| ID | #1623159192 |
| Added | Tue, 08/06/2021 |
| Author | July N. |
| Sources | Davenport, Peter
|
| Phenomena | |
| Status | Research
|
Initial data
On November 28, 2004, at 4: 50 p.m. local time in Spirit Lake, Idaho, I watched the International Space Station move from west to east.
The sky wasn't completely dark yet, I'd say it was 20-25 minutes to maximum darkness. When the space station was ca. 60 degrees above the eastern horizon. I have observed a very bright light rapidly developing about 5-10 degrees to the left (north) of the space station, and apparently slightly below the station's equivalent altitude. The light rapidly evolved to a brightness about ten times the stellar magnitude of Venus, which was about 4 or 5 times the brightness of the landing light.
It lasted for about 4 seconds and then quickly dimmed to a glowing dot, moving very slowly from right to left. The trajectory looked about 10-15 degrees off the straight line between me and the object, I couldn't tell if it was coming towards me or moving away (although my initial impression was that it was coming towards me), and I estimated its position as somewhere over north Montana. It continued to fade and disappear, moving slowly.
It turned out that it was moving much slower than the meteor, although a small angle could explain this. It was the brightest thing I had ever seen in the sky, other than the moon or the sun. I have witnessed many meteors, but my first comment to my mother, who also saw this object, was:
"What the hell is this ?!»
I thought it might be a module that, according to NASA's website, would soon detach from the space station and burn up in the atmosphere. however, this will most likely be UNDER the trajectory of the Station, and I doubt they will be doing this over a densely populated area.
I was an air traffic controller at the FAA in six different control rooms for a total of 21 years, 4 years before that on a Navy aircraft carrier I have almost 1,000 hours of flying with a commercial license, flight instructor and Instrument Ratings, I am a qualified weather observer and have never seen anything like it.
If it was a meteor, it must have been very large, but it seemed to be moving MUCH slower than the meteor.
Original news
Date: November 28 2004
Location: Spirit Lake, Idaho
Time: 16:53
Summary: At 16:50 local time in Spirit Lake, Idaho on November 28, 2004 I was observing the International Space Station moving overhead from west to east. The sky was not totally dark yet, I would say it was about 20-25 minutes before max darkness. When the Space Station was approx. 60 degrees above the eastern horizon I observed an extremely bright light develop rapidly about 5-10 degrees to the left (north) of the Space Station and apparently slightly below the equivelent elevation of the Station. The light developed rapidly to a brightness about ten times the magnitude of Venus, about 4 or 5 times the brightness of a landing light. It lasted for about 4 seconds and then rapidly dimmed to a glowing pinpoint as it traveled very slowly from my right to left. The trajectory appeared to be about 10-15 degrees apart from a line directly between me and the object, I could not tell if it was coming toward me or going away (although my initial impression was that it was coming toward me), and I estimate it’s position as somewhere over northern Montana. It continued to dim and vanished as it moved slowly. It appeared to move much more slowly than a meteor, although the shallow angle might account for that. It was the brightest thing I have ever witnessed in the sky other than the moon or the sun. I have witnessed many meteors but my first remark to my mother, who saw the object also, was, “what the hell is that?!” I thought it might be a module that, according to the NASA website, would soon detach from the Space Station and burn up in the atmosphere, however that would most likely appear to be UNDER the trajectory of the Station, and I doubt they would do it over a populated area. I have been an Air Traffic Controller for the FAA at six different control towers for a total of 21 years, 4 years before that on a carrier in the Navy, I have close to 1,000 hours of flight time with Commercial License, Flight Instructor, and Instrument Flight Ratings, am a qualified Weather Observer, and have never seen anything like it. If it was a meteor it had to be very large, but appeared to be moving MUCH slower than a meteor.
Source: Davenport, Peter
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