A local weekly newspaper here reported a rapidly moving bright and apparently decaying object they described as "space junk" having been seen travelling through the sky from the direction of a hill west of my location and travelling west, and observed from a location near Lower Hutt which puts it in the vicinity of 41.21700S, 174.91700E. though possibly Northeast of that. It was also seen in a number of other locations to the east of this including Nelson 41.28300 S, 173.28300 E My enquiries indicated that the object was seen in the morning at 6:50 a.m local on the morning of Wednesday 19 March (1850Z on 18 March.) After consultation with Alan Pickup it was clear that this did not fit the profile of a decayer at all - surprisingly a local astronomical facility here (better not identify it!) had not discounted the possibility and basically said it could be any one of a number of pieces of space junk. I have come to the conclusion after research on the web that it was probably a meteor- likely Beta Leonids though there are some other possibilities - and not being an expert myself suggested the reporter consult the local astronomical society. This has had the side effect of getting the reporter very interested in Iridium flares (though cloud has prevented any sightings since our conversation) and very possibly will result on an article on those too- she may also be watching the ISS EVA on NASA-TV! Thanks Alan for your assistance. Robert Holdsworth Wainuiomata New Zealand 41.26100S, 174.94700E ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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