preacherman76 Posted December 4, 2021 #1 Share Posted December 4, 2021 (edited) Hey everyone, hope you guys are doing well. Anyhow me and my son were just driving back from getting diner, as we pulled in the driveway this is what we saw in the sky. I was thinking satellites, but one by one just as they were coming overhead, they each, one at a time disappeared. Any thoughts? Edited December 4, 2021 by preacherman76 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted December 5, 2021 Author #2 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Yeah it was the star base satellites or whatever. Really cool to see. Thanks for stopping in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted December 5, 2021 #3 Share Posted December 5, 2021 22 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: Yeah it was the star base satellites or whatever. Really cool to see. Thanks for stopping in. Yep it’s a chain of Starlink satellites which would have just been released from the upper stage and are slowly separating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted December 5, 2021 Author #4 Share Posted December 5, 2021 1 minute ago, Timothy said: Yep it’s a chain of Starlink satellites which would have just been released from the upper stage and are slowly separating. Strange thing was, before they came overhead, they disappeared. Don’t get me wrong I fully believe they are satellites, I was just wondering what the explanation is for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Wellington Posted December 5, 2021 #5 Share Posted December 5, 2021 13 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: Strange thing was, before they came overhead, they disappeared. Don’t get me wrong I fully believe they are satellites, I was just wondering what the explanation is for that? Light reflection or timed thrusters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted December 5, 2021 Author #6 Share Posted December 5, 2021 15 minutes ago, Cookie Monster said: Light reflection or timed thrusters. Yeah I guess so. I’ve never seen a satellite blink out before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrobeing Posted December 5, 2021 #7 Share Posted December 5, 2021 50 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: Strange thing was, before they came overhead, they disappeared. They were probably in Earth's shadow. I've seen this happen dozens of times while doing astrophotography. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 5, 2021 #8 Share Posted December 5, 2021 We saw them one night last summer.... Word...get used to it. In the next few years you will not be able to gaze into the great star filled sky without seeing a train of satellites. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nuclear Wessel Posted December 5, 2021 #9 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Those are just a bunch of SpaceX’s StarLink satellites “chained together”. Completely explainable. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 5, 2021 #10 Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) 59 minutes ago, Nuclear Wessel said: Those are just a bunch of SpaceX’s StarLink satellites “chained together”. Completely explainable. Eventually, if memory serves correctly, there will be 12,000 of them criss crossing the sky. I think there are 60 satellites in a chain... So...12000/60 = 2000 chains. Edited December 5, 2021 by joc 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted December 5, 2021 #11 Share Posted December 5, 2021 8 hours ago, joc said: We saw them one night last summer.... Word...get used to it. In the next few years you will not be able to gaze into the great star filled sky without seeing a train of satellites. In reality you will likely not see any of them. They initially get released in lower orbit and then move much further out to their intended orbit. Take thousands of tiny satellites and make them orbit a planet and you will see basically negligible effect on star gazing. The ISS is brighter and has more of an effect on stargazing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 5, 2021 #12 Share Posted December 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Timothy said: In reality you will likely not see any of them. They initially get released in lower orbit and then move much further out to their intended orbit. Take thousands of tiny satellites and make them orbit a planet and you will see basically negligible effect on star gazing. The ISS is brighter and has more of an effect on stargazing. In reality, you are correct, you will likely not see any of them...at 340 miles though, it could still be possible to see them with the naked eye ... But never fear, Elon Musk has thought of that already...now the satellites are being manned with visors to make them more or less invisible to the naked eye. https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-visors-satellites-mostly-invisible-to-naked-eye-2021-1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Posted December 5, 2021 #13 Share Posted December 5, 2021 This is a good satellite spotting tool: See A Satellite Tonight (darpinian.com) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted December 5, 2021 #14 Share Posted December 5, 2021 7 hours ago, The Silver Shroud said: This is a good satellite spotting tool: See A Satellite Tonight (darpinian.com) These are a couple that I like as well: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/goisswatch-iss-tracking/id672216880 https://apps.apple.com/au/app/star-chart/id345542655 I assume they’d be on Android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted December 6, 2021 #15 Share Posted December 6, 2021 Lying on the grass one day I chanced a satellite directly overhead so faint if I took eyes off it would be lost in the blueness of sky. I imagine would be pretty rare sight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted December 6, 2021 #16 Share Posted December 6, 2021 On 12/5/2021 at 1:03 PM, preacherman76 said: Yeah it was the star base satellites or whatever. Really cool to see. Thanks for stopping in. Not seen them yet. Good photo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now