Fast moving light in the sky?
This is a question I have been meaning to ask for a while and have struggled to find a clear and definite answer for. I'm hoping someone can help identify what I saw. Feel free to ask for more detail if necessary.
I was watching the Perseids Meteor Shower on 11/08/2013 at just after 23:00 when I saw a fast moving consistent light move across the sky. Unlike "shooting stars" that I saw that night, this did not burn out but instead moved across the sky for a minute until out of sight. It appeared to move at the same speed as most other shooting stars but my curiosity arose when it didn't burn out rapidly. The object was of similar perspective in size as most shooting stars/stars but seemed slightly brighter. (Bright enough to visible to my iPhone camera as stars are not.)
I'm certain that this object was not an aircraft as it moved too fast, without sound and seemed to lack consistency of moving in a straight line.
Other possible explanations that I have encountered are that it was Earth Graze or a visible satellite. Can anyone help me with what they think is the most likely answer.
Added (1). Apology if this was just a regular shooting star/comet. I'm just curious to know if this was something different as my knowledge of astronomy is quite poor.
A comet
Shooting star perhaps?
This was most likely an artificial satellite, probably the International Space Station. The irregular motion is an optical illusion. Too bright and moving too fast to be a comet, too slow to be a meteor (also called a "shooting star").
You saw a satellite in orbit, or a high-altitude aircraft.
Meteors last a few seconds, and comets are visible for weeks.
I agree with GeoffG on this one. If you noted the time at which you saw this light and then log on to a website such as www.heavens-above.com, enter your location details and then you can check whether there was an ISS pass at the time as seen from your observing spot.
Your description is certainly very much in agreement with what a bright satellite would look like. Apart from the speed. No satellite moves as fast as any shooting star.
- Why can you not sign out of your account on the Sky Go for IOS app? I use an iPhone 3GS, and on the Sky Go iPhone app, there's no way of signing out of your account, no button, no link - nothing. How the hell do you sign out of your account in the app?
- Sun and Moon not in the right place on sky guide app for iphone? I have checked the time on my settings and that is correct, but during the day the sun is shown on the other side of the world, and the moon is up and vice versa. Any ideas what's going on? Not life or death, just curious.
- Is Now TV separate from Sky, does it work like Netflix? I want to try out an alternate to Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant. I found NowTV, looks pretty good if rather expensive, but does the subscription operate just like Netflix, where I can pay for a month and cancel at any time, I don't want to get involved with Sky because I only want to stream via my Laptop and iPhone.
- Sky Gambler Storm Raiders Hack or Sky Gambler Storm Raiders Chetas? I need Sky Gambler Storm Raiders hack… I want to hack my iPhone My device has untouched ios so it'd be amazing if anyone could help with it