Do any Aircraft look like stars at night?

Strange this, I live in Snowdonia park mountains in N.Wales, I went to bed the other night and I have the window on the roof, and was lying there watching a star at roughly 1.40am, the weather was very very bad, the next thing the star seemed to move out of my viewing range, I think nothing of it, next thing another star comes over then another, to me they looked exactly like stars, there was a heavy black cloud and i was only catching glimpses of the sky though and all though exited I cant catch more than 10 maybe 20 second glimpses inbetween clouds..
Next thing I am up on my feet looking through the window and i see about ten of them all spread out fly over my house but although they moved like aircraft they looked like stars, just a single bright light to each one that did not flash.
Next thing i am out the front door trying to see some more but there was too much black cloud and it was very very windy, so was reseigned back to my bed at 2am.

Any ideas what it could have been, i was convinced they were stars but they were not, and after seeing multiples of them fly over, I am very curious as to what they may have been.

satellites.
when they begin hanging 90 degree turns let me know.

eta. explain this better.

they moved like aircraft they looked like stars

My fiend I still havent been given a clear explenation of them. I made past threads about them and how the ones I wiewed would shine different colors. It for the most part went on def ears. ALL I can say is maybe you see them for a reason and others cannot.

The closest I came to identifying one of them was SPICA and that was like 1 of a few I observed. At nite I sometimes go out and watch to see if there is still any movements seen and I still see them so. Enjoy the experience. Some will come in here and say your eyes are moving the non moving object ect. but I have done slow breathing and as minimum movements to observe and they out come is the same. WILD

satelittes is the answer always given. i am not convinced. i have seen them travel back and forth the sky. they seem to be in deep space.

seen plenty of satelittes too and they usually look a little different and often flash with different degrees of brightness and appear much closer to earth. like the distance of the ISS.

what i have been seeing seem to be much futher away. its like shipping lanes in space for spaceships.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

You could go to www.heavens-above.com they list on there a load of satellites and space junk and show track paths, showing direction and which bit of country they are actually passing over. Really very good (if you are sad like me and like to know what it is going above you)

reply to post by JohnySeagull


Yes, i just read youre link. And its possible we saw the same sort of thing.

I havent realised so many people have seen these, I must say I have looked at the sky for years while in bed, and never seen anything like it before, its why I got up, dressed and out the door at almost 2am on a very cold windy night, I wouldnt have done that if it was not real in my head.

As i say i have never seen anything like it before, as we dont get commercial airlines flying over here, none at all, only private or millitary training. But it did look higher in the sky than normal aircraft, but too dark and too many clouds to gain a proper perspective of height.

If it's high enough, anything that flies could look like a star. But it's easy to tell it's not a star when it's not stationary.

reply to post by rubbertramp


Me and my brother used to watch those out in pennsylvania, we thought they were satelites till they started changing direction, making sharp turns, disappearing and reappearing and creepiest of all flying up till you cant see them anymore.

Ive seen millitary and passenger jets fly at night. The ones that are REALLY high up look alot like stars. Sometimes you can barely see the color flicker as the strobes flash on the underbelly of the jet, depending how high up it is. Some of those bad boys are really high up there, so I'm sure they'll come off as tiny pinpricks of light.

They are everywhere.
For a few years now we have seen them.
Sometimes they fly in fish-like, swimming patterns.

Still amazed at how few notice them.

I was out shopping in a retail park with my family and my youngest pointed out a star that looked weird.
Many times before we have observed stars and events, like the Geminids, so she knows what is a star or a plane. And we have seen many UFOs, so she knows them too.)

She points it out to me, and I noticed that it wasn't twinkling (like the others of the same mag. actually it was the same mag. as Venus) and it was absolutely stationary. I don't know why but I am getting fed up with them, some may be nice and FOR earth but most I suspect are waiting to eat us.

So I pointed at the 'star' and shouted at the UFO to 'bug off'. Immediately the magnitude turned right down and then it seemed to grow into a moon-width, sphere that was a very dull grey and then disappeared.

This wasn't the acts of a satellite.

(NB. If you do shout at them, make sure no one is walking towards you, it is very embarrassing. LOL)

Anything with a light on it, or a reflective surface (eg satellites) can appear to look like a moving star. It can sometimes be very hard to tell the difference, but there are ways to narrow down the possibilities.

Heaqvensabove.com as suggested is a good start, but the timing of the observation alone should give a good idea if it's even possible or not to see satellites.

At this time of year, because of earth's tilt, the sun dips much lower below the horizon than it does during the Summer. Since you can only see satellites in orbit when they are in the sunlight (and reflecting it back to you), the sun's angle is crucial. Too far below the horizon, and satellites in the sky above you will be in earth's shadow, making them effectively invisible.

That is exactly the situation at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere - an hour or so after sunset (up till an hour or so before sunrise), the sun is too far below the horizon for the vast majority of satellites to be visible.

Conversely, during summer, the sun never dips very low below the horizon at mid-northern latitudes, so satellites can be seen throughout the night... and a real PITA they are if you like to photograph the stars

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby
Sometimes they fly in fish-like, swimming patterns.

That is because of the autokinetic effect. Have you ever tried to photograph them? Strangely enough, if you do, the satellite's path looks perfectly straight. Go figure...

I posted a thread recently here regarding the in's and out's of why it's not always a good idea to trust our eyes.

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby
Still amazed at how few notice them.

Astronomers do, but it amazes me too. People in general don't look up enough.

I see fake stars and fake planes every day. You are not alone.

originally posted by: gattomorto
I see fake stars and fake planes every day. You are not alone.

No you don't. Are you one of the people that upload such non-sense on You Tube? The mind boggles at these people!

UK

www.youtube.com...

Canada

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