ISS, Tiangong, Satellites Over Puna

[Kelena]

I saw those flashes, too.....very broad and bright...almost filled the whole sky.

[TomK]

It's lightning.

http://cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/timelapse.php?file=20170723-c4&cam=c4

http://cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/timelapse.php?file=20170723-cfhtdome&cam=cfhtdome

[Steve Bohlert]

Thanks. Yes, it was Sun. night around 9. Reminded me of sheet lightning because of the way it pulsed, but there were no clouds.

[TomK]

Steve - have a look at the "Hurricane season 2017" thread (http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23754). There's a bit more info there about the storm and lightning.

[Midnight Rambler]

Hey Tom, I saw another one of the thing I mentioned back on page 16 of this thread. This time we caught it early and it flashed very brightly for a couple of minutes, passing a little over halfway up the sky roughly west to northeast. Like, it was brighter than Jupiter for a moment. It gradually got weaker, as it presumably lost the reflection of the sun, and became only visible with averted vision, before disappearing entirely. This was on the night of the 1st, at 9:38 pm (viewing from a dark part of Oahu).

[TomK]

I'll take a look, Midnight, no promises though. Thanks for the details, they really help! Could you just confirm it flashed continuously from the time you saw it until you lost sight of it?

[TomK]

Midnight - I've not immediately been able to find what the actual object was you saw, but as last time, your description is consistent with a rotating bright satellite (many rotate for stabilization, some are out of control) or a rocket body in low earth orbit. A rocket body can start tumbling after it deploys its payload, but because they tend to be bigger than satellites, the flashes can be very bright. I suspect the latter is what you saw.

I put in a request to a couple of colleagues at NASA who work in this area to see if they can help identify it, but I know they're rather busy so am not sure they'll have the time.

[Midnight Rambler]

Thanks! Sorry, I forgot to come back and check the thread - yes, it was continuous and regular, like something spinning would do. Maybe every three seconds or so? I wasn't keeping track so that may be off by quite a bit.

[TomK]

Thanks, Midnight. My colleagues at NASA did get back to me with some possibilities I'll look into if I have the time, but they did agree it was likely a rotating satellite (you might have seen reflections from the solar panels) or a tumbling rocket body.

[TomK]

Midnight - you should be quite proud, you've managed to get a few NASA folks looking into various possibilities! I'm sure they could actually identify the actual object you saw, but it would take them time and resources to do so, but they have offered suggestions in the meantime. One of them is this. I don't know if it will help, but if you have an Android phone or an iPhone you could try the following app. You might have to pay a little money to include additional satellites in the database, but could be useful if you see something and have the phone with you.

"There is a free android phone app called “ISS Detector” that provides all of the upcoming ISS passes and Iridium flares. It uses the phone’s GPS, compass, and accelerometers to help you point to the right part of the sky at the right time. It even predicts the magnitudes of the flare or ISS pass. Very useful. I believe for a small cost, you can add a bunch of other satellites that are visible."

I googled it and the app is here:

http://www.issdetector.com/