Saw an orange fire colored UFO last night just after nightfall. The path was that of an object flying in a curved path at high altitude (a u-turn, basically), definitely not a satellite, and a bit brighter than a good space station sighting. Even through 8x binoculars it appeared as a point source. The time of day, the sighting angle, and the variable characteristics of the light over the two minutes or so the object was visible suggests it was reflected light from the setting sun on the lower surface of a solid object, but given that the sky was almost completely dark at my location at that point, my guess is that its altitude could have been above the atmosphere. I've seen conventional aircraft reflecting sunset's light after local sunset, and though the appearance was similar, in those cases it was much closer to sunset and sky was still quite light. Once it gets dark, I think such reflections tend to be in satellite territory.
Anyway, since I can find the sight angle because of its passage near identifiable stars, the time, and my location on that date, it should be possible to calculate the earth's shadow line from the setting sun and see where my sight line crosses it. That would tell me if it was just an airplane at very high altitude, or something maneuvering up a bit higher than conventional aircraft can reach. Anybody have an idea how I would go about that (umbra?) line? Thanks, - Rick
