2015-06-22 - Brayton, IA - Sphere

A foggy Sphere in the sky

White sphere going to north straight line. No flashing light. There was just one object in the sky going a steady speed.

It looked like it was covered by a cloud or fog but the sky was clear and I could see all the stars in the sky.


((NUFORC Note: Probably an out-gassing event from a spent rocket. PD))

((NOTE FROM MR. TED MOLCZAN))

Hello Peter,

Your hunch probably is correct.

The Sentinel 2A satellite was launched on a Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center, last night at 9:52 PM EDT (Jun 23
01:52 UTC).

Coverage of the launch was here:

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/06/22/vv05-mission-status-center/

SeeSat-L received several reports of sightings near 23:49 EDT (3:49 UTC), of what appears to have been exhaust from the final burn of the Vega rocket's AVUM liquid fueled upper stage. That burn lowered the perigee to ensure that the object decays from orbit within a reasonable time, in order to curb the growth of space debris.

http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2015/0193.html

http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2015/0194.html

http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2015/0195.html

http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2015/0198.html

http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2015/0199.html

Marco Langbroek blogged his analysis:

http://sattrackcam.blogspot.nl/2015/06/aurora-hunter-images-last-moments-of.html

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,
Ted

((END NOTE))


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