Satelites

[Akyra]

What satelites go from West to East? I just looked out the window and saw a really bright one going over the top of my house, I watched it disappear into the dirty depths. Then looking up to see if it was worth taking the scope out or not I seen one going from North to South but not as bright.

Am quite pleased with my 'observation through an open window' as didnt expect to see 2 in the space of a few minutes.

[geppetto]

Could have been the ISS (International Space Station)

[Kain]

Look on heavens above to find out if it was the ISS.

Kain

[Akyra]

It shows it not being above the UK.

[garymcgrory]

have you checked to see if it was an iridium flare? heaven's above will provide you with times and directions?

[Tinkerbell]

Lo Akyra

Up here it was visible from 23:13 to 23:23. So down there in the south it would have been quite high and very bright. :shock:

As to Sats there are in excess of 30,000 of the little devils shooting around the globe at any moment in time.

A good piece of kit for Sats is Orbitron, google it and download.

Cheers

[The Warthog]

Most satellites in non-polar orbits go from west to east, because it's easier to launch them that way. At Cape Canaveral, they have a 1400km/hr push in that direction because of the rotation of the earth. Polar orbiting satellites, such as the Iridium satellites, don't have that headstart. If it's very bright, it is probably the ISS, which can be as bright as -1 or 2. There's a launch coming up, too, so the Shuttle should be up there with it soon.

Watching Iridium flares can be fun. There are threads on the subject in this forum.