Russian cosmonaut films 5 'UFOs' from space

[UM-Bot]

Ivan Vagner recently captured something unexplained over the Earth's southern hemisphere.

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/338994/russian-cosmonaut-films-5-ufos-from-space

[Buzz_Light_Year]

Starlink.

[spartan max2]

That's cool

Quote

Russia's space agency Roscosmos, meanwhile, has reportedly found the footage so intriguing that it has since sent it away for analysis.

Curious what the experts will say.

[jethrofloyd]

Star Trek Fleet

[pbarosso]

much more likely a reflection of something or starlink orbiting in a relative way to the station that reflected the sun momentarily.

what it is not: aliens. (but i wish though)

[Jon the frog]

Space-x launched  a rosary of Starlink satellites but also 3 SkySats  a week ago, august 18.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Jon the frog

[quiXilver]

Cool video.

I don't know what it is... and I'm fine with not knowing.

I often wonder at the folks who claim to instantly know and are so certain in such instances... what premise is such certainty based upon, i wonder?

[toast]

11 minutes ago, quiXilver said:

I often wonder at the folks who claim to instantly know and are so certain in such instances... what premise is such certainty based upon, i wonder?

On knowledge about facts, simply just that.

[ChrLzs]

It should be possible to work out if they are known satellites - they are all tracked, so it would be a case of getting the exact date/time, and then talking to the guy about exactly which way he was pointing his camera, and also cross-referencing where the ISS was and in which direction it was travelling (I gather it was near southern Australia and the Antarctic. There are some ground features / city lights that should help work it all out.  Not a trivial task, but also not impossible.

Noteworthy is the fact that right at the beginning of the clip, there is some glare near the horizon suggesting that the sun is not far out of shot.  That would explain why the satellites are lit up only briefly, disappearing as they hit the earth's shadow.  Keen satllite observers on terra firma will know this effect, which happens just a little slower for us down here, compared to the ISS which is moving at a significantly higher rate (relative to the sun's position)..  For the record, the ISS travels at about 400km up, while Starlink's are about 550km.  I think..

Imo, the imagery is therefore quite consistent with some Starlink satellites - for them to look like that, the ISS must have been travelling in a somewhat similar orbital speed and direction and height.  I'll hunt around a bit and see what has been found out...

[fred_mc]

I can't say that I'm impressed by some dots of light, it could be anything, like reflections.

[Mattacaster]

Orion's suspenders.?

[ChrLzs]

Just to back up the most likely solution, namely some satellites that are 'chained' (ie follow very close orbits) like the Starlink ones, here's another similar example from April - no video but still images instead...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2020/04/starlink-train-photographed-from.html

In that case the identities of every satellite were worked out.  It seems that the Russians are a lot slower in working out puzzles.  IF all the information had been posted publicly, we could have determined their identity within a day...  As it stands, from the info we DO have, it seems they were most likely from the group of satellites launched by SpaceX on Aug 18.

[Ausvaldo]

More than that, what is the craft coming from the bottom left of the screen at 0.59 

[Ausvaldo]

On 8/22/2020 at 6:33 PM, Jon the frog said:

Space-x launched  a rosary of Starlink satellites but also 3 SkySats  a week ago, august 18.

Starlink travels in a follow the leader pattern and not side by side, and correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they can have satellites tethered to each other. But watch to 0.59 and watch the huge craft coming from bottom left 

[ChrLzs]

12 minutes ago, Ausvaldo said:

Starlink travels in a follow the leader pattern and not side by side

You haven't taken into account the relative motion of the ISS - it's also in orbit too, so what you are seeing is relative angular motion.  Without knowing the vectors, it is NOT possible to say whether they will relatively travel side by side or in a chain

12 minutes ago, Ausvaldo said:

, and correct me if I'm wrong

Done.  :)

12 minutes ago, Ausvaldo said:

but I don't think they can have satellites tethered to each other.

They can, but it is not usual and that isn't being claimed.

12 minutes ago, Ausvaldo said:

But watch to 0.59 and watch the huge craft coming from bottom left 

??? I trust you are joking?  Those are lights down here on Earth.  As an aside, those lights would be quite useful to identify, and thus get us a more accurate picture of exactly where the ISS was at the moment when the (most-likely) satellites were recorded.

[ChrLzs]

On 8/23/2020 at 6:41 AM, quiXilver said:

I often wonder at the folks who claim to instantly know and are so certain in such instances... what premise is such certainty based upon, i wonder?

?  I can't see anyone here who is as yet 'certain', unless Buzz Lightyear's single word response was enough for you to imply that certainty.  (Actually, I do have my doubts that Buzz is really an astronaut - I suspect his avatar picture has been photoshopped.  So I don't think his certainty should be taken seriously, even if it actually exists..)

 

Some of us simply like to solve mysteries - that way we can find the ones that really belong here - the UNexplained ones.  In this case, the Starlink explanation fits the bill very closely, given the limited amount of information we have so far.  Do you have *any* reason to doubt that explanation?

 

Given it's pretty much 4 days since this happened, I am disappointed to note that the Russian Space Agency seems to be quiet - maybe they are secwut Russki war satellites?   (Note that I'm jokin' - it is IMPOSSIBLE to hide satellites - as soon as they hit sunlight, the huge and mad-keen astronomy community will spot them and work out and post the ephemeris publicly... Not to mention the launches are also a bit difficult to hide...).  Anyways, if we get nuthin from the Russians, I'll try to gather some more information and show how it is done..

[toast]

12 hours ago, Ausvaldo said:

Starlink travels in a follow the leader pattern and not side by side,

Thats incorrect. Check here

The most follow the follow the leader pattern but there are always satellites on a parallel track as well, I`ve seen them a few times already.

[mdbuilder]

Pinpricks in the firmament.

[Trelane]

6 hours ago, mdbuilder said:

Pinpricks in the firmament.

Do you mean the First Firmament? Or the collective of all eternities?

[Jon the frog]

Just for fun, does the definition of ''UFo'' can be use in space ? We replace flying for floating???

Edited August 25, 2020 by Jon the frog