Blinking is strong aircraft evidence
Regular red, green, white or high-intensity strobe flashes are characteristic aircraft clues. A satellite normally reflects sunlight continuously and does not carry visible navigation strobes. Atmospheric scintillation can make a distant point shimmer, so one flicker is weaker evidence than a repeating pattern.
Speed changes with geometry
A low aircraft can cross a large angle of sky quickly. A high satellite can also appear fast overhead. A head-on aircraft may look almost stationary and then begin sliding sideways. Duration alone is useful but not decisive.
Check the correct time
Current ADS-B positions can help only for a sighting that just happened. They should never be silently applied to an observation from yesterday. Sky Event Radar marks that source not applicable when the time gap is too large.
Catalog is not a pass prediction
CelesTrak orbital elements establish that tracked objects exist and provide current orbital data. A catalog count by itself does not prove that a particular satellite was above your location. Exact pass matching requires orbit propagation for the sighting time.
Verification sources
Use NASA/JPL CNEOS, CelesTrak, ADSB.lol, NOAA SWPC and Launch Library 2 according to their coverage and time window. Sky Event Radar keeps missing evidence explicit.