Re: bright re-entering object seen last Saturday from Houston?

From: Joe Dellinger via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2021 09:40:59 -0500
Since I didn't hear anything back here, I also submitted a report on the
object as a possible fireball to the International Meteor Organization.
They rejected it as not a fireball. However, before those reports
disappeared from their site I was able to see that others around the
South-of-Houston area also reported the same event (and their reports were
also rejected). One other location also had submitted a photo; it was
clearly the same object we saw. So we know it was seen over an area of at
least many tens of kilometers. The other reports also all had it very low
in the sky. I'm not sure I trust that the other sites reported the azimuth
correctly though. They weren't consistent. But the rest of the descriptions
were.

Sort of weird that by far the brightest re-entry I've seen in a lifetime of
observing (except for the space shuttle), something a significant fraction
of the brightness of the full moon, only generated a few observing reports
and appears not to go with any known tracked object (otherwise I think
someone would have responded here). I thought all objects above a certain
size were being tracked? Apparently not?! That's actually sort of
interesting to find out...!

From 1999 - 2011 I was an active asteroid hunter and it was a revelation
how often our hobby astronomy-club team discovered asteroids in areas of
the sky that (at least according to the minor planet center) had been
intensively swept through by robotic asteroid surveys that went far deeper
than we did. What became obvious was that the professional robotic surveys
were nowhere near as thorough as they advertised they were... they
missed a *lot
*of stuff. Even pretty bright stuff.

The other possibility I suppose is it wasn't a re-entry at all but someone
launching something on a ballistic trajectory, and we did not see the
initial rise. Something pretty big. By comparing with big thunderheads
we've seen from the same location, which show up on weather radar, I'd
guess from out in the Gulf of Mexico South of the LA-TX border area? I know
recently the Russians test launched some rockets off the West coast of
Alaska in international waters but within the US EEZ, as some sort of
message to Washington...  But maybe it was closer and launched from land?
I've been to amateur rocket launches where they launched very large
rockets, though, and this would have to have been insanely large.
Definitely would have needed FAA clearance etc etc. I'll have to show the
video to a friend I have who does large amateur rockets and see what he
says.

Oh well, so likely the largest unexpected orbital debris re-entry sighting
of a lifetime of amateur astronomy will remain a mystery object. That is
actually sort of interesting...
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Received on Fri Apr 30 2021 - 14:40:59 UTC

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