers would be great.
And to all you ppl out there, watch the skies, because there are wonderful things going on up there, you just gotta be patient.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, i hope you all believe me, because i got to admit i been reading these forums for a while now, and i know that its hard to believe some things, im just glad my girlfriend witnessed some of this with me.

SkyWatcher.

Welcome! Try to have fun!

Sounds like you saw a small Meteor Shower, at least that's what it sounds like to me.

Hi muzz thx for the reply,

Yes i think it could have been a meteor shower, but would the meteors be heading in different directions and what of these moving stars, if these are meteors they shouldnt be visible until entering earths atmosphere should they
I dont know, im far from being an expert, but thx for the reply anyway i also scanned the UK news websites, but there was no mention of anything

I don't know what time the sun sets there, but if it wasn't too long after sunset then the ones moving in straight lines may have been satellites. The sun reflects off of them if they are far enough above the earth to not yet be in its shadow.

I saw a few meteors tonight, and also a few last week. What you saw probably weren't comets though. Comets move very slowly in a path around the sun and generally look stationary unless you observe them for a long period of time.

I don't know about the one that shot upwards though.
Maybe a UFO was checking out the meteor shower too.

Sounds like satellites and meteors. Some meteors do leave a trail, especially the cometary
left-overs like the Leonids. If you can see the sky clearly, here is a cute little tip :
For satellites (stars that seem to move in a straight line), watch for the intersection point
with the south horizon. (North horizon for those that can see the Southern Cross, he he)
If it is in ascending node, follow its path back to horizon. If in descending node, it will
move to the horizon. Roughly "eyeball" an estimate angle to the equator. ( The horizon
is close enuf for gvt work.) This is called the "angle of inclination" for a Great Circle
orbit. (All satellites are in Great Circle orbits) And this angle tells you the Launch Point
(Latitude) of the satellite. Since there are not many launch sites, they can be determined
simply by knowing the Latitude. For example, The cape in south Florida is pretty much
a certainty if the inclination is 20-30 degrees. If its a Polar orbit or Retrograde, its prolly
Vandenberg. The higher angles would be Russia. Yeah, I know, I left out the French.
Hey, I am boycotting, so I dont watch their satellites.

Oh, and welcome. Kinda new myself since I aint too active on here, reading mostly.

/\/ight\/\/ing

Sunsets here around 5.30pm, anyway thx for the replies guys, kinda clears it all up for me anyway, i think its going to be a clear night tonight so i'll be watching out again for sure, and i'll post any more findings pronto, and thx for the tips nightwing, even though it all went straight over my head, you sound well clued up m8

Cheers again.

Originally posted by SkyWatcher
Sunsets here around 5.30pm, anyway thx for the replies guys, kinda clears it all up for me anyway, i think its going to be a clear night tonight so i'll be watching out again for sure, and i'll post any more findings pronto, and thx for the tips nightwing, even though it all went straight over my head,

you sound well clued up m8

Cheers again.

Y'alllllriiiit Watcher?

I'm just across the Pennined and have been observing some very odd happenings up in them there heavens.

I am suprised you are putting them down (for the time being at least) to natural celestial bodies when you have observed them flash and shoot upwards. HAve I missunderstood?


ANyway, I watched a sattelite cross the sky the other night (poss monday) but I advise everyone to keep watching at the moment because something strange is afoot. I have not seen such activity up there since I Od'd on speed and started watching my "flashing friends" throughout the night. They werent really there though, unfortunately

Originally posted by triplesod
ANyway, I watched a sattelite cross the sky the other night (poss monday) but I advise everyone to keep watching at the moment because something strange is afoot. I have not seen such activity up there since I Od'd on speed and started watching my "flashing friends" throughout the night. They werent really there though, unfortunately

Maybe there is some sort of ET life wanting to be seen or there are more visiting us now as sightings have gone up and a lot more people now believe

triplesod, no m8 you didnt misunderstand, it did shoot upwards, this was the first of the 'flashes' i saw, and the only one my g/f saw, (apart from the two 'satellites' she witnessed) it didn't shoot vertically upwards but kinda on an angle/upwards, sort of thing, i had to double check with her saying 'that shot upwards didn't it' and she agrees, it did, you will have to forgive my trying to explain this event, as im not that savvy with this longditude/latditude, (sp) north/east/south/west malarky

Anyway i like to keep an open mind about these things, healthier for the old brain i think, but i can say that after seeing these things my girlfriend who wasn't remotely interested in ufo's/space/meteors/comets, and the cosmos in general, is now fascinated, all that night she kept getting up and looking out the back bedroom window

Anyway hi again, triplesod and Mikomi, good to see fellow UK'ers around here.