5:50 pm Federal Way,Wa. I.S.S.?

I'm on the approach about 30 miles south of Sea/Tac Airport and familiar with the sky. I walked out to let my dog out and looked up as usual and I see a lot going on...the moon with a plane still fairly low heading up and south.

A bright light heading north at high altitude in the same part of the sky. It is way brighter and bigger than any normal satellite and seems a little too low. But It's also not a plane. I know this because there were no blinking lights and I even watched a plane at similar altitude and can easily see the nav lights blinking. This object was just bright white.

It moved all the way across the sky in 10 seconds Id say (didn't time it and I was mesmerised). My first thought was ok, I'm misidentifying the ISS. So I went in and pulled up heavens above which tells me the ISS is not passing over today.

I just thought I'd share this if anyone saw it or can tell me it was the ISS.

Thanks everyone for any help.

OT

could not tell you but the iss is very bright and can move pretty fast across the sky. Did it move direct or did it zig zag at all. Maybe a little more info like were you drinking a lot. lol No but did it move funny or disappear.

Darn you got me, I had a beer with dinner.

Seriously though, It went in a straight line southbound with no erratic movements so it very well could have been the ISS if it had been visible which it was not apparently.

Originally posted by Overtime
It moved all the way across the sky in 10 seconds ...

Satellites take a few minutes to cross the sky.
All satellites, the ISS included.

Therefore, if your estimation is even an order of magnitude correct, it wasnt a satellite.

My girlfriend saw a UFO near Olympia on Monday. She says she saw a bright light (no blinking lights) moving across the sky and suddenly stop and head off the other direction faster than it was originally moving.


Wonder if these objects are somehow related???

reply to post by MmmPie


Could be... but the stop and change directions is key for high altitude sightings as it rules out satellites.

Thats a level above what I saw tonight.

Hey... I lived in Federal Way from 1973 to 1977 when I was in high school. Thomas Jefferson.

How are things there?

reply to post by davjan4


Hey that's cool..well we had a epic summer and now it's been raining buckets and in the low 40s although tonight was clear.

One thing that's changed is now the city has cameras with radar for school zones which I don't mind because I'm ultra aware of them after getting a ticket for going 30 in a school zone from a motorcycle cop before those were put in.