Two bright objects over Oklahoma
I was sitting in my hottub admiring the stars when a very bright light appeared in the constellation Draco traveling towards the Southeast on a heading of about 155 degrees. I thought it was a satellite at first because of its slow speed. I often spot satellites at this time of night traveling slowly across the sky, but never one this bright, and I have always watched them travel for several minutes. My next thought was a meteor, but it was traveling slower than any meteor I have ever seen. It got very bright in intensity for about 5 seconds and then faded very fast, moving through about ten or 20 degrees of the night sky. I have never seen a meteor travel this slow, nor have I seen a satellite this bright and short. It was much more intense than most meteors. What really grabbed my attention was another object of the same intensity followed the exact same path about three minutes later. Could this have been pieces of space junk burning up? I'm not sure, but it didn't look like anything I've ever seen in the sky before.
((NUFORC Note: We suspect the "flare" of reflected sunlight from Iridium satellite #34. Please see the schedule below from www.heavens-above.com:
31 Aug 21:35:58 -1 47° 104° (ESE) 34.7 km (E) -8 Iridium 34
01 Sep 05:48:37 -4 19° 17° (NNE) 17.0 km (E) -6 Iridium 25
02 Sep 05:42:47 -6 17° 17° (NNE) 10.9 km (E) -6 Iridium 47
http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?lat=35.498&lng=-97.269&alt=350&loc=Choctaw&TZ=CST&Date=38230.7603333333&Dur=2
PD))
I was sitting in my hottub admiring the stars when a very bright light appeared in the constellation Draco traveling towards the Southeast on a heading of about 155 degrees. I thought it was a satellite at first because of its slow speed. I often spot satellites at this time of night traveling slowly across the sky, but never one this bright, and I have always watched them travel for several minutes. My next thought was a meteor, but it was traveling slower than any meteor I have ever seen. It got very bright in intensity for about 5 seconds and then faded very fast, moving through about ten or 20 degrees of the night sky. I have never seen a meteor travel this slow, nor have I seen a satellite this bright and short. It was much more intense than most meteors. What really grabbed my attention was another object of the same intensity followed the exact same path about three minutes later. Could this have been pieces of space junk burning up? I'm not sure, but it didn't look like anything I've ever seen in the sky before.
((NUFORC Note: We suspect the "flare" of reflected sunlight from Iridium satellite #34. Please see the schedule below from www.heavens-above.com:
31 Aug 21:35:58 -1 47° 104° (ESE) 34.7 km (E) -8 Iridium 34
01 Sep 05:48:37 -4 19° 17° (NNE) 17.0 km (E) -6 Iridium 25
02 Sep 05:42:47 -6 17° 17° (NNE) 10.9 km (E) -6 Iridium 47
http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?lat=35.498&lng=-97.269&alt=350&loc=Choctaw&TZ=CST&Date=38230.7603333333&Dur=2
PD))
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Choctaw
USA
5 seconds
5 seconds
35.47
-97.27
circle
OK
Occurred : 8/31/2004 21:30 (Entered as : 08/31/2004 21:30) Reported: 9/4/2004 12:09:55 AM 00:09 Posted: 9/9/2004 Location: Choctaw, OK Shape: Circle Duration: 5 seconds
Two bright objects over Oklahoma ((NUFORC Note: Flare of Iridium satellite? PD))