Anybody in SF Bay Area see this last night at 9:04pm-9:06pm +/- 1 min?
Flying very fast from ~W > ~E; i.e., from Marin County, appeared to be coming from Mt. Tam headed over Tiburon.
Confirmed NOT ISS (was below horizon then); confirmed NOT airplane (checked FlightAware).
No haze in the sky (this was from Marin County). Other stars and moon were crystal sharp, yet this was very blurry/hazy glow, so at first, before I could tell how fast it was moving, I thought it was a comet, before immediately checking myself that (a) no comets are scheduled now; (b) that would be an insanely bright comet; (c) it had no tail which would be expected of such a bright comet.
But then it disappeared rapidly over a period of several seconds as it dipped into the Earth's shadow (similar to how the ISS would vanish after sunset, too).
A friend (literal actual rocket scientist) said perhaps it was the X-37 returning; but I can't see any record of a recent return since OTV-6 in Nov 2022.
Anybody? That was Starlink. The satellite tracking app I have predicted it pretty much perfectly. There was a launch out of Vandenberg early Wednesday, just after midnight. My guess is that it was so bright because the satellites haven't really started dispersing yet. related discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SanJose/comments/1cyk3ca/completely... Looks like a Starlink launch is the most likely candidate: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-6-62 Please can someone please ask them to do the starts during the day? I can't see anything Possibly a meteor. Fast moving, straight line, bright at first then dimming rapidly. An aside, but wouldn't 9:04pm-9:06pm +/- 1 min just be easier expressed as 9:03 - 9:07pm? I am not saying that was an UFO, but ...