Satellites in field of view.

[Mad Taff]

Hi

I've been out in the garden with my 200p telescope quite a few times since I bought it in January and I am enjoying it very much. I have to say though, that when I took up this hobby I was not expecting to see satellites drifting through my field of view. A couple of nights back I was panning the sky using the standard 25mm eyepiece looking at nothing in particular, but enjoying the spectacle, only to see on about three separate occasions a satellite drifting by. This has happened at other times too. Some move slow enough to track them using the slow controls on the EQ - a bit of fun. It just goes to show that there must be a huge amount of these things whizing around the Earth much of it being space junk I suppose. Cheers - Phil

[Tinker1947]

I doubt anybody has a true count of whats orbiting, the live Sats might be easy but the dead Sats could be many many thousands......

[colesmat]

Do they have any shape in the ep or are they just like you see them with the naked eye?

[Bart]

Do they have any shape in the ep or are they just like you see them with the naked eye?

It's usually a case of "whawasdat" and then they're a distant memory. I have had 2 and even 3 on one occasion move across a wide field of view. I like seeing them. No shapes, at least to my eyes.

Barry

[Mad Taff]

No. I don't see any shape. Their just the same as with a naked eye - a point of light moving across the sky.

[ronin]

Seen estimates from 13000 to 25000 of them floating around up there, and what counts as debris must be unmeasurable.

With a fair field of view it will be almost impossible not to see one, suppose that images don't like them.

[northwalesparry]

if you have stellarium you can add sats to it , its very cool some pass really slow and some too fast to see , but you can see some with the naked eye they look like a pinprick of light moving across the sky.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Wait until you get a plane pass through the FOV.. Planes can be quite easy to follow too.

[tonedeaf]

and planes mess up your 20min images

i hate them...especially if they don´t stick to their flight corridor and take short-cuts above your house...

[LukeSkywatcher]

I used to get a kick out of seeing satellites in my scope or bins. Now i just ignore them. The only ones i still get a big kick out of is ones that flare up (commonly called Iridium flares...........although not all of those that do flare up are Iridium satellites).

[robstonham]

I got a plane going though my FOV the 2nd or 3rd time I went out after getting my first 130P. Can't remember what EP I had in, but remember thinking "what the hell is that?". Then when I realised what it was noticed that while I didn't see the flashing navigation lights I think that I saw the cabin lights from where people had the window blinds open!

It was a good surprise that I could actually see the windows from such a distance.

[David55]

In the few months I've been observing I've quite often seen a pinprick of light move across my view. But last weekend I saw something much bigger moving from north east to south west. What made it remarkable was that it seemed to be slowly rotating and from time to time became very bright before fading a little again. Anyone know what it might have been- international space station?

David

[LukeSkywatcher]

In the few months I've been observing I've quite often seen a pinprick of light move across my view. But last weekend I saw something much bigger moving from north east to south west. What made it remarkable was that it seemed to be slowly rotating and from time to time became very bright before fading a little again. Anyone know what it might have been- international space station?

David

I think what you saw is commonly referred to as a "Tumbler". Its a satellite that i think spins round and round while it travels. Parts of the satellite catch sunlight as it goes and this causes the "flashing" you see.

http://www.satobs.org/tumble/tumbleintro.html

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I got a plane going though my FOV the 2nd or 3rd time I went out after getting my first 130P. Can't remember what EP I had in, but remember thinking "what the hell is that?". Then when I realised what it was noticed that while I didn't see the flashing navigation lights I think that I saw the cabin lights from where people had the window blinds open!

It was a good surprise that I could actually see the windows from such a distance.

Its really quite cool isnt it lol. I have been known to chase planes and let them fly through my FOV

[northwalesparry]

In the few months I've been observing I've quite often seen a pinprick of light move across my view. But last weekend I saw something much bigger moving from north east to south west. What made it remarkable was that it seemed to be slowly rotating and from time to time became very bright before fading a little again. Anyone know what it might have been- international space station?

David

iss usually goes SW to SE its visable all this and next week . http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_Kingdom&region=Wales&city=Llandudno#.UWkr2PVwbIU

[Jeffro]

I saw the iss lastnight. That really is a hard little sucker to keep up with , using a 5mm eyepeice and dob.