Did anyone else see this while stargazing- what could this have been?!?

Question

I was looking at the stars with my new binoculars, which are very good, this morning as the sun was rising. Suddenly I saw what looked like a star but flying by quickly like some craft. It looked similar to some of the stars I was viewing, this had red and orange colors to it, and was about the size of a larger star. My binoculars are 10 x 50, if that matters. When I took my eyes away from the binocular for sec, I could not see the object at all, but when I looked through them again, it was there but only for a sec or two more, than it was out of sight. As I said, these binocs are really good and allow me to see many stars that aren't really visible to the naked eye (especially when it's already somewhat light out). It looked like it was moving horizontally and pretty quickly. I don't feel like it was a meteor because I've seen shooting stars before without binocs, and they were just like streaks of light, very quick, and more like diagonally or vertically moving, plus I didn't see any type of trail on this thing. I thought it can't really be a plane either because it wouldn't appear so small if it was, I would think. What do you think this UFO was, astronomy experts?

Update:

Also, did anyone happen to be looking through a telescope or binoculars and see it too (northern hemisphere)

Maybe I'm just getting overexcited about my new binocs, but this thing really took me by surprise and had me wonder wth I just saw

Update 2:

Thanks to all for the help and ideas! GeoffG answered first though, and I appreciate also the link provided, so I give him Best. Also, I do agree with the satellite answers- it definitely could have been one! It had crossed my mind but I had no idea what one might look like, or if it even would have been a possibility.

? · Accepted Answer

Probably what you saw was an artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth. There are hundreds of these satellites, and I see them frequerntly while observing near dusk or dawn. The site below will give you predictions for the brighter satellites for your location.

Enjoy your binoculars!

Philip B · Answer

Firstly 10x50 binoculars provide a 5mm exit pupil and so are fine for general astronomy.   However lets clarify the sentence where you mention about size.   The Sun is the only star visible from Earth that reveals a physical shape to us.  No optical instrument in the world will show the night time stars as anything but points of light.

If you saw this moving 'star' through your binoculars but not with the naked eye that rather indicates that it was too faint to be seen without binoculars.  Needless to say binoculars can see fainter objects than your eyes can on their own  (one reason for using them!).

You also say you were observing close to sunrise so the sky would be getting quite light by then.  So if you took the binos away from your eyes momentarily and lost the moving 'star' then you would have to find it again and this takes a bit of doing for a moving target which is invisible to the naked eye.

I agree with Geoff in that your description fits in very well with what a satellite would look like.   If the sky background was light (as it would be around the time of sunrise) then it could easily have been the ISS.   During a recent pass of the ISS which I tracked through my telescope I could quite easily see the solar panels and they were visible with a distinctly reddish/orange colouring which fits your description.   The reason for the colour would be the material they are made from.

Anonymous · Answer

Since you don't tell us where on Earth you are located, or what direction you are looking, there is no way to know what it was.

It could have been a plane reflecting the rising sun - of course it would appear smalll, all you would see is the small reflection of the sun, not the whole plane.
It could have been a satellite.
It could have been almost anything.

But without knowing where you were, what time, or what direction you were looking we can only guess.

Joe · Answer

I'm going to agree with GeoffG: you probably got lucky with a satellite pass.

They're best seen just after dusk or just before dawn, when the satellite is in sunlight, but the surface of the Earth is still dark.

In your binoculars, even the ISS will still look like a point.

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Did anyone else see this while stargazing- what could this have been?!?

4 Answers