i was camping last night and i saw a solid white light with no red blinking flying in the sky. it was going about as fast as a 747 would be at cruising speed and altatude but it looked to be EXTREAMLY far up, mayby out of the atmisphere. where ther any comets that would have been visible from minnesota last saturday night? if your gonna answer with alian storys please answer someone elses quetion
2007-06-17 16:04:07 · 6 answers · asked by rivirobb 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Probably a satellite (yes, they can often be seen from the ground), or even the ISS going over. I also saw the ISS last night, from southeastern Wisconsin, just after 10 PM CDT, headed from northwest to east, about 30 degrees above the horizon. Sound like what you saw?
2007-06-17 18:18:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course you can! Some people make a hobby out of it.
Did you see it in the early evening? Satellites are visible only when they're not in the Earth's shadow, meaning that you won't likely see them near midnight.
Was it moving generally west to east? (Or NW to SE, or SW to NE, etc.) Satellites are launched with the Earth's rotation (west to east), because it saves fuel.
Did it suddenly disappear as it moved west? That would have been it moving into the Earth's shadow. (If you saw it pre-dawn, it would have *appeared* out of nowhere.)
N.B. Comets do not whiz across the sky like that. Regardless of what you saw on the made-for-TV movie.
2007-06-17 16:15:48 · answer #2 · answered by RickySTT, EAC 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes you can see satellites from the ground a bright white look like star, doesnt twinkle, it not a plane so year its a satellite i see them quite alot in england, i lay on my trampoline sometimes and see a satellite go one way then watch it come back the opposite way its really cool or ill watch em go buy then the next night i see it come past again. i watch em when im bored ill see about 3 a night its really cool.
2007-06-17 22:56:01 · answer #3 · answered by big bounce 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When you see a "star" traveling across the sky, it's usually a satellite or piece of space debris.
2007-06-17 16:14:03 · answer #4 · answered by infinitescifi 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Probably the ISS (space station). It is very bright.
You can find out when it should have been visible from Minnesota from nasa.gov.
2007-06-17 16:12:12 · answer #5 · answered by DT3238 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure, you can see satellites from the ground.
Doug
2007-06-17 16:08:55 · answer #6 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