ISS or something closer to earth?

Hello fellow ATS'ers!

If your happy to hear a story, keep reading.
If you need pictures for proof, hit the back button now.

I want to share a story with you that i have just recently worked out how to tell. Most of the time i am at work on these forums so i dont have much time to post in case my boss comes in for a look! Anyway. It was new years eve and me and all my mates decided our destination this year was the beach, we all live inland but the beach is only about 40km's (Like 25miles?) away from us all.

(Location is: Golden Beach, Victoria, Australia.)

To get this out of the way, yes, we were all drinking (DUH! NEW YEARS!) but it was only early on in the night. I cant give an exact time but it was between the hours of 7 and 8pm. There was still some light in the sky and the light that illuminated us from the fire.

To the southeast of where most of us were sitting we caught a glimpse of a white 'egg' shaped craft floating through the sky. No sound, no flashing lights.. Just a pure white egg shaped something floating through the sky.

While my girlfriend said to me "Oooh look its a UFO!" in a sarcastic voice toward me some of my other friends pondered what it could actually be.

As soon as i saw it i immediately thought it was the ISS and we were lucky enough to see it on a somewhat clear summer night. But it was WAY to low. Unless it was some sort of twilight trick of the eye.

Here is a satellite image of the location and the path of whatever we all saw. The light appeared to be no more than 250 meters (800ish feet) in the sky. The estimation is only of the tree line due south.

img188.imageshack.us...
(We were camping on the Anchorage Way property)

I am unsure whether or not to post this at MUFON because im not even sure of what i saw myself.

Please reply!

EDIT: Spelling *Facepalm*


[edit on 14-7-2009 by XeonSky]

[edit on 14-7-2009 by XeonSky]

I've seen something very similar over the skies of Los Angeles.

About 8 years ago every night when I'd come home from work one summer, the place I was staying at had a jacuzzi, I'd sit in the hot tub and just watch the sky after I'd get home for work. (hey why not) this was basically around 10PM. Every wednesday for about three weeks straight right around 10:30 I'd see a fain blue star.

it would travel from the western horizon (over the pacific) and move real fast to the next horizon. It was bluish like a star but in the atmosphere. faint but obvious at the same time.

WHat was spooky is that about half way through the sky it would just teleport to nearly over head and zip off,sometimes in the same direction or perpendicular on other times, with a short bright blue streak. the streak reminded me of star trek when the ship goes to warp.

the object was always traveling inland right towards edwards air force base. Once it started to slolomn (zig zag)after one of it "jump" that it would do. at the apex of each slolomn it would cast off a shower of fainter (but same color) blue sparks. the sparks were more like orbs there were only 5 or 7 at a time and they would disappear a short distance from the main object. It did this only once.

I saw the object a total of 3 times that summer. never seen it again. but if I could see it in the skies over los angeles it must have been in the atmosphere and not a satellite. (light pollution) it would cover horizon to horizon in 15 seconds or so. One of the times (second) I saw it an hour earlier heading the opposite direction from the desert out to sea.

Thanks for the reply BASSPLYR

Our stories seem to be somewhat similar in terms of speed. I should have mentioned in the first post the the object only took about 10 - 15 seconds of time to cover the line i have marked in red.

So, any other theories/ideas?

I donno.

But I figured the object looked to be only 10 feet across. What I saw had to be higher than 850 feet. mine was more like 8K in altitude. not as high as a airliner, much higher than a helicopter. got the distinct impression the object was somewhat small. the color by the way was a bluish white. the edges deeper blue like an electric blue.

Do you have any military instillations near where you are? I figured I was watching a govt. black project craft. Heard rumors and stories about the same things out over the desert near edwards but traveling 20 feet off the ground and lighting everything up near it like a floodlight.

I know I have seen the ISS on a clear night as well and it did appear just as you described your experience. This is not to say that what you saw was in fact the ISS. With no photo or footage to see, all one can do is rely on your description.

When I saw the ISS it did appear much lower than it actually was and also very bright white.

Something to remember is that although an object can closely resemble a satellite that does not mean that is what it is. Without knowing the exact date and time at that location we will never know if it was the ISS.

After reading up on some info, there are about 3,000 working satellites in orbit right now, not to mention the thousands of broken satellites just floating around. Unsure if Australia has such a program.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.nasa.gov...

Thanks for sharing your experience.


[edit on 14-7-2009 by Abductee Chick]

[edit on 14-7-2009 by Abductee Chick]

[edit on 14-7-2009 by Abductee Chick]

I agree that the ISS and satellites can look much lower than they are.

but what I saw had a blue hue to it. and both objects that the OP and I have seen (may not be the same objects) made course changes. ISS and satellites don't change course. rather abruptly in my case.

Its funny you should mention a military base. In fact i cant beleive i didnt think of it before!

