Comment by wkat4242

> A wild guess, based on memory, is one might take 5 or 10 minutes to cross between my horizons (usually I'm not on a plain - trees, hills, mountains may elevate my 'horizons' and reduce the distance).

Yup 5-10 minutes is right. It depends on the orbit altitude and the height of the pass.

You can use sat tracker apps to identify which one you're seeing. I do this sometimes because I'm a ham radio operator and I track the one I want to use sometimes with a directional antenna.

> No way a star is moving that fast relative to other stars

No star moves relative to other stars when viewed from earth. They are all so far away they appear static. The starscape rotates as a whole (well it doesn't, the earth does, but to the observer it seems that way), but relative to each other they absolutely don't move.

If they do move, it is definitely a sign to stop drinking :) :)

> Asteroid? That seems hard to believe, due to size and illumination.

Also asteroids move way faster across the sky than a satellite. And they're rare except during that time of the year when they're really common.

> Comet? Are there lots of tiny ones? I never see tails.

Comets are incredibly rare in this galactic neighbourhood.

> and Earth's horizons. Asteroid? That seems hard to believe, due to size and illumination. Comet? Are there lots of tiny ones? I never see tails.