Quick question.

[Spudrick68]

I don't really know much about UFO stuff but I'm curious about a light i saw in the night sky a few nights ago. I was walking back from the shop and saw a white light travel across the sky in a smooth motion, in a straight line. It was bigger than any star, it couldn't have been a plane as there was only one white light. I would be surprised if a satellite would be so big and visible. i'm just curious as to what it could have been. if anyone has any ideas I'd be interested to know.

Ta.

 

[James_H]

How big was it? Satellites are surprisingly big and visible, and if it was travelling in a straight, smooth line, then one of them could definitely be a contender.

 

[tastyintestines]

I've seen that before. It was the space station.

 

[Spudrick68]

It's difficult to estimate the size but I'd say it was 5 or 6 times the size of the biggest star.

I wondered if it was the space station- i thought i saw a man in a space suit wave at me but wondered if it was my imagination. :?

 

[eburacum]

Yes. The International Space Station is now brighter than Venus on occasion, and may get even brighter as more bits are added (although the station is probably about as big as it is going to get, for a while anyway).

 

[Twin_Star]

"The new solar wings have added more than 8000 sq. feet of light collecting area to the ISS. This has increased the station's brightness in the night sky and resulted in a number of widely-observed flares caused by sunlight glinting from the copper-colored panels. The ISS can now outshine Venus (the brightest planet) by a factor of four and Sirius (the brightest star) by a factor of nearly 70!"

Taken from our friends at spaceweather.com

 

[Spudrick68]

Well I'm genuinely surprised at that- cheers for the info.