PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Strange Anomaly in the Sky 18 Nov 1835Z

19th Nov 2018, 05:04

#2 (permalink)

GordonR_Cape

Join Date: Dec 2015

Location: Cape Town, ZA

Age: 62

Posts: 424

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

If it was visible for 20 mins while flying at cruising speed, simple geometry indicates it must have been several thousand kilometres high. Probably a rocket exhaust plume illuminated by the rising sun. Most likely the boost stage of something like a GPS (or Russian) high orbit satellite.

Edit: Chinese: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018...43-satellites/

Quote:

China successfully launched a new pair of navigation satellites on Sunday marking China’s 33rd launch of the year.
[snip]
Launch time was 18:00UTC and it took over four hours to complete the mission.

Last edited by GordonR_Cape; 19th Nov 2018 at 06:06. Reason: Add text.

Reply