Read first: what to include so your case actually gets solved

Five details do most of the work. Give us these and the sky checks can usually settle it in under a minute.

1. Time, to the minute if you can. Satellites cross the sky in 3–6 minutes; a time that is 20 minutes off can miss the pass entirely. Check a text you sent, a photo timestamp, or the show you were watching.

2. Where you were standing. Use the location button. We only ever show it rounded to about a kilometer.

3. Which direction you were facing, and how high up. "Over the neighbor's roof to the southwest, about halfway up" is perfect.

4. How it moved. Straight line, hovering, darting, drifting, rising. And how long it lasted.

5. Blinking, color, sound. Blinking red/green/white is an aircraft nearly every time. Steady white that fades out is a satellite entering Earth's shadow. Orange and flickering and drifting is a lantern.

A photo helps even when it is blurry, because the camera data tells us the exact time and exposure. Upload the original file, not a screenshot.

If what you saw frightened you, say so. There is no wrong way to report, and the data is the same either way.