Ask HN: Which re-entry/de-orbit was this?
With the CZ5N re-entry happening I figured you could point me in the right direction to solve this mystery:
On the evening of july 14, around 20:15 UTC we saw something pass over our heads fairly slowly (apparently stationary), leaving a greenish, sparkly line over the course of several minutes. It also left a long trail that apparently was still illuminated by the sun, originating at an azimuth of ~210° (SSW).
Our observation position was ~48.08° N, 11.28° E (southern Germany, near Munich).
About 20 minutes later I tried digging into it a little on James Darpinian's See A Satellite Tonight and found a rocket/booster stage that could have had a matching trajectory (CZ-4B R/B).
I'd love to dig deeper into this, so:
1. Are there any websites where I can revisit that time/location? I'm aware of TLEs but would appreciate a "time-travel" view for the location in question
2. The CZ-4B R/B still seems to be „around“. Is it likely that we saw re-entry of only smaller parts of it that were just low enough to "hit" a substantial amount of atmosphere?
3. Are there other explanations for a slow-moving object leaving a trail creating greenish, sparkly lines?
4. What additional information would be needed to figure out what happened?
Any help is much appreciated!