stationary strobe in night sky

wby0nder

wby0nder

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Matt Michael
Last week while visting Marfa Texas near the big bend I witnessed a sight in the night sky that I've yet to explane.

While sitting out with my pilot pals eating dinner and counting satellites in the exquisitely clear and brilliant night sky we observed a faint strobe flashing approximately every 8 seconds about 25 degrees off the zenith high in the southeastern sky. It appeared to move little if at all over the course of an hour or more and may only have appeared to move due to the movement of the stars. It was easy to acquire in binoculars but the magnification provided no more information.

Of course, we figured it was probably a balloon up real high above the level of the jet stream winds. Burt Compton who lives there used to launch balloons twice a day carrying communications packs used to moniter some of the many oil or gas wells in the region so it was an easy explanation.

Problem is, we saw it again another night in the SAME PLACE. The chances that a free balloon would end up in the same location are pretty darn small if you ask me. Someone mentioned geo-stationary satellight but really what are the chances of seeing a strobe from twenty-two thousand miles?

Anyway, it's not one of the many teathered blimps used to survey the border. We can see the local one every day 20 some miles away and it's clearly marked restricted on aircharts.

Maybe one of the maneuverable edge of space blimps is actually flying already and it just hasn't leaked out yet. Apparently there has been a replacement for the SR-71 zipping about the globe on sub orbital flights for years now it seems no one knows about it either.

MM
 
wby0nder said:
Apparently there has been a replacement for the SR-71 zipping about the globe on sub orbital flights for years now it seems no one knows about it either.

MM
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The Aurora.

All I know for sure is that the SR71 was removed from service as was the U-2. In 1985 Aviation Week and Space technology had an ad for engineers to come work in the skunk works. The ad send "If you were too young for this" and it showed a picture of the U2, "and you just missed this" it then showed a picture of the SR71, "the Lockheed Skunk works is hiring for a new project.

Fours later the SR71 and U2 were no longer in service. You do the math.

But to your question of what the light could be just a star. The blinking due to atmospheric affects or it could have been a geo-stationary satellite.

Of course it could have been.......

et.jpg


:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Apparently there has been a replacement for the SR-71 zipping about the globe on sub orbital flights for years now it seems no one knows about it either.
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Allegedly.

Fours later the SR71 and U2 were no longer in service. You do the math.
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God bless the illusory correlation.

More than likely what you saw was a satellite.
 
yea i guess there is a fair amount of stuff out there about Aurora and such. Pretty cool too.

But I really doubt we saw a visible pulsar. That would be headline news and with the McDonald observatory 25 miles north of Marfa they'd have seen it. They probably know what it is and we are going to ask. As to Geostationary satellite I'd have to do some checking as to where in the sky one might appear from that latitude. I suppose if it was spinning it could strobe visibly while reflecting the sun.
 
Dave Taylor's Bellanca.
 
Just look directly into this little light, and I'll be more than happy to tell you what it was.

mib_neuralyzer.jpg



You were drinking too much and fell and hit your head on the toilet at which point you came up with the idea of the flux capacitor for creating thermals-on-demand in Iowa. The light you saw in the sky was simply a remnant of your head vs. porcelain throne event.

Nothing to see here.. Move along..
 
No we saw the Marfa lights almost every night and this wasn't it.

So, would scintillation cause a regular constant 8 second interval to only one star in the sky 2 nights in a row?
 
how about a geostat-satellite that rotates? I will ask my astronomer b.i.l.
 
25 degrees, sounds a little too high to be a geosynch. Those all orbit above the equator. Probably Romulans.
 
EdFred said:
25 degrees, sounds a little too high to be a geosynch. Those all orbit above the equator. Probably Romulans.
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Nah, they have cloaking devices. Definitely Ferengi! Lots of deals to be had in Mexico!:goofy:
 
houston is like a million miles from Marfa
 
warp speed....stationary object blinking the night sky ?

i dont have time to draw it out and do the math, but i dont see why a geosynchronous satellite wouldnt be visible from 25 degrees north latitude.
 
tonycondon said:
warp speed....stationary object blinking the night sky ?

i dont have time to draw it out and do the math, but i dont see why a geosynchronous satellite wouldnt be visible from 25 degrees north latitude.
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It would be (all your Dish network, and direct TV satellites are geosynch), but pretty sure it wouldn't be 65 degrees off the horizon. Zenith is looking straight up, Matt said 25 degrees from the zenith.

BTW they orbit at 22,240 above the equator. But I too am too lazy to do the math by the time I finish this post.

WEll, after busting out AutoCAD it may in fact be a geosynch. Looks like about 30 degrees from Zenith at 25 latitude.
 
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tonycondon said:
warp speed....stationary object blinking the night sky ?
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WHAT ARE THEY TEACHING AT THAT SO CALLED SKOOL? ;);)

Sure Warp speed and stationary. The object is traveling at faster than light speed so it appears to two different observers as though it were not moving and in both places at the same time.

This phenomenon can be seen in Star Trek:TNG Episode #147: Peak Performance. First aired 10 July 1989

Commander Riker is put on board the USS Hathaway to war game against the Enterprise. A Ferengi ship observes the war game but thinks it is some sort of weapons test and intervenes to capture the secret weapon. Capt. Picard than masterminds a plan by which the Ferengi think that the U.S.S. Enterprise has blown up the Hathaway, by using this phenomenon to have the USS Hathaway looking like it is blown up will in reality the smaller ship to warp speed away to safety.

Kids today, have no respect for the classics! :no::no::no:




:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
no star trek for me, ive got homework to do
 
Here is an astronomer's guess. I realize it does not fit all the observed parameters:


"My best guess is the star Procyon, second brightest in the sky and located well south of the celestial equator. That puts it low in our southern sky (E-W depends on time of year/day) so it usually appears to twinkle up a storm."
 
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