The weather folks at channel 5 forwarded PART 1 of the following to me earlier today. After looking at the pictures at http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/neal/image001.jpg http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/neal/image002.jpg http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/neal/image003.jpg I emailed Ms. Neal asking for a few points of clarification. Her reply is shown as PART 2. My first thought is that the object was moving too quickly to be a comet and too slowly to be a meteor or piece of decaying space junk. I'm wondering if it's one of those short contrails sometimes seen behind high flying aircraft. At any rate, I asked if I could post her comments here and as you'll see she approved. She is not a member of the list but I told her she can monitor the conversation at http://mailman.xmission.com/lurker/list/utah-astronomy.en.html Hey Susan, you are welcome to join us by signing on at http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy . We promise not to bite. :) Comments? patrick +++++PART 1+++++ From: Susan Neal [mailto:eyeqdesign@mindspring.com] Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 8:50 AM Subject: Asteroid? Comet? What is this? Hi Brooke, So, I’m driving Savannah to school this morning, heading east down my street and I see this object in the sky. It’s moving. It looks like a comet. I literally turn my car around, speed back to my house, run to get my camera and get this shot. It was much higher when we started, so I just barely caught it. I’ve googled it, I’ve been listening to news reports and nothing. Have you heard anything? Thought you might know or want to know. Sue +++++PART 2+++++ RE: Asteroid? Comet? What is this? From: eyeqdesign@mindspring.com Date: 25 September 2008 20:34:24 MDT This took place in American Fork (900 N. 623 W.) to be exact at a few minutes before 8am this morning. The sun was just behind the mountain, but by the time I got my camera, as you can see, it had come over. It was definitely moving, so I'm having a hard time believing it was a contrail, as they don't really move, do they? I've attached the original picture and added 2 arrows. Arrow A is approx. where I first saw the object (arrow head was the starting point). Arrow B is a strange light that doesn't seem to following the curve of the sun, it almost looks like it's reflecting off of the object. I will say that the head of this object (facing down) was definitely larger and the end looked tail-like, like a tear drop. That's why it reminded me of a comet. The mountain is covering part of the head of the object, but it definitely looked round with the tail tapering. Ok, you're going to laugh, but I actually had my husband time me while I re-created the time between turning the car around and taking the picture. Yes, I really have nothing better to do. Hardly. Anyways, it took me an amazing 1 minute 5 seconds! Hey, I can be fast when I'm motivated! So, I'm hoping that someone with better physics skills than I, can figure out how fast it was traveling, where it came from, where it landed and what the heck it was!! As for how long before it slipped completely behind the mountain after I took the picture, I would say just a few seconds. The sun was so bright at that moment, I wasn't even sure I captured it. So, I just left and wondered if I'd feel a big bang or something. I was so disappointed. You can do anything you'd like with those photos, but I would really love to here about anything you find out, so, please keep in the loop. I think the exact spot the picture was taken might be relevant to solving this (plus I haven't met an astronomer I didn't like) so go ahead with the address. Thanks everyone for joining in my curiosity. Susan Neal P.S. I did hear back from Keith Merrill today as well and he suggested that "The other thing it COULD have been is this: The Chinese space agency launched a manned spacecraft this morning and it could have been one of the boosters falling back to earth. I can't confirm it but I have been looking at various web sites to see if it may have been visible. They are of no help right now."