2 satellites to brush past each other today

[Eldorado]

As the number of satellites circling the Earth increases, so does the chances of them colliding.

"We're going to be reminded of that tonight (Jan. 29) when two very old satellites pass within 100 feet of each other 900 km above Pittsburgh.

As Space.com reports, the two satellites in question are the Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment (GCSE-4).

"Both satellites are decommissioned and pretty ancient."

Full monty at PC Mag UK: https://uk.pcmag.com/news-analysis/124686/2-old-satellites-will-almost-collide-over-pittsburgh-tonight

And at Space dot com: https://www.space.com/satellite-near-collision-miss-over-pittsburgh.html

[+joc]

559.234 miles above Pittsburgh  

 

[zep73]

12 minutes ago, joc said:

559.234 miles above Pittsburgh

That's much further away than the moon.

[+joc]

16 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

That's much further away than the moon.

I know right?  That's like twiced as far

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Well they passed each other without incident. Given the amount of debris a collision would have caused this near miss highlights the need to remove junk from orbit.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

15 hours ago, Tuco's Gas said:

Your elevation is way off. Satellites orbit much higher distances than 500 miles. Communication sats are 22K miles up.

Sorry, you are wrong.

Whilst it is true that some satellites orbit 22,000 miles up this is usually only telecommunications satellite and a few meteorological satellites.

The vast majority of satellites are in low earth orbit (LEO). LEO extends to a MAXIMUM of 1,200 miles. For example the International Space Station orbits around 250 miles up. Hubble orbits at an altitude of 340 miles. Spy satellites and Earth observation satellites are also usually in LEO.

In short, the altitude given in the article quoted by Eldorado is correct.