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diachi

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I dont know what else to say or think, I had pointed it out to few people and they saw it but im the one who said that I believed it was the ISS. No flashy lights just a kinda rectangular white light that hovered with a tiny movement of the clouds passing below. It was like I mentioned 4 or so years ago and thats just about how I remember it. Maby it was more like 15 or 20 minutes than an hour before I lost track of it but it was definitely not moving quickly.

That definitely wasn't the ISS then - as you can see from RBAstro's pictures, it moves from horizon to horizon in a matter of minutes - his exposure was 3.2 minutes.

Maybe it was another satellite or an aircraft that you saw?

Using the location from your profile, here is a list of ISS passes for the next week or so: Fall River, Massachusetts, United States | Sighting Opportunity | Spot The Station | NASA

You can see that at most it is visible for only 5 minutes.
 





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I dont know what else to say or think, I had pointed it out to few people and they saw it but im the one who said that I believed it was the ISS. No flashy lights just a kinda rectangular white light that hovered with a tiny movement of the clouds passing below. It was like I mentioned 4 or so years ago and thats just about how I remember it. Maby it was more like 15 or 20 minutes than an hour before I lost track of it but it was definitely not moving quickly.

Well then it was something else, call it a UFO, or mabe you were looking at the planet Venus. :crackup: The ISS can sometimes be as bright as Venus. There are a couple of sites where you can track its location or find out when you will be able to see it.

Alan
 
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I always keep some little RGB led flashlights around, these are slide focus and surprisingly bright, they even focus to a wide beam, you never know when such a thing may come in handy and they are fun to experiment with.

They are inexpensive and they make a bright beam of RGB light that you could show off to any neighborhood kids who are curious about bright color lights without having to worry about safety glasses or anyone getting hurt.

It's best to not draw attention, but kids are curious and you can't let a child play with a laser, well I won't.
p.s. I don't show off around neighbors and I recommend that people don't, this is another good reason for lens flare hiders.

But say you are pointing a laser into your own yard when a neighbor drives in and a young person in that car spots a glimpse of lens flare.
So at some point it gets asked, hey neighbor, what was that green light you had, I only saw a glimpse of it ?

Well it could have been my green flashlight.
p.s. I don't have any problems with my neighbors and I don't show off, this is just a thought I wanted to share.
I do shine flashlights out my windows especially at night into my yard, it's interesting to see how things are more visible with different colors and mixing them is fun, I like bright flashlights, but I don't use lasers with anyone around out of an abundance of caution.
I strongly suggest that people don't show off their lasers, the risk, any risk is not worth it.

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I dont know what else to say or think, I had pointed it out to few people and they saw it but im the one who said that I believed it was the ISS. No flashy lights just a kinda rectangular white light that hovered with a tiny movement of the clouds passing below. It was like I mentioned 4 or so years ago and thats just about how I remember it. Maby it was more like 15 or 20 minutes than an hour before I lost track of it but it was definitely not moving quickly.

Well, after and hour it would have gone half way around the world and then some.
 

GSS

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That definitely wasn't the ISS then - as you can see from RBAstro's pictures, it moves from horizon to horizon in a matter of minutes - his exposure was 3.2 minutes.

Maybe it was another satellite or an aircraft that you saw?

Using the location from your profile, here is a list of ISS passes for the next week or so: Fall River, Massachusetts, United States | Sighting Opportunity | Spot The Station | NASA

You can see that at most it is visible for only 5 minutes.
So you think maby it could of been a satellite, diachi, Pi, ive seen Venus and Mars by eye and they look more like stars. This was something that looked like in a low orbit at least to me. Now was it the moon that made it glow like a light or the sun rising. I just know it wasnt an airplane or any flying craft. Im not losing my mind:whistle: and no I dont think it was a UFO it was something man made I truly believe. Im going to log on the link diachi, thanks for them. Actually it could of been around the time that I think was North Korea that had to shoot down a wayward satellite before it hit the atmosphere but that sentence does make me sound "nuts":eek:.....OK I looked at the links of the ISS going over my area and there are only like 2 to 4 minute windows and it does travel way to fast to be what I saw.
 
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micheal rosen ... so true :D :D
The ISS is cooking along at 17,000MPH+ so it is not going to hang around for long. Even if it is at 90° to your location it is at max, visible for ~ 8 minutes
There are nice sites on the internet that you put in your location and it tells you when and where to look for the ISS. I live in the mountains so my view from horizon to horizon is very narrow so I usually need it to be at a viewing angle of >45°
 
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If that is truly live to the second. You can "visually communicate" with the ISS.

What does that mean? Are you suggesting someone could flash morse code at them? That would be a fun experiment, it would have to be arranged far in advance but I bet it would probably be approved.

Alan
 
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What does that mean? Are you suggesting someone could flash morse code at them? That would be a fun experiment, it would have to be arranged far in advance but I bet it would probably be approved.

Alan

i think a couple NDG7475's or NUGM01T's would do the trick nicely for that.
 
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I was involved with a fun project that contacted the ISS visually using both very powerful lights and a handheld laser.
It has to be done at night time for that ground location so it takes some math, angular measurements and physics to figure out where the ISS is as there is no sunlight reflecting off of the ISS. It has to be done then because if sunlight is cast upon the ISS their windows are lit up by the sun and they cannot see the surface of the earth well if at all.
 
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I was involved with a fun project that contacted the ISS visually using both very powerful lights and a handheld laser.
It has to be done at night time for that ground location so it takes some math, angular measurements and physics to figure out where the ISS is as there is no sunlight reflecting off of the ISS. It has to be done then because if sunlight is cast upon the ISS their windows are lit up by the sun and they cannot see the surface of the earth well if at all.

Oh you are in Texas or at least were. That was 40 miles north of San Antonio if I remember right, it was in a couple of threads here before and there was video of it and photos posted here a couple of times.

Alan
 
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Spotted this little guy several hours ago. He will be a sweetheart in 2 to 3 more years :)
 

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