[tslust]

Originally Posted by violet lightning

Here is a strange incident from a few months back. I was outside at around 10:00 pm stargazing. I saw a satellite and followed it till it disappeared on the horizon. I kept looking and then saw a shooting star, then about 5 minutes later I saw another satellite traveling east to west, and began to follow it. After traveling for several seconds across the sky, it passed (presumably) in front of a stationary star(?) and at that exact second, it disappeared in mid flight! (like it "merged" with the star) It was clear, and the stars and satellites were bright and easy to follow. I couldn't really believe what I had just seen, and continued to stay fixed on the star where the satellite disappeared. It never emerged, and the only explanation I could think of, is that the satellite shifted position enough to stop the light reflecting off it,(which I haven't actually seen happen) and it just happened to occur at the exact millisecond that my eyes saw it pass behind or in front of the star. (or maybe it was a mothership?) If it were a jet, it would have had to do an instant 90 degree turn in the space behind the star, and head due north away from me continuing behind the star to appear to me like it had vanished..
Could also be a piece of illuminated space junk hitting another piece, causing it to disintegrate and disappear, but the "star" did seem to be stationary, as I watched it for several minutes, so it likely was not space junk or even necessarily in orbit. If it was a star, how could a satellite appear to vanish at the exact moment that it crossed paths with a tiny dot like a star? And why would a satellite vanish in mid-flight like that? I've tracked dozens and dozens and they have all been pretty steady, usually fading out only as they cross the horizon.
Another possibility is, it was not a satellite or an aircraft, but something else. Same thing with the "star". It looked like a star, but was it?
(this was, by my judgement, at very high altitude, low or high orbit or beyond)
I'm not drawing any conclusions other than its one of the strangest things I've seen.

that's interesting