Next UFO Report?

[Tim Hebert]

My wife informed me that NASA, via Vandenberg AFB, CA, is tracking the decaying orbit of an old satellite that is soon to re-enter the earth's atmosphere in about 6 weeks. Can it be predicted that this will prompt an increase in UFO wave-like reporting?

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/2609185/nasa-prepares-for-satellite-re-entry/index.html

Interesting, this goes hand in hand with recent concerns with the on-going proliferation of space junk currently in orbit around the earth.

Tim

PS: Wife, retired Air Force Colonel, constantly reads up on Vandenberg activities, when she's not engrossed with watching "America's Got Talent"

[astrophotographer]

Launched by STS-48! Go figure that it would create UFOs. That was the same mission where UFOlogists claim ice crystals floating about are real alien spaceships.

My guess is they will position the satellite to fall harmlessly over the ocean. If it comes down of the US, I would expect quite a few UFO reports of the kind like Zond IV. Thanks for the heads up as I will be interested in seeing what transpires.

[Illudium Q-36]

The satellite is now "defunct" which is why they can't say for sure at the moment where it might re-enter. The Russians are saying Moscow could be in the line but that's based on the inclination of UARS’ orbit.
According to the article at least.
I will be keeping an eye on the updates as it gets closer to time, who knows who will get to see it.

[Smersh]

... Interesting, this goes hand in hand with recent concerns with the on-going proliferation of space junk currently in orbit around the earth ...

Yes Tim and to get an idea of all the junk that's currently floating about up there, take a look at this from ESA:

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ESOC/SEMN2VM5NDF_mg_1.html

(Click on "HI-res" on a thumbnail, then click again on the image that comes up to see it at its highest resolution.)

Quite a few potential future "UFO" sightings there ...

[Tim Hebert]

Thanks Smersh for the link. Looking at the ESA thumb nails, it's apparent that we may all need to wear hard hats.

I know that we fret about environmental concerns here on the ground, but it seems that a project to clean up all of the old and useless satellites would be a decent endeavor for a joint-international project. I assume most may be ours (USA) and/or Russia's.

Tim

[astrophotographer]

Right now, they are predicting the end of September. Who knows how that will line up but, as of now, Heaven's above predicts some passes over the NE in the early evening towards the end of September. As the orbit decays, I am sure those predictions will change but it is something to hope for. I will be out with my cameras and video if it does re-enter. That would be spectacular (as long as no debris does damage) to record.

[Zep Tepi]

Just quickly posting this from my Blackberry because I've just seen a spectacular sight in the sky. It looked like a shooting star at first but it appeared to be much lower down and was quite erratic, jigging from left to right. It was gone in a second but was very detailed - it actally looked like a sperm, white with a bulbous head and a tail. It looked bloody amazing! It flew over from east to west.

I've seen some satellite flares (most recently while Tom was here) but this was nothing like that. Much lower and much faster. Wow!

[astrophotographer]

Interesting. Any details about the event you would like to share? Location, direction of travel, time of day, etc.?

[m0r1arty]

Seems there have been many reports of this aerial phenomena today. Satellite re-entry is the best contender for what is was, I suppose it will take a few hours for the offices to confirm this.

Hope flights from Brazil are still flying, I'm stuck in an airport there waiting for a flight in 5 hours...

-m0r

[LCARS24]

There are many local TV news reports in the southwest. Here's one:

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_ph ... rizona-sky

[Tim Hebert]

I missed it, really I was distracted listening to the radio while parked at the train station awaiting my son's train. According to the radio station KFI Los Angeles, people were calling in reporting a sighting of a "fire ball", greenish in color (most consistent of the reports). The fire ball could be seen in the San Diego area (my neck of the woods), north of LA, Las Vegas, and parts of Arizona. The descriptions appear to match that of a good size meteor according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA.

Hopefully someone may have gotten this thing on video. This appears to be somewhat similar to what I had witnessed near San Diego's Wild Animal Park (I live next door) back in 2006.

Tim

PS: Miffed at my self, should have seen it, it was a perfect night/evening with gorgeous moon out!

[astrophotographer]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110914/NEWS01/110914022/Coachella-Valley-residents-report-UFO-maybe-meteor-asteroid-flying-night-sky

It will be interesting to track the UFO reports on this. MUFON already has two. Both proclaimed that they could not think of an explanation for it and/or it was not a meteor because they have never seen one like it before. This is typical for most fireballs that get reported as UFOs because witnesses have never seen a bright fireball before. They are only used to seeing normal meteors/falling stars.


BTW, NASA is now stating UARS will be coming down 24 Sep +/- 1 day. It makes some passes up the eastern seaboard in the early evening (as well as two other passes in the middle of the night over NE Canada and the midwest). This will all probably change as the orbit changes but I will have to get all my gear out to record it if it comes down where I can see it.

[BobE]

BTW, NASA is now stating UARS will be coming down 24 Sep +/- 1 day. It makes some passes up the eastern seaboard in the early evening (as well as two other passes in the middle of the night over NE Canada and the midwest). This will all probably change as the orbit changes but I will have to get all my gear out to record it if it comes down where I can see it.

Oh?

Q-"NASA officials told ABC News overnight that they won't know where the satellite will hit until two hours before it enters the Earth's atmosphere, moving at 5 miles per second." press date: Sept. 16, 2011

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/space- ... d=14534076

[Zep Tepi]

Sorry for the lateness of my reply everyone. I started a new job last week and I've been too tired to come on here most nights

I don't think the reports above refer to my sighting, because the times don't fit.
I live in the UK and the sighting occurred between 9.20-9.25pm. I posted on here pretty much right after it happened, with my first thought being it must have something to do with the satellite in the OP.

Interesting. Any details about the event you would like to share? Location, direction of travel, time of day, etc.?

I live in Kingston-Upon-Hull in the north of England. As I've stated above, it was between 9.20pm and 9.25pm, it flew directly over my house from East to West and although it was quite high up, it looked to be much lower in the sky than say, an airliner for example. It certainly appeared to be much lower in altitude than a shooting star and was visible long enough to clearly note the details I did in the post above.

I looked on a satellite re-entry page and there was a satellite due to re-enter on that date, but both the direction of flight and the time were different to what I saw.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Steve

[astrophotographer]

Possibly a bright fireball? UK on line resources are so limited compared to US. Maybe the BAA has some information.