sorry I can't locate the post on when this was seen over the Midwest.. maybe someone can put it together
Mysterious Fireball Spotted Over The Rockies Was Actually A Russian Spy Satellite, Experts Say
The Huffington Post | By Dominique Mosbergen
Posted: 09/21/2014 9:40 am EDT Updated: 09/21/2014 9:59 am EDT
A mysterious fireball that was spotted moving across the night sky and breaking apart above the Rocky Mountains earlier this month left observers totally baffled.
Some speculated that the blazing object may have been pieces from a meteor or other celestial body, but the science just didn't seem to add up. If it was indeed a meteor, it would have burned too quickly and wouldn't have been seen across such a large area, according to the American Meteor Society.
So what exactly was this fiery object?
Military experts say the so-called "fireball" -- which was spotted in the skies at around 10:30 p.m. MDT on Sept. 2 over Colorado and Wyoming, and possibly as far as New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana -- was likely a piece of a Russian spy satellite that fell from orbit.
Charles Vick, an aerospace analyst with the military information website Globalsecurity.org, told the Associated Press that it was probably debris from Russia's Cosmos 2495 reconnaissance satellite.
Cosmos 2495 was a photoreconnaissance satellite designed to take high-resolution images of ground targets, according to Spaceflight101.com. It was reportedly launched in May.
The U.S. Strategic Command, a branch of the Department of Defense, confirmed that the satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere and was removed from their catalog of orbiting satellites in September.
The Russian Defense Ministry has denied any connection with the fireball. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says Russia's military satellites have all been operating normally.
"One can only guess what condition the representatives of the so-called American Meteor Society must be in to have identified a [fireball] at that high altitude as a Russian military satellite," he told RIA Novosti.
There are an estimated 98 operating spy satellites currently in orbit, the AP reports. Of these, almost 40 are said to be from the U.S. and just three are from Russia.
news vid at link
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/russian-spy-satellite-fireball-rockies_n_5852044.html?utm_hp_ref=science
Quote from: sky otter on September 29, 2014, 04:22:57 AM
sorry I can't locate the post on when this was seen over the Midwest.. maybe someone can put it together
QuoteMore than three dozen witnesses reported seeing a bright object that broke apart into three "rocks" with glowing red and orange streaks as it moved northward over the Rocky Mountains on September 2.
Russia has denied claims that the fireball spotted at 10.30pm was a piece of the Cosmos 2495 satellite, which was designed to shoot reconnaissance photos and send them back to Earth in capsules.
But Mike Hankey from the American Meteor Society said a meteor would have burned up too quickly to be seen over such a large area, while fragments from the unidentified object were big enough to show up as a weather event on radar east of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Charles Vick, an aerospace analyst with military information website Globalsecurity.org agreed that the object was probably a piece of the Russian satellite
http://news.sky.com/story/1337461/fireball-was-russian-spy-satellite-experts-say
This news dates it to September 3,
http://www.kcchip.com/us-strategic-command-confirmed-that-russian-satellite-in-the-united-states-exploded-over/
http://www.kcchip.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/20140912032333459.jpg
This one from Moscow has Russia saying it aint so
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/749229
BTS
I meant the post on here somewhere wondering what the bright light was..
sorry I wasn't more specific
Okay, by the list of states, we know direction. So we can say this was a satellite or debris in a polar orbit. Often, if not usually military in nature, as I've read anyway. This does seem particularly sloppy for the Russians, too. They aren't some backward goobs, whatever media likes to portray their less sexy technology as. I mean, they are perfectly capable of tracking their own sats and debris, the same as we are. So...why play games about it? Putin isn't being coy about much of anything else these days.
On the other hand...There is another little friend I know of, on a polar orbit and which has been a matter I've lost a moment's rest here and there over. Any word on what else has happened with that North Korean satellite? That was still registering as an object in orbit and making nice, neat and orderly tracks over our nation on that same pattern several months ago. (When I'd last gone looking). It was registered officially as a fail and a dead object, too. I'm not sure I've ever bought that...but it does have to come down eventually?