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NeuronsAtWork
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Mysterious Night Sky Object - Help!?
Well, I've commented on others' questions on a number of occasions, but something just occurred which has thrown me for a loop, and I could really use an opinion or two. I've been into amateur astronomy for 43 years, and have seen any number of very interesting objects--all of them explainable--until now. I live in Mesa, AZ (roughly 33 deg. north/111 deg west) and was relaxing in my darkened back yard facing due south. Every once-in-a-while I began to notice a brief flash of light, high up in the sky, south of zenith. Each flash was very brief--perhaps a tenth of a second--and the more I watched the more it seemed they were regular, but too far apart to be a plane, etc. I timed the interval, and it occurred like clockwork every 36 seconds. After a time I went into get a pair of 10x50 binoculars, and focused them on the location. The flash was still there, but there was no discernable object at that spot in between flashes. Another odd thing was this: I watched the flashes for roughly 45 minutes, and during that time the object did not shift its relative position to me, while the star field slid 10+ deg. to the west. It seemed to remain due south of me, and roughly on the celestial equator, so 33 deg. south of my local zenith. The flash intensity remained constant, at roughly mag. +2, and the color was white. This took place between 9:30pm and 10:15pm my local Mountain Standard time (no DST). I can't imagine that this is the case, but for all intents and purposes it was behaving like a geo-sync satellite at 111 deg. west. Maybe DirecTV has taken to using lasers for data transmission? All I can say is very, very odd. Thoughts? Conjectures? Ridicule??
Well, I've commented on others' questions on a number of occasions, but something just occurred which has thrown me for a loop, and I could really use an opinion or two. I've been into amateur astronomy for 43 years, and have seen any number of very interesting objects--all of them explainable--until now. I live in Mesa, AZ (roughly 33 deg. north/111 deg west) and was relaxing in my darkened back yard facing due south. Every once-in-a-while I began to notice a brief flash of light, high up in the sky, south of zenith. Each flash was very brief--perhaps a tenth of a second--and the more I watched the more it seemed they were regular, but too far apart to be a plane, etc. I timed the interval, and it occurred like clockwork every 36 seconds. After a time I went into get a pair of 10x50 binoculars, and focused them on the location. The flash was still there, but there was no discernable object at that spot in between flashes. Another odd thing was this: I watched the flashes for roughly 45 minutes, and during that time the object did not shift its relative position to me, while the star field slid 10+ deg. to the west. It seemed to remain due south of me, and roughly on the celestial equator, so 33 deg. south of my local zenith. The flash intensity remained constant, at roughly mag. +2, and the color was white. This took place between 9:30pm and 10:15pm my local Mountain Standard time (no DST). I can't imagine that this is the case, but for all intents and purposes it was behaving like a geo-sync satellite at 111 deg. west. Maybe DirecTV has taken to using lasers for data transmission? All I can say is very, very odd. Thoughts? Conjectures? Ridicule??
