Bright object in sky moving at extremely fast speed and changing course abruptly
We observe this every night, near the moon and in several areas of the sky. They look like bright stars, but move incredibly fast (changing direction suddenly). We did research on the internet and some speculated that they were the ISS and/or satellites, however neither of these are applicable simply because of their rapid movement and extreme course changes. I have no idea if we are seeing these due to our proximity to White Sands Missile Range, and this is mere coincidental speculation anyway. My wife used our admittedly lower quality telescope, and the objects moved so fast they were leaving a 'streak' and very difficult to track and focus. We are and have been avid skywatchers since childhood. While I would like to find a perfectly logical answer to this, the simple truth is that in my 54 years I have never observed anything like this. The 'stars' are unusually bright. What my wife did glimpse is that the object looked round at first, and then changed shape (at this time she could not be more specific, however we will continue to watch and hopefully be able to provide more information). A higher quality telescope will be in the future as well. The most interesting of these objects appeared left of the moon last summer (June). These objects are the last to vanish from the dawn sky, lasting much longer than the stars. Any further commentary would be speculative which is not the purpose of this report.
We observe this every night, near the moon and in several areas of the sky. They look like bright stars, but move incredibly fast (changing direction suddenly). We did research on the internet and some speculated that they were the ISS and/or satellites, however neither of these are applicable simply because of their rapid movement and extreme course changes. I have no idea if we are seeing these due to our proximity to White Sands Missile Range, and this is mere coincidental speculation anyway. My wife used our admittedly lower quality telescope, and the objects moved so fast they were leaving a 'streak' and very difficult to track and focus. We are and have been avid skywatchers since childhood. While I would like to find a perfectly logical answer to this, the simple truth is that in my 54 years I have never observed anything like this. The 'stars' are unusually bright. What my wife did glimpse is that the object looked round at first, and then changed shape (at this time she could not be more specific, however we will continue to watch and hopefully be able to provide more information). A higher quality telescope will be in the future as well. The most interesting of these objects appeared left of the moon last summer (June). These objects are the last to vanish from the dawn sky, lasting much longer than the stars. Any further commentary would be speculative which is not the purpose of this report.
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Las Cruces
USA
7 hours
7 hours
32.35
-106.75
changing
NM
Occurred : 6/11/2007 09:00 (Entered as : 06/11/07 09:00 pm) Reported: 4/10/2008 4:42:40 PM 16:42 Posted: 6/12/2008 Location: Las Cruces, NM Shape: Changing Duration: 7 hours Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object left a trail, The object changed color
Bright object in sky moving at extremely fast speed and changing course abruptly