Unusual Geostationary Satelite Trail

[laser_jock99]

Crop of an image taken while shooting the Witch Head Nebula (an area of sky packed with geostationary satelites). This one however appears to be tumbling out of control and rotating with a period of 3.2 seconds (74 flashes over 240s exposure). Two 'normal' geostationary satelite trails can be seen on the right.

Edited January 8, 2017 by laser_jock99

[Debo]

It may be spinning but not necessarily out of control, I found this on tinter net which describes the Hughes HS376 series
of geostationary statelites.

The Hughes HS376 series : the main body being 3m long and 2m in diameter. This grows to 6m in length once in orbit with the extension of the communications antennae and skirt of solar panels. These supplement the cells which already cover the main body, making a very nice specular reflector. This skirt and the main body rotate about the long axis, typically at around 55 r.p.m., whilst the antenna and equipment shelf are despun so as to maintain contact with their ground targets.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Debo

[laser_jock99]

1 hour ago, Debo said:

It may be spinning but not necessarily out of control, I found this on tinter net which describes the Hughes HS376 series
of geostationary statelites.

The Hughes HS376 series : the main body being 3m long and 2m in diameter. This grows to 6m in length once in orbit with the extension of the communications antennae and skirt of solar panels. These supplement the cells which already cover the main body, making a very nice specular reflector. This skirt and the main body rotate about the long axis, typically at around 55 r.p.m., whilst the antenna and equipment shelf are despun so as to maintain contact with their ground targets.

Thanks for the info. There's quite a few of them up there:

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sat/hs-376.htm

Surprised I've never seen one before.