First geostationary satellite

[george7378]

Last night, after about an hour of searching, I found my first geo-sat. I had no idea what to expect, and I was looking in the area about 22 degrees up from the horizon due south, exploring lots of different fields of view, when I saw a slow-moving dot chasing the telescope field of view as the Earth rotated. It was the strangest feeling to be able to completely leave the telescope and see the satellite drift across the stars to catch up with it as the Earth rotated! This was EUTELSAT W3c, and it was about mag. 10.3. There are many more visible in my area, so I will certainly be searching some more out!

[assasincz]

That is a marvelous tip there, George. I have never thought that geostationary satellites might be observable visually - I thought they would be too dim due to their high orbits, but I am wrong, apparently. Thanks.