In a town called Sale somewhat close to Golden Beach there is a "RAAF Airbase" (Royal Australian Air Force)

Im not sure if they do that kind of thing there but i suppose anything is possible. I did a plastering job there and there was many many places that were off limits.

I am just a skeptic about this object being the ISS as any other person, i just want some sort of clarity on the situation.

Thank you for your post AChick.

[edit on 14-7-2009 by XeonSky]

The ISS can appear to be going as fast as a Jetliner, or very slow. It can appear to speed up and slow down. Believe me, I have seen and filmed it doing this.

I am not saying what you both saw was the ISS. It could have been anything.

Here's a link where you can type in your exact location and find out when the ISS will be seen clearly in your area in real time

spaceflight1.nasa.gov...

If you live near a military base then the possibilities are endless, lol.

Originally posted by Abductee Chick
If you live near a military base then the possibilities are endless, lol.

Yeah thats what i was thinking, haha.

But for there to be no boosters or flames coming out of this thing is weird. Can you post a link to the videos you have taken if they have been uploaded? Otherwise maybe you could U2U me an email and we could talk through that?

Thanks

On December 31, 2008 at 9:30 PM, the ISS made a very bright pass over Golden Beach (Victoria), moving from the SW through SE to ENE.

Any chance you've got your directions and timing a bit skewed? (You know, New Years eve, and all ) In any case it was so bright you should have noticed it as well.

www.heavens-above.com...

Sky chart


[edit on 7/14/2009 by Phage]

I know what you mean by speeding up and slowing down for the ISS and satellites. But factor in changing course. teleporting (traveling 50% of the sky instantly, or in a wink)

Australia has a close relationship with the US regarding UFO type tech. they have lots of sightings very similar to the edwards AFB ones people were seeing a few years ago out in the california desert. People were saying that they would see these glowing, bright white objects about 15-20 feet across rise up out of the ground from most likely underground hangar doors in the desert. then zip off over the desert at 10-20 feet. lighting up everything around them like daylight. said that they could see the jackrabbits scatter frightened. I haven't heard anything in a couple of years about this. but it's possible the tech has been moved elsewhere including australia. They have pine gap too. another spooky place to factor in.

Here is the ISS I filmed last nights fly over Kent UK of the ISS at aprox 10.55pm 13/7/09.Taken with a Sony DCR-SR36 with 40X optical zoom.
Part one
Part 2

[edit on 13-7-2009 by tarifa37]

those are some pretty cool vids. THe thing I saw moved much faster than that, was a little more faint and a little bluer. But some of the disappear reappear stuff was similar. but it would reappear much faster (almost instantly) and halfway through the sky...and with a bluish streak behind it for an instant.

reply to post by XeonSky


Sure, I can upload a portion of my ISS video. The very beginning it's right above me and at it's brightest. I'll post it as soon as I can.

If I see something the looks a bit ISS-y, I just check this page which has a nice Java applet showing the path.

spaceflight.nasa.gov...

I've caught it many times going by.

It just happens to be to the south of me right at this moment but too far to be seen.

reply to post by XeonSky


I didn't know a the time I was filming it that it was the ISS. Later, after I uploaded the whole footage, someone with experience in seeing this ran a check on my area and time it occured and sure enough, the info corroberated. I looked for it the next night as the time said it would on the NASA page, and there it was again.

On the second evening the sighting the course did change and it wasn't directly over head. Now it was many degrees further NorthEast rather then the direct East couse it had the night before. This footage is from the first night.


www.youtube.com...


[edit on 14-7-2009 by Abductee Chick]

www.n2yo.com...

Is an awesome site for real time tracking of ALL satellites orbiting earth, if you click the "what's up?" link you it will show you what is orbiting in your area.

I always use this site as pretty much every night I go out for a smoke I'm guaranteed to see a light moving in the sky so check the site to see if it's a satellite or not, so far they've all been satellites, they're still fun to watch though and sometimes you get lucky and see them flare up to a really intense light before fading into nothing

reply to post by Discotech


Thanks for the site; I wasn't aware of that one, and it's packed with lots of information, thanks! Quite a bit more satellites tracked there than at heavens-above.com, and I like the map.

Thank you all so much for your input!

I am almost completely certain that it was the ISS that we saw that night. As always Phage, thank you for your ever so helpful advice (Helped me with my UFO sighting!)

But i cant shake the feeling that it was something else. Its egg shape and how low it was flying.

Ill try and get something to refrence it too to show you guys how big it looked!

Ok, did my best..
i27.tinypic.com...
Had to use TP because IS.us is down.

Anyway:
*Approx 820Ft high
*Approx 1500Ft away
*Egg shaped
*Faint trail behind.

I hate to try and keep this alive, because im stuck in between what ive seen, UFO or ISS..