Hi! Roger,

On 09/07/2016 07:42 AM, you wrote:

 PQ>> I have seen one.

 RN> It is overcast here most of the time, so I don't get to see anything
 RN>  worthwhile except from pictures on the 'net.  I'd like for this rain
 RN> to go northwest where it will do some good, as in putting out forest
 RN> fires.  Even on a clear day here, a ship travelling at Mach 6 would
 RN> only produce a glimpse for anyone happening to look in the right
 RN> direction.  It would be like a radar blip.

It's basically the same here, being in the sub-tropics and close to the east
coast.  A lot of our weather is generated either off of the Pacific ocean or
the hot/dry bush to our west.  So, roughly 50% of the time it's either hot &
wet or hot & dusty/smokey.

OTOH there are times in late autumn or early spring where the weather is
postcard perfect.  Cool & dry and the viewing goes to infinity, seemingly.  It
was just such an occasion when I saw what could only have been an Aurora-type
craft, though I did think for a while I had seen an atmosphere-skipping
satellite/space debris during a re-entry (I did read of an instance of such at
about that time, a month or so later).

I should fess up & say that I didn't see the actual craft.  It was much too
high, and very fast moving ('gone in 30 seconds').  What I saw was the
characteristic 'wake' of an Aurora.  They don't make typical contrails.  (This
is something I've since seen on a doco flick of some sort.)  It confirmed what
I observed; as if the sky and sea were inverted, and the craft was making a
speedy wake through the water.

Cheers,
Paul.

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