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I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 6:56 pm
by JSumm
I just so happened to be driving through Eastern Kentucky at about 5:30 this morning when I had to pull over to take a quick picture of this string of lights in the night sky. I guestimated about 50 individual lights or stars lined up and stationary (relatively). Each the size of a star in the sky, but around 50 all together. I was blown away and overjoyed that I captured this on camera. I was even too excited to turn the lights off on my truck to get a better picture.
Wel, I thought I saw UFOs. That was until my Sister-in-law informed me that these were Star Link satellites starting their orbit. Apparently, they release about 50 at a time which was my exact guestimate. And there are pictures of these all over the internet.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:06 pm
by Mushroom
Thats a cool shot! Ive heard about these sightings and I’m still waiting to witness it myself but I just haven’t been so lucky.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:04 am
by JSumm
I have not seen any of the launches in the sky. I hear that is quite a sight to see. The rocket launches seem to look like a comet slowly moving through the sky.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:50 am
by standy99
Have seen the Star Link satellites regular on overnight fishing trips. In northern Australia there is basically ZERO light pollution where I fish so sleeping on the boat the sky is crystal clear to see anything.
Mind you, only the process of the satellites already in orbit trundling along..
Can understand why astronomers are annoyed by them
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:01 pm
by JRinFL
I thought Starlink moved to less reflective satellites a few years back? There are others launching satellites as well, OneWeb, Amazon, and on.
BTW, cool picture!
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:38 pm
by James Y
Great pic, thanks for sharing!
Where I am, there’s been a time when something really odd and cool was visible in the night sky, but it was later reported to be an unarmed Trident II missile fired from a missile submarine. Other reports stated it was from rocket tests at Edwards Air Force Base. It was visible in 3 states. That was years ago, before I even owned a camera phone.
Jim
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:33 pm
by TomAiello
JRinFL wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:01 pm
I thought Starlink moved to less reflective satellites a few years back?
They did.
But the old ones are still in orbit, as far as I know. So there is a mix of the older (more reflective) and the newer (less reflective) satellites. As time goes on, there will be more and more of the new ones, but I don't know that there are any plans to decommission the old ones and get them out of orbit. The technical hurdles to retrieving a body in orbit are fairly substantial.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:58 pm
by RustyIron
YES! I've seen and made contact with a UFO.
My friend and I were on a rugged backpacking trip. It had been a long day and we made it to our destination just in time to eat dinner before the sun went down. The tents were up, dinner utensils cleaned, and it was time to build a fire. The fire was good size and was keeping us warm, so it was time to break out the liquid refreshments.
It was a moonless night, so it was DARK. All we could see was the small bubble that was illuminated by the fire. Beyond the bubble was only the inky blackness. My friend and I were sitting on the same side of the fire sipping wine, when all of a sudden our serenity was disrupted by a dazzling display of flashing lights, just a few yards away. Red, Green, Blue, Orange flashes disrupted my sense of reality. I couldn't believe it. I blinked to make sure that I was thinking clearly. Yes, there was no doubt that I was in control of my faculties. Yet, I was seeing colored lights flashing right in front of me. I thought to myself, "Dude! This is like a UFO, except that sort of thing is nonsense." But I saw what I saw, yet had no logical explanation.
I asked my friend, "Do you SEE that?"
She replied, "Yes. What is it?"
"I don't know."
Realistically, there were two options. We could continue sitting there like two slack-jawed doofuses, or I could get up and make contact with the UFO. So I got up and walked over. The beam of my headlamp revealed a big Black Lab wearing a sparkling LED collar.
A second later, we heard a voice calling, "Jake! Jake! Come here, boy!"
And with that, the UFO romped back into the darkness from which he came.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:59 pm
by RustyIron
Double Post Error.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:06 am
by JRinFL
TomAiello wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:33 pm
JRinFL wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:01 pm
I thought Starlink moved to less reflective satellites a few years back?
They did.
But the old ones are still in orbit, as far as I know. So there is a mix of the older (more reflective) and the newer (less reflective) satellites. As time goes on, there will be more and more of the new ones, but I don't know that there are any plans to decommission the old ones and get them out of orbit. The technical hurdles to retrieving a body in orbit are fairly substantial.
His pictured looked like a dispersement of new satellites, so I assumed newest ones would have the coating, if they are from Starlink.
On de-orbiting, Starlink can push them low enough to burn up in the atmosphere and the latest are meant to fully burn up before hitting the surface. I read they de-orbited 60 of them a couple of years ago.
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:54 pm
by legOFwhat?
Kentucky is weird
Trying to take a pic of lightning and was really confused when I scrolled and this showed up. We were under a tornado warning and after seeing this pick, thought, those sirens were, perhaps, air raid....
Re: I thought I saw UFOs
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 4:48 pm
by u.w.
legOFwhat? wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:54 pm
Kentucky is weird
Trying to take a pic of lightning and was really confused when I scrolled and this showed up. We were under a tornado warning and after seeing this pick, thought, those sirens were, perhaps, air raid....
that's pretty cool
u.w.