Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihuxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!dual!qantel!ihnp4!ihuxl!dcn From: dcn@ihuxl.UUCP (Dave Newkirk) Newsgroups: net.columbia Subject: Shuttle Observed on 8/2/85 in Chicago Message-ID: <1604@ihuxl.UUCP> Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 10:00:58 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxl.1604 Posted: Wed Aug 7 10:00:58 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 03:34:48 EDT Distribution: net Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 16 At 9:37 pm on August 2, I watched the shuttle pass overhead from my backyard in suburban Warrenville. It appeared in the northwest, moving toward the southeast. When I first saw it, it looked like a comet (!), with a bright head and a faint tail/contrail behind it. As it moved overhead, the tail shortened to a fuzzy area around the shuttle, and then moved ahead of it as it passed the zenith. Then it suddenly faded away, leaving a dim point where the shuttle was. At first I thought it was a trail left in the upper atmosphere, but then when the trail shortened, I changed my theory to a reflection of sunlight off the wings or a byproduct of one of the experiment packages. Since it seems to have faded as it moved in to the Earth's shadow, I concluded that it must have been reflected sunlight. It sure was bright! -- Dave Newkirk, ihnp4!ihuxl!dcn