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2naSalit

(92,452 posts)
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 08:47 AM Nov 2019

Had a strange experience a little while ago...

I had to think about this for a while, how do I describe this and how much flack will I get if I tell someone, but it was too significant to not tell anyone. I live alone so you all get to ponder this with me.


I was just getting up from bed, around 5am local time. I glanced out the window where I can see a small patch of sky where I can see stars, etc.. I saw one star/planet but then I saw a light near it traveling from right to left. I got up and moved to the window and wondered if it was a satellite or even the space station as those can often be seen traveling across the sky for a few moments. It's pretty dark here and there are plenty of things to see in the sky. But this was through a window. I decided it was a commercial airplane but continued, for some reason, to look out the window and I noticed there were no flashing lights, just a solid, steady light which is why I decided it was ISS or a satellite.

It was then that, only a few seconds later, I saw a repeat of the same light, same location and trajectory, then another and another until there was a continuous line of them! I got my binos and continued to watch as around FIFTY (!) of them seemed to appear from the same location in the sky, some in pairs, as they traversed the part of the sky that I could see from my window. I watched for three to five minutes as I observed a continuous line of lights all appearing in the same location and traveling in a line where I could see about a dozen at a time. They didn't go all the way across the sky since they seemed to just appear from one spot and then travel in the same direction, the ones I could see without the binos.

With my binos, I could see other moving lights that were only visible with the lenses, those were traveling in the opposite direction, there were about seven or eight that I observed, I was more interested in the brighter lights that just appeared from one location in the sky and went to the NNE until out of sight. A long line of lights. They moved rather quickly, enough to know they weren't planes or even jets.

I had to think about this for an hour before deciding to share this experience. I was not needing my coffee right away as my heart rate was up at the time!

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Had a strange experience a little while ago... (Original Post) 2naSalit Nov 2019 OP
Thank you Elon Musk! Thyla Nov 2019 #1
What des that mean? 2naSalit Nov 2019 #3
It's Elon's Starlink satellites Thyla Nov 2019 #4
Thanks, I totally missed that piece of news. 2naSalit Nov 2019 #6
Starlink? LunaSea Nov 2019 #2
Maybe that's what I saw. 2naSalit Nov 2019 #5
This message was self-deleted by its author Chin music Nov 2019 #7
I'm quite familiar 2naSalit Nov 2019 #8
This message was self-deleted by its author Chin music Nov 2019 #9
There was a rare extreme meteor shower recently. Maybe you was it. tblue37 Nov 2019 #10
Here's an article about it: tblue37 Nov 2019 #11
Nope. 2naSalit Nov 2019 #12

Thyla

(791 posts)
4. It's Elon's Starlink satellites
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 09:04 AM
Nov 2019

They form a chain of satellites that can be seen in the way you describe until they reach their final orbits.

2naSalit

(92,452 posts)
6. Thanks, I totally missed that piece of news.
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 09:10 AM
Nov 2019

I must have been preoccupied by farming of something back in May.

2naSalit

(92,452 posts)
5. Maybe that's what I saw.
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 09:08 AM
Nov 2019

Sure was strange. I get to see a lot of strange stuff in the sky, but it's always cloudy when there's a meteor shower.

So that would explain the long line of them, but what about the other ones that were traveling in the opposite direction and not in a straight line like the others? they were all in the same path though I'm sure at different altitudes.

Yikes. And thanks for the info.

Response to 2naSalit (Original post)

2naSalit

(92,452 posts)
8. I'm quite familiar
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 10:01 AM
Nov 2019

with the military stuff which was cause for my alarm. It would have had to have been more than a squadron, not likely.

Seems it was that satellite train thing launched last spring. So, I guess, cool that I saw it. I awoke and looked up at the right time. Sounds like I saw most of them. It makes sense that they all appeared in the same location, one or two at a time as the solar light would hit their reflectors so that we could see them at a given point. I see lots of satellites and other things out here where it still gets dark* and that's how they show up and fade away. You can see them for about 90seconds to a couple minutes depending on where they actually are.

And then there's other stuff that I'm not gonna talk about right now but there are a lot of them and they show up pretty often.


*It is actually pretty bright out where you get away from human lights.

Response to 2naSalit (Reply #8)

tblue37

(66,035 posts)
10. There was a rare extreme meteor shower recently. Maybe you was it.
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 10:28 AM
Nov 2019

Never mind. Your description and the timing don't fit.

2naSalit

(92,452 posts)
12. Nope.
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 10:31 AM
Nov 2019

That was a couple days ago and not visible in the northern Rockies. This was the most unusual of unusual things I might see around here. Had me really wondering what might be going on.

Seems it was the StarLink satellite group. Sure was exciting and kind of scary.

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