It was almost certainly a balloon. We get alot of these sightings - don't feel bad. It's always amazing that the object can be travelling up down left or right (apparent direction -- not actual) by following different wind directions. > object was about 10 arc seconds across. Certainly not more than 20" A 1 foot diameter balloon at 10 arc seconds would be 3.9 miles away. At 20 arc seconds, then half the distance. This is very reasonable and likely. > Duration of transit: Approximately 3 or 4 seconds, during which the This is too slow for low orbit satellites. And 10 arc seconds is too big for higher orbits unless there is a new 100 foot satellite up there that noone has noticed yet. > first, but it occurs to me that it may well have been in the Earth's shadow at the time. Yes - that is definitely true. The earth's shadow for far away objects would be near the moon only if the moon were close to full. To be in line with the *crescent* moon implies that the object wouldn't be in shadow if it was a high orbit satellite. - George Roberts http://gr5.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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