I think that it’s the object which is the meteor, not the light produced by it. But I’d rather not start a debate about whether one actually sees a luminous object, or just sees the light emitted by it.
The coolest satellitey phenomena at present are Iridium flares.
In Houston:
next Tuesday (8th) at 8:35pm look to the NNE at 34 degrees above the horizon;
next Wednesday (9th) at 8:29pm in the same part of the sky.
You will see a moving satellite slowly go from invisible to the brightest object in the sky after Venus, then fade back to invisible.
Very striking.
everyone can go to www.heavens-above.com to look up the times for iridium flares in their locality.
Well…it could be alien spacecraft…