My apologies George, I should read my scribblings a few times before I post
them.
:-)
Lest I draw a different picture than the one intended.
It did read as if it travelled the entire sky, bad me.
I'll try this again.
You probably like to look at at satellites in the sky as well as myself.
I enjoy making radio contact with PCSAT and the ISS packet system and crew
using the amateur radio setup in the shack, and then dashing outside to see
the bird I am making contact with.
The thing I saw, was comparable to an aircraft at a distance. But did not
traverse the entire sky, it was perhaps only 10-20 degrees parallel to the
horizon, it didn't move or cover much more than the general direction of
looking to the North.
At my location, it would have actually been travelling in a Sth West to the
Nth East, or Nth West to the Sth East. But all I perceived was the West to
East motion.
This is why, I feel so sure it was the sat and not the rock.
Sorry for the double post to you also, I forgot to include the met-list as
well, just so anyone else is not left out of the loop, so to speak.
:-)
Kevin.
>>The light was low on the horizon, about 10-15 degrees
above it. After a few seconds it seperated into several glowing fragments,
and then a shower of debris, all travelling at the same leisurely pace
across the sky. It was visible for about 20 seconds before it faded out.
At
first I thought I had seen an aircraft breaking up in flight, but after no
aeroplane crashes were reported, it became obvious that what I had
witnessed
was the re-entry of a satellite. I will never forget it, and I have not
seen
another one since. I have seen many, many meteorites streak across the sky
and the slowest of those was still much faster than the re-entry that I
had
witnessed. They are indeed a rare thing to behold.<<
Kevin, From what you wrote, part of me wants to think that you actually saw
a meteor and not a re-entering satellite. The reasoning is that a bright
meteor fireball that occurs low on the horizon, will appear very
slow...even a
fast velocity meteor could appear very slow at that altitude. The meteor
would
be very far away...something like 200 miles or more distance. The other
thing
is the time duration of 20 seconds. This is well within the range of
fireball
meteor durations. You said it traveled "across the sky". If it indeed
travel across most of the sky within that time frame...then my money is
definitely
on it being a meteor. It would be way too fast for it to be a re-entering
satellite. Most earthgrazing type meteors usually travel a lot faster than
the
20 seconds you reported...like perhaps less than 5 seconds. Yes, reading
your
words very closely, I feel confident stating that you actually saw a
fireball.
George Zay
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