High altitude light

[anders noormand]

For many years I have sought , informally, an explanation as to what the small pinponts of light are that can be seen at night in what appears to be the higher altitudes. These lights can be seen fairly easily with the naked eye. They usually travel from west to east, the intensity of the light changes little wether approaching or departing. They do not travel particularly fast. The light is consant in intensity and does not flash. I first saw these as a child, which was before the launch of sputnik 1. I live in the southern counties of England.

[Jay-qu]

Hey anders, welcome to hypography! :)

 

So what do you propose these small pinpoints of light are? slow moving constantly migrating formation flying fire flies is my guess :hihi:

[Tormod]

These would be satellites. I don't believe you saw these before the launch of Sputnik 1, unless you have seen meteors (which would not always travel in the same direction, however).

 

Do you ever see anything move in the north-south direction?

[ronthepon]

Even I have seen these phenomena.

 

Me and my friends have dismissed the possibility of these being alien spacecrafts, however.

 

I do not believe that they may be sattelites. They are too fast and too bright to be sattelites.

 

Let me try to describe some that I have seen.

They appear as moving stars.

They move from one horizon to another in less than two to three minutes.

I see them only when I'm away from polluted skies

 

Last I had seen them were about two months ago, when I went for a party in an openair resort partyhall

[Tormod]

I do not believe that they may be sattelites. They are too fast and too bright to be sattelites.

 

Let me try to describe some that I have seen.

They appear as moving stars.

They move from one horizon to another in less than two to three minutes.

I see them only when I'm away from polluted skies

 

Last I had seen them were about two months ago, when I went for a party in an openair resort partyhall

 

What you are describing sounds exactly like satellites.

[InfiniteNow]

Don't believe him... Tormod's part of the conspiracy. The purple people eaters are coming to get us! :)

 

 

:cup:

[Tormod]

Busted!!!!! :confused:

[Jay-qu]

yeah they sound like a perfect description of satelites, there are hundreds of them up there, with lots of different orbital periods/types, shapes sizes and colours..

[arkain101]

I've seen moving stars too. Ones that were sitting still. Then did a little squiggle, got brighter, then moved in a strait line somewhere then poof, gone.

 

Dieing star?

Falling metoer or space junk?

explosion in space being jarbled by gravity?

flying object?

[Jay-qu]

or confusing objects.. stars dont move fast enough for you to see motion in just a few moments and space junk only becomes visible once it is burning up.

[arkain101]

you know we are talking about the stars, and not sun stars right? I mean, can i really decifre a star from another speckel with my naked eye?

[ronthepon]

What you are describing sounds exactly like satellites.

 

It surprises me to learn this. I never imagined that we can see sattelites.

 

Well, I can't say for sure but even I may, repeat may have seen such things

I've seen moving stars too. Ones that were sitting still. Then did a little squiggle, got brighter, then moved in a strait line somewhere then poof, gone.

 

random movement, not changes in intensity...

 

Sorry if I seem immature but

Don't believe him... Tormod's part of the conspiracy. The purple people eaters are coming to get us! :naughty:

 

 

:confused:

HA! HA! HA! HA! HAAaaaaa! Huh! HA HA! HA! HAHAHA!!!

[Jay-qu]

you know we are talking about the stars, and not sun stars right? I mean, can i really decifre a star from another speckel with my naked eye?

stars and sun stars - please explain the difference.. do you mearly mean that many objects in space appear to be a just a point of light, some are stars, some are planets, some are galaxies etc?

[Qfwfq]

Satellites are visible when they reflect a lot of sunlight. In low orbit, it takes them a couple of minutes to get from horizon to horizon, it's a bit more than 90 for a complete circuit of Earth.

 

I have often seen them entering or leaving Earth's shadow, they gradually fade out or appear.

 

I've seen moving stars too. Ones that were sitting still. Then did a little squiggle, got brighter, then moved in a strait line somewhere then poof, gone.

Could be a meteor that was initially on a course more or less aligned with your position and then deviated by air friction.

[ronthepon]

Satellites are visible when they reflect a lot of sunlight. In low orbit, it takes them a couple of minutes to get from horizon to horizon, it's a bit more than 90 for a complete circuit of Earth.

 

I have often seen them entering or leaving Earth's shadow, they gradually fade out or appear.

 

Could be a meteor that was initially on a course more or less aligned with your position and then deviated by air friction.

Perfect! This explains all the phenomena I have seen. Thanks for clarifying this mystery for me, Qfwfq.

[Boerseun]

Also, the time of day you see them should be a dead giveaway.

 

Satellites are only seen in the hour or so after and before sunset, the rest of the night the satellites overhead are in the Earth's shadow.

 

I once saw five satellites in the same part of the sky simultaneously! That was cool!