Mr

[JohnH2856]

18/01/2020 at 18:15 / 18:25 ish.

observed what I believe to have been a string of satellites (about a dozen) all on same trajectory , South West to North East in close proximity of each other . All faded at Zenith.

can what I viewed be confirmed as I have never seen this before in many years of star gazing. My location is on the Isle of Sheppey Kent England.

[Neil H]

Hi it's the space x satellite train  watched it as well tonight 

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-night-sky-visibility-guide.html

[Cornelius Varley]

23 minutes ago, JohnH2856 said:

18/01/2020 at 18:15 / 18:25 ish.

observed what I believe to have been a string of satellites (about a dozen) all on same trajectory , South West to North East in close proximity of each other . All faded at Zenith.

can what I viewed be confirmed as I have never seen this before in many years of star gazing. My location is on the Isle of Sheppey Kent England.

Hello and welcome to SGL. What you have just seen is a string of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites.

[JohnH2856]

Thank you. You have verified what I have been told.

[Jiggy 67]

On 19/01/2020 at 19:52, Neil H said:

Hi it's the space x satellite train  watched it as well tonight 

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-night-sky-visibility-guide.html

Watched the video in the link, pretty amazing but the mention of a planned 12,000 mega constellation of satellites is a bit disturbing!

Edited January 23, 2020 by Jiggy 67

[Carbon Brush]

You are not alone finding the idea of thousands of satellites disturbing. Professionals and amateurs have expressed concern.

[Neil H]

True but seems if you money you can do what you like , his roadster is still going well till it crashes into some thing Great first contact is a car crash lol 

[Xsubmariner]

Its amazing that on the ground we are subjected to rigorous (some might say illogically prohibitive) planning controls, in space, any person with sufficient money can fill the area with space junk that will spoil the sky for millions. Two other companies are planning similar ventures, all in the name of exploiting the WWW. We used to call it progress.😡😭

[Physopto]

We will have to wait and see just how much it all affects us in so far as visual and imaging astronomy goes.  I have spent a great deal of time and money on my hobby and gear. I know many others here in the UK and others  around the world are in the same boat, so to speak.  Some time ago scientists at the Chilean Observatories were complaining about the light pollution encroaching from towns many miles away from their observatories. No efforts seem to have been made in stopping this so far from any news  I have so far  heard.

Maybe a Multinational Law or some sort of class action will be the only method in the end to stop the pollution of the heavens, as money always seems to speak in the end!

I will be selling on all my gear if the beauty of the skies is spoilt for me.

I have no interest in wasting my time, money and effort in trying to eradicate satellite trails from my images caused by one ignorant idiot and his delusions of infallibility.

Derek

[Neil H]

We are like many hobbies the Few mess it up for the many . This is why my RC helicopters and drone are up for sale 

[carastro]

Quote

I will be selling on all my gear if the beauty of the skies is spoilt for me.

and here is the sting in the tail, because if you are giving it up how many people are going to want to buy your kit if you can't do it any more.

If you haven't done so already sign this petition. 810 signatures so far:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/SpaceEx_Starlink_Fifty_thousand_telecom_satellites_will_make_astronomy_impossible/?aVIigpb&newuser=1

Also what's it going to do to the Retailers who sell the kit and those like Olly who run Astro holidays (Have already spoken to Olly about it).

FLO:  What do you think?  I spoke to ESO by Skype a couple of weeks ago (I had found their contact details elsewhere) and they said that money speaks, and that if companies are going to lose money because of it, then they should all get together and make a protest.  

Carole 

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by carastro

[JOC]

We'd better start looking after this green/blue ball a lot better if that lot is hitting the skies - we'll never escape on a rocket without it hitting something!

[Physopto]

I would support a petition but find the idea that I have to give too much information to do so. I do not want Facebook or any other such rubbish. I will not give out such personal information just to support a petition.

Derek

[JOC]

8 minutes ago, Physopto said:

I would support a petition but find the idea that I have to give too much information to do so. I do not want Facebook or any other such rubbish. I will not give out such personal information just to support a petition.

I must admit that always makes me cross too.  What can be useful is to create a throwaway email address on one of the free email accounts that abound in internet land and just use that throwaway email to signup for these things and then never look at it again.  There is also nothing that says you have to give your full or real name.

[carastro]

Some of these petitions require you to validate by sending you an E mail.  

AVAAZ is fine I've been signing their various petitions for years they do support some very good causes.  However I did get tired of them keep sending me causes they thought I might like to sign, so I unsubscribed.

Often they want you E mail address so they can update you on the progress of the petition.

I definitely don't like all these other things that it likes you to post it on like Facebook, Twitter etc, so I just ignore them.

Carole 

 

[Physopto]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

I must admit that always makes me cross too.  What can be useful is to create a throwaway email address on one of the free email accounts that abound in internet land and just use that throwaway email to signup for these things and then never look at it again.  There is also nothing that says you have to give your full or real name.

Yes I have done that, but getting completely fed up with having to re-establish new ones. Just checked my deleted files and replies from these sites have appeared there and the petitions are signed. Found a small worded bit saying "Skip for Now" which I did.

Derek

[Physopto]

59 minutes ago, carastro said:

Some of these petitions require you to validate by sending you an E mail.  

AVAAZ is fine I've been signing their various petitions for years they do support some very good causes.  However I did get tired of them keep sending me causes they thought I might like to sign, so I unsubscribed.

Often they want you E mail address so they can update you on the progress of the petition.

I definitely don't like all these other things that it likes you to post it on like Facebook, Twitter etc, so I just ignore them.

Carole 

 

Hi Carole,

These sites do play on ones feelings to do the right thing. But they are a bit like a Pyramid Scheme. I certainly never pass on other email addresses or any names and never will. I also got rid of Facebook some time ago as it spreads so much bad feeling and lies. Far too much aggro for my liking. The rest I just can't be bothered with at all. Once I have done what I want, " Sign the Petition" I set up a "Filter" to automatically BIN all future emails from them, so I never see them at all. But it is a pain never the less.

Derek