UFO's in the USA
I was up at my friends lakeside cabin a couple of years back, it's up in the middle of Maine which is about as remote as you can get on the East coast of this country.

It's miles and miles away from any big city and therefore has very little in the way of light pollution. On clear nights you see way more stars than you ever thought existed.

We were up late shooting the breeze and we could see high flying (transcontinental) planes flying overhead (strobes flickering etc) then we saw something else. A white light that managed to ZIP across the sky way faster than the jet was moving. It looked to be about the same distance away but a bit lower on the horizon so it could have been closer I suppose.

He pointed it out to me and we watched it, but it stopped and went another direction but very quickly.

I flew myself up to Maine in a small plane so I have some passing familiarity with flying things and this wasn't anything I could figure out.

I'm not sure if it was some hush hush military thing or some other light trick but it was spooky. My mate doesn't drink at all, and I hadn't had any that night either.
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 14:36, 7 replies)

It was most probably
a satellite.

Orbiting satellites are high enough to catch the sun, but aren't really that high above the earth, so are quite easily visible.

It may even have been the international space station. It appears quite bright.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 14:42, closed)

i blame
the not having drunk anything, clearly a case of halucination brought about from the lack of alcohol in your bloodstream, your mate was trying to fit with the in crowd by going along with you, scary thing peer pressure.

(yes i know i shouldnt attepmt humour in any way, but it is thirsty thursday - pass the booze!)
(pogo_it, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 14:51, closed)

Satellites..
A satellite in a geosynchronous orbit wouldn't move across the sky, stop and move in another direction though. We thought about that at the time. If it was a lot closer to our vantage point it could forseeably move across the sky pretty quickly but it would have to be within earshot I'd have expected (very quiet at night also).

Normally it is a drinkfest at night and my mate being a non-drinker is our designated driver which works out just fine.
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 15:39, closed)

"It looked to be about the same distance away"
This is the trouble with lights in the sky - they all seem to be about the same distance away.

My initial thought was a satellite, since satellites in LEO can zip along quite quickly and be quite bright too, but the sharp turn tends to rule that out.

What time was it? Just after dark, or midnight?
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 16:24, closed)

Maybe
It was one of Stephen King's walk-ins, catching a flight to Lud.
(w4I4q1O1 was hard at work on, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 17:32, closed)

probably a satellite or a shooting star.
(panda_sam, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 21:20, closed)

time of night
I'd guess about 11pm or so, pitch black night, middle of the woods with a lake in front of us.

If I hadn't seen planes flying over head to compare this thing to I'd have said "oh that's a plane" but planes going places tend to fly in straight lines and don't zip about and change directions like that.
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 5:07, closed)