What was this? Moving stars, but not shooting?

Question

(This took place in the UK, two nights ago and it was around 12 midnight)

I was looking at the sky from my door, I noticed a star that began to move, it just drifted slowly across the sky and I watched it for about 10 seconds or more before I noticed my neighbour in the next garden and yelled at her to look at it too (I didn't want to take my eyes of it so I just pointed and yelled)

The star I was looking at then faded into nothing but at that point another slow moving star started to glide across the sky in the opposite direction,my neighbour and I both witnessed this one.

Then about 20 minutes later I saw an actual shooting star (which last a split second), it definitely wasn't the same as the previous two that I noticed.

They were'nt sparkling and had no "tail", they were moving at a fairly slow but steady pace.

What the heck were these? I didn't know stars did this. I've read numerous books on the solar system and never read of this happening, can anyone explain it?

thank you!

Answer 1

They would of been satellites

Answer 2

You've just just given a fairly accurate description of artificial satellites. They move steadily across the sky and are usually visible for a few minutes. Sometimes they fade out (as you describe) as they pass into the Earth's shadow. If you want to look out for more satellites, you can obtain predictions from http://www.heavens-above.com/

Answer 3

What are satellites? Seriously, you don't know what satellites are? My estimation of the British educational system just went down several notches. Satellites are artificial 'moons' that orbit the Earth, and perform various functions, such as weather observation, communications relay, and other scientific observations. The International Space Station is a satellite, which happens to be manned. The Hubble Space Telescope is also a satellite, but unmanned.You've heard of those, right? If not, google them.

Answer 4

OMG!! You are the witness of a UFO sighting!!! Unidentified Flying Objects are commonly present within the Earths atmosphere. Whether it was a Russian spy plane, a top-secret highly developed American flying machine, or an alien spaceraft you should consider yourself luck to ever have witnessed one of these objects.  

Answer 5

You saw an Iridium Flare - Go to heavens-above - put your postcode in and then check out the times for next flare and if your looking in the right place you will see one.

Answer 6

A satellite. There is a whole subculture of astronomers out there that spend their time looking out for them. You can even get tables and charts to tell you which satellite to expect and when.

Sounds about as interesting as train spotting if you aske me.

Answer 7

satellites  

Answer 8

sounds like satellites  

Answer 9

Those are satellites. And if you don't know what satellites are, I'm seriously worried about the level of education on this country.

Satellites are man-made objects launched into an orbit around the earth. Some of them, for example, are for relaying TV signal around the earth. Ever seen satellite dishes on houses? Those are there for a reason.

Answer 10

ive witnessed about the same thing here in the u.s. and have come to a conclusion that it is a satellite