Hi, My name is Robert Ottley, I am a pharmaceutical scientist who has dabbled in amateur astronomy from time to time. I have no experience of satelite observation but am keen to acquire some. The main reason for joining writing to the group is to report a sighting presumably related to the topic currently under discussion 'possible re-entry'. I was not aware of this newsgroup but sent the following messages to a couple of local amateur astronomical societies this morning. "I am not a member of the society but I wonder if you can help me with an unusual observation I made last night (Sat 1st Dec) at about 22.15. I live in Seaford, Sussex and was walking the dogs along the seafront when I noticed what appeared to be a glowing vapour trail approaching from the South. As it got closer it resolved itself into several small objects which it was impossible to identify, each trailing a shower of bright red sparks. At first my thoughts were that it was a very large meteor or even a shower of meteors. However, the objects persisted for too long and proceeded across the whole sky, heading north, until they were obscured by buildings. The whole occurrence took perhaps a minute or so and was quite silent, from which, because of likely speed and altitude, I concluded that it was not an aircraft of any sort. The next best explanation is that it might have been an artificial satelite re-entering orbit and burning up. However, would this not also have been a very brief event like the entry of a meteor? The sight was fairly spectacular and could not have failed to be noticed by many others. Have you had other reports of this sighting?" I have sent this message simply to corroborate the one reported from belgium and for general interest. I suspect the sighting must have been pretty unusual even for experienced satelite observers. Regards Robert Ottley ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Dec 02 2001 - 16:43:51 EST