I once saw a phenomenon very similar to this with binoculars, although it was only visible for about a minute) and managed to get it reported in Sky and Telescope. An amateur from Europe wrote me he had also seen something very similar, and had conclusively proved from published data that it was a burn from a Kosmos satellite. He mentioned this sort of sighting is not all that unusual, although this one was different enough to make me look and think twice.

Professional astronomers usually have very narrow field-of-view instruments that are tuned to pick up very specific types of signals, they're not likely to see much that is unusual or unexpected. But apparently, the network of amateur observers connected via the internet, and easily accessible orbital data, demonstrates the earth is well protected by an early warning system of skilled observers backed up by solid technical resources. Add to this the military which is constantly monitoring activity in space, and if there really is something spooky going on up there, these are the people who will see it first.