Saw this the other night while out enjoying some local night VFR...

SPAJC

SPAJC

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jeff
https://vimeo.com/132256416


Was out flying the other night and saw this. Noticed it very far off and couldn't figure out what it was until it passed over me. Coolest thing I've seen yet while in-flight. I've attempted to post the video...not sure if it will work...anybody else seen anything like this? Meteor I assume....


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Looks like a meteor to me. Big one though, they usually burn out a second after I see them.
 
This one I noticed about 3-4 minutes before it passed over me. I didn't realize what it was until it was about a minute out. From where it was when I first saw it, it looked like what you would see if you were watching Cape Canaveral during a night launch...looked like it was going straight up at first. We're obviously way too far away to see something like that, just how it looked. Pretty cool!


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cowman said:
Looks like a meteor to me. Big one though, they usually burn out a second after I see them.
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Was there any kind of rocket launch recently? Upper stages and satellites can look like that during reentry. Pretty cool.
 
Theres a long trail behind it with who knows hiw many pieces in-between also...can't see it in the video.


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3-4 minutes. Doubt that would be a meteor.
 
SPAJC said:
This one I noticed about 3-4 minutes before it passed over me. I didn't realize what it was until it was about a minute out. From where it was when I first saw it, it looked like what you would see if you were watching Cape Canaveral during a night launch...looked like it was going straight up at first. We're obviously way too far away to see something like that, just how it looked. Pretty cool!


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Click to expand...

3-4 minutes excludes it being a meteor, even 1 minute would.
 
EdFred said:
3-4 minutes. Doubt that would be a meteor.
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Exactly. Meteorites cross the sky in several seconds.

If it's an airplane, it's not a happy one. Whatever it is, it isn't much faster than that.

It could be a launching rocket/missile, still pretty low as it's not that fast. Or it's suborbital.
 
I vote that it's space trash re-entering the atmosphere. It'd probably last for a while if the trajectory were shallow enough like space junk with a decaying orbit.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I vote that it's space trash re-entering the atmosphere. It'd probably last for a while if the trajectory were shallow enough like space junk with a decaying orbit.
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I watched the Columbia blow up, went away pretty quick, space desbris isn't built to withstand re-entry well, 3-4 minutes over a long distance would have to be a pretty massive piece of metal.
 
MAKG1 said:
Exactly. Meteorites cross the sky in several seconds.

If it's an airplane, it's not a happy one. Whatever it is, it isn't much faster than that.

It could be a launching rocket/missile, still pretty low as it's not that fast. Or it's suborbital.
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What's a good ROT on entry speed? 40,000mph? 11 miles/ second. There's just not enough atmosphere to keep anything illuminated that long. I would think anything shallow enough to stay under 100miles up and maintain in for 3-4 minutes wouldn't ignite, and low enough to start glowing , there's just not enough atmosphere before it hits.
 
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