Hello, dear Metabunk community,

Mr. West has kindly allowed me to present my case here.
It concerns a video I recorded on May 13, 2026, at 9:47 p.m. over Radebeul. The video was recorded with an iPhone 16 Pro. The first part of the video was recorded using a 5x zoom. 
I zoomed back and forth a bit and then settled on 5x zoom. The last part, where I changed my position, was recorded using a 2x zoom. I was facing south in this video. 
The light appeared from the southwest and moved toward the northeast.
The light moves relatively slowly and changes color extremely rapidly, which creates a sparkling effect. 
After about 52 seconds, a second light suddenly appears and flies alongside the first light for about 8 seconds. Then it disappears again.
From 1:12 to 1:19, the black object in the frame is the cat net. 
I'm sorry.
From 1:25 to 1:28, it appears as though the first light is once again being followed by a small second light.
From 1:36 to 1:51, I unfortunately had to change my position.
After that, I was able to record it for about 20 more seconds, during which time I set the zoom to 2x. I think it's unlikely that it was the ISS or an airplane.

Thank you for your attention.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

https://we.tl/t-dpReHwjLekkjaJdi?ut...=email&utm_campaign=TRN_TDL_05&trk=TRN_TDL_05

Confirmed on in-the-sky.org.

You provided all the information that was needed for a swift identification, all is good. OK, Mick and flarkey are absolute wizards at this, but still, sometimes it has to go via a shortlist before they find a positive ID. To be honest, you made it easy enough for them that I'm almost surpised they haven't included a couple of frames from your video which line up with the ISS crossing constellations on the star-map. Come on, guys, it's a weekend, what else would you be doing: chores, or enjoying yourself, or something!?!?

Don't be sorry, your observation report was excellent.

The frame I included was on match. It was just a bit fiddly to get more (or see the existing ones) with the camera rotation, the twilight, and the clouds.

I've watched the video 3 times and I can't see a second light (joining the first and flying next to it). I am however watching this on my phone, so maybe I'd see it if I was at home by my big screen? Could you perhaps provide a screen grab (or multiple) & circle the second light?

Just to point out something I noticed that might aid future readers of this thread when looking at something similar...

The brightness of the mystery light fluctuates as it passes across the clouds, getting brighter where the clouds are thinner, dimming as it crosses thicker areas -- this indicates that the light is above the clouds. When trying to figure out what it is, that eliminates things lower than clouds (party balloons, birds, insects close to the camera, etc. It leaves things like satellites/ISS/Tian-gong, planes and astronomical objects.

Something flares at about 56-57 seconds, "below but near" the ISS --some sort of satellite I'd think though it is possible light would glint off of a plane. There is also what looks like a star "above" the ISS in the shot.

I took 3 screenshots once. Where it appears, is there in full and disappears again. In the video it is from second 52 and goes up to second 58.

Don't worry about it!

We have a long-running joke about people saying "it's not X" basically guaranteeing that it is X, so you're not the first person this happened to, nor will you be the last.

You provided good data (including time/date/location) up front, and didn't jump to conclusions about what the light would be, which makes this a pleasant case for us.

Ah! I see what you're referring to now. Others here will know more than me on this but I agree with JmartJr: its consistent with another satellite that's heading in roughly the same direction & flaring (briefly reflecting the sun)

Thank you for the kind words

Back at you! It is a neat video, even knowing what it is, thanks for sharing it!

If you are interested, there are phone apps you can get that alert you when ISS (and a few other things) will be making a visible pass where you are. Using that, I've twice managed to (I use see the ISS and the Chinese Tian-gong station crossing the sky at the same time. I use one called "ISS Detector," but there are several to choose from.

Keep looking up!

Thanks for the tip. I will install this app so that I do not make another mistake and can check it right away. Yeah, I always look up. Probably too much. I still have some GB of pictures and videos that I still have to classify. Especially a video still gives me a headache. There are 2 planes and three other lights. Unfortunately, the video quality is not really good. Unfortunately, I don't have a good program for satellites. But I don't give up.

My apologies. I will confess to not being particularly capable at understanding SitRec screenshots at the best of times (and my eyes are unusually reticent to provide me with all the cues that should be available presently), and unless there's some red string with a post-it note saying "*this* is *this*", I'm probably going to be wooshed. Great work on the quick solve anyway, you've built a brilliant tool even if, or even because, it's too clever for FatPhils.