Satellites?

[Chappers88]

Out imaging Jupiter tonight, and i notice a satellite moving north to south near Betelgeuse, then i noticed another one following right behind it apart a thumbs width apart at arms length. I checked the time and they moved past Saiph at 18:58. I tried looking them up on Heavens Above but had no luck, and i was running Stellarium and they didnt show up on that. They were fairly bright aswell.

Any one have any idea?

[The Sailor]

Have seen some that travel in pairs and four in diamond formation, never really found out what they were, there is an old thread that may be available about them. There will be some on here who may have a link to them .

Jim

[Morris Oxford]

I just spotted these as well.

I popped out to see the ISS go over and as above spotted two satellites on the same track, the brighter of the two in front.

My version of stellarium shows a satellite called 8180 RADCAT but no second satellite!

[Cath]

I saw them too, one following right behind the other on the exact same path at the right speed for low Earth orbit satellites.

[Stargazer Jack]

Didn't see this so would love to find out what it is and to see if it is visible again.

[Chappers88]

Glad others saw it and i wasn't seeing things!

[JillC]

I saw something like this years ago, before I really got into astronomy, just enjoyed looking up at the night sky. Two satellites about the same distance apart as described. What was really weird was there was a wobble in the first one that followed exactly in the second one. I remember my Dad making a joke about articulated satellites, but that wasn't a satisfactory explanation for me! I was getting e-mail updates from some space website I'd signed up to at the time, and so checked the recent e-mail which mentioned being able to see something or other docking with the ISS. It was a US website so times were off but I assumed that that must have been what I saw. I'm not sure how plausible that explanation was, but it's satisfied me til now anyway. Perhaps there's another explanation?

[The Sailor]

checked the recent e-mail which mentioned being able to see something or other docking with the ISS.

Can tell you now that if you see a docking with the ISS it will be little and large. Last year we were able to see I think a Russian cargo vessel moving in on the ISS, the ISS which is quite bright and large in relation to the cargo vessel which was about two fingers width behind, did not see the actual docking but was quite good to have seen part of the operation

Jim

[AndyWB]

For what it's worth, I saw the same thing from near Tilehurst. Given how bright they were - they seemed brighter than any of the stars to me - I had wondered if this was the ISS. But I didn't pay enough attention to what stars they passed, and the ISS didn't follow the path you'd described.

[Cath]

The ISS always goes West to East (or their abouts) Andy.

These two satellites were on a polar orbit (North to South on this orbit) and disappeared from my view just below Betelgeuse.

Most likely military or some other none listed pair of satellites. Their are many unknown (to us) satellites up there.

[AndyWB]

Thanks Cath,

Yeah, based on orientation, I would've been facing southeast - so yes, they must have been in polar orbit. I was caught off-guard - I was supposed on the way to the pub, and my girlfriend was giving a kind of "I'm hungry, hurry up" look - so I wasn't sure what direction I was facing at the time. Interesting sight, though!

[Chappers88]

Yeah it definately was not the ISS. Although saw that go over too. Interesting, there must be someone on this board somewhere that can shed some light on these two?

[Lunar93]

Could be the Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) satellites http://www.satobs.org/noss.html They're operated by the US Navy. Having a wee look at heavens above just now for my location his evening and it lists them at Magnitude 3.9, but i can't see why they can't be brighter if the conditions are correct (sun's angle etc)

[JillC]

Nice one Lunar! Sounds like the 3rd generation NOSS could well be what i saw maybe 6 years ago. Was not interested enough to look into it at the time and made the assumption that I'd seen some ISS docking in progress, and have since told people proudly that I witnessed this event. Oops. Glad to have a better explanation though!