Bratman2
sage
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 273
Loc: NC, US
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Just got the Bausch & Lomb 20 x 80 mounted on the new tripod. Called the wife out to look at Jupiter and its moons. Saw a moving light in the southwestern sky. Picked up my 8 x 50 binoculars and it appeared to break through the atmosphere, separating into 2 pieces. It was heading northeast. The front object was bright and moving fast with no trail. The rear object was slower and had spiral band coming off of it, like a pinwheel. Did anybody else see it and know what it was? This happened about 8:45 EST.
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HfxObserver
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/12/04
Posts: 1150
Loc: Regina, SK, Canada
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Might have been that US military rocket that passed south of eastern Canada this evening.
Observer reports are comming in here now.
-Chris
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Chris
7X50 Vixen, 10X70 Nikon "Astroluxe",22X100 Antares
80mm William Optics Megrez II ED
Santel MK6
Borg 125SD f6 (Pentax/Oasis version)
Tak-Lapides, Micro-Star
Pentax XW's 40,20,14,10,7,3.5, 5mm XO,3.8XP, Speers 5-8, 30mm Widescan III
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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OH my gosh...I am in eastern NC and my friend and I were outside about 9 pm. We looked up and saw this ballish light. It had a very wide "vaporish" trail. You could see through it. A minute later it exploded!! Not a small one a big one...we thought a plane was going to crash! As we watched it it broke off into two pieces. It started to get further apart from each other until finally, we couldn't see it anymore. My brain is on overdrive because I don't know what I saw. I even wrote NASA to beg them to tell me what it was...lol....I'll let u know if the answer...lol..what do u think...have you found out any new info? we had no binoculars...this was seen very clearly with the naked eye
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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hey I hope someone sees this post and puts me out of my misery. I have never paid attention to the sky and now I want to know more! I know there are a lot of you out there that know what I saw or where to go to find out, so please let me know....quick....LOL
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holger_merlitz
sage
Reged: 02/08/04
Posts: 284
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Whatever rocket test this was - according to your description, it was apparently not a successful one :-)
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Bratman2
sage
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 273
Loc: NC, US
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I don't think it exploded, I believe it was entering the atmosphere. I had just caught view of it in my Octarems right before the shock wave shot across the sky. What a way to start out astronomy, second clear night. I am in eastern NC also.
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Bratman2
sage
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 273
Loc: NC, US
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Wife says I am wrong and it did explode, was quite a view. Never seen anything like it in the 44 years I have been around. Passed the Octarems to my wife and tracked it with the 20x80 B&L until we couldn't see it anymore.
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Bandoblue
sage
Reged: 07/15/04
Posts: 209
Loc: Rockville, MD
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It was the last east coast launch of the Titan 4b heavy-lift expendible booster with a classified military payload. The launch was a success. You almost certainly saw depleted stages falling back to earth and venting the remaining propellent--probably the big solid boosters.
Here's a link about the launch:
Titan 4 on Spaceflightnow.com
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Erik Ledbetter
TV-102 on Gibraltar
Orion 127 on CG4
Orion ShortTube 80
16x70 FMT-SX on P-mount
8x42 Nikon Monarchs
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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yeah, my friend just called and asked if I found out what it was. I agree, it was the most amazing thing I evern. I am sure not many people have witnessed that particular happening...whatever it was. I think I just got bit by the astronomy bug...LOL
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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ok...was hoping for something a little more interesting  but it was still very exciting to see. THX...now I can go to sleep
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Bratman2
sage
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 273
Loc: NC, US
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Imagine what it looked like 8 times larger when the shock wave hit. I don't have a clue as to how I will ever top that sight. Possibly it was leaving the atmosphere causing such a dramatic shock wave. The B&L really brought it out.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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We should keep an eye out on the news about this. Sometimes spaceweather.com will have articles about these kinds of events. Very interesting.
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