Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
But is it, though?
I'm not saying it was aliens but...
- Thread starter BobDDuck
- Start date
Fixtur
Dunning-Kruger Expert
Starlink. The sun-you-satellite angle has to be pretty perfect for you to get the reflection off the panels. It makes sense that if there are multiple satellites in crossing orbits at similar altitudes that you would see each in turn as they passed through the “reflection zone” for your location. This could appear to the observer as a single or several lights changing direction at some angle.
MikeOH58
Well-Known Member
A couple months back I, Cargolux and Delta all witness an unexplained phenomenon over the AR routes east of Carolinas in the very wee early morning hours. 1 to 4 lights that would change in intensity and had movement. I originally thought I was witnessing a military exercise and the variable lights were hornets going in and out of burner. New York center confirmed no military in the area that we were reporting.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Inertialess thrusters coupled with a second generation hyperdrive. Makes the Centari run in about 3 hours, not including travel time out of the gravity well.
N519AT
Ahh! This is how I change this!
I've seen this multiple times on redeyes from the west coast to the east coast. Usually 020-050 heading if I had to guess. The first time I saw it I actually was talking my FO asking if he had head about this stuff or seen it. This was back in December. We watched them for about an hour, even had the FAs come up to check it out.
Usually see them over the middle of the continent, 0200-0300 local time if I had to guess. The first time was SEA-IAD, over eastern Idhao & Wyoming. Saw them again over west of Denver on another redeye from SMF to IAD.
Came back from a Hawaii vacation a little over a week ago, HNL-IAD. I couldn't sleep and was starring out the window and started picking them up at about the 10 oclock position from a window seat in E+. This was southwest of Kansas City by about 100 miles if I had to guess. They stuck around long enough for me to wake up my gf so she could see them too. Initially it was just bright lights, fading in and out. Then we saw one move in the racetrack pattern.
Very interesting and odd that we've started seeing these all of a sudden...I can't remember ever seeing something like it as an FO, although most of the Captains I flew with turned the dome light on full bright climbing through 10k
Usually see them over the middle of the continent, 0200-0300 local time if I had to guess. The first time was SEA-IAD, over eastern Idhao & Wyoming. Saw them again over west of Denver on another redeye from SMF to IAD.
Came back from a Hawaii vacation a little over a week ago, HNL-IAD. I couldn't sleep and was starring out the window and started picking them up at about the 10 oclock position from a window seat in E+. This was southwest of Kansas City by about 100 miles if I had to guess. They stuck around long enough for me to wake up my gf so she could see them too. Initially it was just bright lights, fading in and out. Then we saw one move in the racetrack pattern.
Very interesting and odd that we've started seeing these all of a sudden...I can't remember ever seeing something like it as an FO, although most of the Captains I flew with turned the dome light on full bright climbing through 10k
scooter2525
Very well Member
satellites have been around for decades. The starlink is as @BobDDuck posted. Somehow seems, different?Very interesting and odd that we've started seeing these all of a sudden...I can't remember ever seeing something like it as an FO, although most of the Captains I flew with turned the dome light on full bright climbing through 10k
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
Saw a yuuuuuge bigly starlink train coming home from BFI the other night. Was trippy but def not what’s being described in the OP
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
Aliens? Right. They mastered intergalactic travel and thought, “let’s troll this species and see what they think of our vehicles.”
Right. They mastered intergalactic travel and thought, “let’s troll this species and see what they think of our vehicles.”
///AMG
Well-Known Member
Aliens?
"Oh never mind, they have 737s too"
knot4u
Repeat Offender
When I was a kid we used a magnifying glass and the sun. Different times.
Kingairer
'Tiger Team' Member
Saw some of this weird stuff last night over TX
CFI A&P
Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
Here’s a replay from one that happened over the pacific with LA Center about 5 months ago.
There are a lot of others like this on YouTube from the last 6 months or so - Southwest in Memphis, and a curious Salt Lake Center controller who had been hearing these reports for days and was determined to crack the case.
If it is Starlink and the rotation is an optical illusion I’d be curious to know how it works (like multiple satellites on converging courses flaring and un-flaring at just the right times?). There are a couple of smartphone satellite tracking apps you can download, I think mine was like $5. Worth the money to rule out ET, plus it’s fun to get a better idea of what you’re looking at when you see a satellite streak by.
See, even he couldn't resist.
inigo88
Composite-lover
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Lee Moak!
mrivc211
Well-Known Member
There’s the possibility that they’ve been here all along, we just can’t see them the same way we can’t see radio waves. There’s a lot humans can’t detect.Aliens?
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Aliens?
The flaw in this thinking is that in whatever interstellar society there may be, that whatever government that exists has a monopoly on space travel.
It could be a free for all, some portion of that society has their own ride, and them coming down to troll us is some interstellar version of cow-tipping. Trespassing? Sure. Illegal, at least by their rules? Maybe. Do some get away with it? Almost certainly.
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
In almost every sci fi world out there, with a few rare exceptions, space flight belongs to the masses, not the government.
