Unexplained Object Going Upwards 11-28-13

On November 28, 2013 at 8:57 pm PST U.S. I saw what looked like either a meteor or comet. It appeared to be heading upwards (away from the planet) with a slight northwest direction. It had a bright yellowish tint to it and had a very long tail. When I first noticed it, it was a little bit above the horizon and then faded away at about the middle portion of the night sky. I saw it for a total duration of about 6 seconds.

Was this object in any way comet ISON or part of it? Was it a meteor? Was it a launch of some kind from Earth?... What the hell was it? Did anybody else see anything in the night sky at about 9 pm PST U.S. on 11-28-13?...

reply to post by Nurelic


What Goes Up Must Come Down.

If you wait around long enough it should fall back to Earth.

reply to post by Nurelic


sounds interesting, wish you had pix, is it possible the angle and viewpoint caused the illusion of upward movement? My guess is we will see more of this as days go forward. All of the current objects and the ones for the first quarter of 2014. There should be fragmentation and surviving particles will put on a show and some may leave scars. The upward movement makes no sense, but little does anymore......

I would guess it´s this one?!

Satellite launch

reply to post by tomra


It didn't launch so I doubt it.
Last-minute glitch aborts SpaceX's Thanksgiving rocket launch

The countdown was restarted but then stopped again with less than a minute left because engineers had not finished analyzing the data from the earlier glitch. "Better to be paranoid and wrong," Musk explained. He said it would take a few days to inspect the engines and reschedule the next launch attempt.

Gah! I saw the date/time and a picture of what appeared to be ignited engines and kinda assumed that it went up.

teslahowitzer
reply to post by Nurelic

 

sounds interesting, wish you had pix, is it possible the angle and viewpoint caused the illusion of upward movement? My guess is we will see more of this as days go forward. All of the current objects and the ones for the first quarter of 2014. There should be fragmentation and surviving particles will put on a show and some may leave scars. The upward movement makes no sense, but little does anymore......

I keep trying to find something similar to what I saw on youtube but can't find anything. It was definitely moving upwards. And I saw it for what seemed to be about 6 seconds which is a long time. When it faded away, it was hard to tell if it disintegrated or just kept going to the point where it got too high to see with the naked eye.

reply to post by Nurelic


Its rare the a meteor comes in at right angles to the planets surface. Most of the time they come in at a very low angle. The means that's depending on where you are observing the meteor from it could look like it is traveling upwards, sideways or downwards.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Agreed Phoenix, angles, pov, and other things contribute to optical illusions, in the right setup you can make water look like it is running uphill. Eventually gravity will change an objects course, this one sounds strange though and would like to know more, s&f.......

reply to post by teslahowitzer


I think you missed the point i was making. most meteors dont fall to the planets surface , they skim the planets atmosphere at a low angle and burn up. So if the meteor is coming in at a low angle towards you it will look like its going upwards and then burn out, If it is coming in at a low angle going away from you it will look like its going downwards.

Well, here's the best example I can give to the length, direction and color of the object I saw...

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Hi Phoenix, I got your point, and agree. maybe I did not word it correctly, but skimming and other things can be a factor. would love more data though.....

What part of the western US? San Diego to Alaska is a good stretch...

I have seen many meteors and other objects that appear to be traveling upward (or even straight downwards), but I know it is only a point-of-view issue.

As illustrated below, an object moving in a direction generally toward an observer can look like it is moving upwards from the point of view of the observer:

Meteors have been known to hit the atmosphere as a shallow angle and skip away. There is a famous video of that exact same happening from back in the 1970s or so over the Rocky Mountains. That particular event was in the daytime and it left a smoke trail. Had it been at night, given that we know it left smoke, it surely would have shown some illumination by heat.

alldaylong
reply to post by Nurelic

 

What Goes Up Must Come Down.

If you wait around long enough it should fall back to Earth.

What a useless waste of your time and ours.
Can't you do better?

reply to post by Nurelic

It was definitely moving upwards.

Definitely?

When I first noticed it, it was a little bit above the horizon and then faded away at about the middle portion of the night sky. I saw it for a total duration of about 6 seconds.

This sounds like its coming down not going up.

it was hard to tell if it disintegrated or just kept going to the point where it got too high to see with the naked eye.

If it disintegrated it was coming down and burning up in the atmosphere.

See PheonixODs post about 8 down from the OP, he gives a brief explanation on why it might seem like its traveling up.

Nurelic
Well, here's the best example I can give to the length, direction and color of the object I saw...

You see where your arrow starts (not points) that would actually be higher in the sky but over the horizon from ground level where you are, It enters the atmosphere at a low angle coming towards you,

It skims the atmosphere and begins to burn up, you see it and watch it travel high in the sky at a low angle over the horizon coming towards you where it dies out.

That's my take from your description and from personally viewing similar incidents when star gazing.