ISS or something closer to earth?

reply to post by XeonSky


Here's an idea that's not been proposed to you

Could it not been a comet/meteorite that you saw ? The picture you just posted made me think of a comet so not sure if that's what you were trying to get across

Possible.

Im not much of an astronomer or anything like it, but dont comets/meteors fall down to earth? Not in a horizontal line?

(All these things i neglect to mention!)

Originally posted by XeonSky
Possible.

Im not much of an astronomer or anything like it, but dont comets/meteors fall down to earth? Not in a horizontal line?

(All these things i neglect to mention!)

No, some of them can be seen by the naked eye passing the Earth complete with tail, if I remember I think around Christmas time there was a comet which passed by the Earth so it may have that you saw

Either way, thats awesome!

I wonder if anyone else saw it apart from all us drunks? Lol.

reply to post by XeonSky


Comets do not visibly move across the sky (unless they are very, very close to Earth. Too close) . They are visible for extended periods of times (days, even weeks).

[edit on 7/14/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by XeonSky

 

They are visible for extended periods of times (days, even weeks).

Well thats what i thought.

And if there was a meteor that was that close surely an astronomer would have let us all know about it. It did have a tail but it wasnt huge, like that of a meteor but only taking approx 15 seconds to cover the sky before passing behind trees.

The only things i can think of so far to dismiss it being a UFO is that it was either the ISS close to our atmosphere and playing a trick on the eye making it look somewhat bigger that reality (Like sometimes you see the moon and it looks huge) or it was something millitary from the RAAF base that is about 40km away.

But that also brings me back to:

If it was the ISS:
Why did it have a tail?
Why did it only take 15 seconds to cover our patch of sky?

If it was military:
Why would it make itself visible to a beach on new years eve that is quite populated?
Why did it look anti-grav? (No flames, boosters etc.)

Being military it could have well done those speeds, but at the same time i have never seen an egg shaped military craft and i have never seen a 'plane' without noise/flames or something to keep it airborn.

IM STUMPED.

reply to post by XeonSky

I missed the 15 seconds part of the description. The ISS always travels at the same speed across the sky. It takes about 6 minutes to make a full pass (from horizon to overhead to horizon). If what you saw covered more than about 10º of arc, it was not the ISS.

With that in mind, it may have been a very large meteor. Lucky you guys! Happy New Year!

[edit on 7/14/2009 by Phage]

Always trustful of your advice or conclusion Phage

Thanks again.

Still begs the question as the what we all saw that night.

reply to post by XeonSky


There's also the possibility you could have been lucky enough to see some space debris entering the atmosphere and burning up on entry ?

It's good though however that you keep an open mind on this and aren't restricting yourself to thinking it was definately a UFO so I commend you on that