Edward Lunt wrote:
My conclusion was that I was seeing the reflection of the Sun off of some object, but clearly it was not a plane, as it did not change position relative to the Moon for at least three minutes. So what was it? My uneducated "guess" is that it was a satellite but I didn't know if a satellite could give off enough of a reflection to look like a star so I am asking those of you who know a whole lot more than I do about such things; what was it? Ed L
I don't think it could be a satellite as the only satellites that bright tend to remain that bright for a couple of seconds, not three minutes. You said the Sun was still shining on the tops of the mountains so that would rule out a high altitude balloon passing into the shadow of the Earth. I suppose (but this is a stretch) it could have been something floating at an elevation less than the tops of the mountain that would have seen sunset (and hence faded out) after you did but before the mountains did. I just called Flight Service and they tell me the winds down low are out of the south at about 6 and about mountain top height about 11. Given winds that light I don't know that you would have seen much movement of a free floating object in 3 minutes. As for what any such free floating object would be, there's always the possibility of a mylar balloon. Then again, it could have been a Ford Anglia headed for Hogwarts... Patrick