Starlink

[MarkAR]

2 minutes ago, westmarch said:

To try to inject a note of hope into this, is it not likely that imaging software will evolve to remove the noise of satellites from images. Is it not just about software consulting a database of satellite position and time?

John

Possibly, but I see a current use for tracking mounts that will help. That would be to mount a high power laser.😉

[Xplode]

12 minutes ago, westmarch said:

To try to inject a note of hope into this, is it not likely that imaging software will evolve to remove the noise of satellites from images. Is it not just about software consulting a database of satellite position and time?

John

This has been possible for over 10 years so it's pretty funny to see people are still deleting images with satellites, the problem is a lack of knowledge, not satellites.

What most people don't think about is they won't see the Starlink satellites unless the sun is lighting them up, since they are so low they will be in the earth shadow most of the time except low towards the horizon or during dusk and dawn.
Still they don't really affect most people doing astrophotography, it's just hysteria because of a lack of knowledge.

You might want to take a look at my image here to see how well Pixinsigh deals with satellites

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Xplode

[Hallingskies]

13 minutes ago, Xplode said:

This has been possible for over 10 years so it's pretty funny to see people are still deleting images with satellites, the problem is a lack of knowledge, not satellites.

What most people don't think about is they won't see the Starlink satellites unless the sun is lighting them up, since they are so low they will be in the earth shadow most of the time except low towards the horizon or during dusk and dawn.
Still they don't really affect most people doing astrophotography, it's just hysteria because of a lack of knowledge.

You might want to take a look at my image here to see how well Pixinsigh deals with satellites

 

 

Ah, right, so me not liking to see a string of bright, man-made lights streaming across the sky every evening is down to my hysteria or lack of knowledge, rather than my respect for the sanctity of everyone's night sky and my wish to see it remain unspoiled.  Thanks for clarifying that.  I look forward to Coca Cola or McDonalds placing orbiting adverts around the world in low orbits.  It won't matter after all, you'll only be able to see them at dusk or dawn...

The only way Pixinsight could properly deal with Musk's satellites is to shoot them all down IMO.  I'll happily buy the first version that does that.

[Xplode]

1 hour ago, Hallingskies said:

Ah, right, so me not liking to see a string of bright, man-made lights streaming across the sky every evening is down to my hysteria or lack of knowledge, rather than my respect for the sanctity of everyone's night sky and my wish to see it remain unspoiled.  Thanks for clarifying that.  I look forward to Coca Cola or McDonalds placing orbiting adverts around the world in low orbits.  It won't matter after all, you'll only be able to see them at dusk or dawn...

The only way Pixinsight could properly deal with Musk's satellites is to shoot them all down IMO.  I'll happily buy the first version that does that.

You might want to read again, my comment was on the effect on astrophotography because some people think it's the end of astrophotography, that's hysterical and saying so it really a lack of knowledge.

I'm not happy about the satellites being points of lights in the sky either, but i'm realistic and realizing there's nothing i can do about them being there so i'm trying to get people to realize it doesn't really affect astrophotography that much, and there's also the thing about more people getting faster internet and some people won't have a chance of getting internet without Starlite at all.
What's more of a problem for astronomy is the local light pollution and air pollution.

[Paul M]

22 hours ago, tingting44 said:

how do you get these to show up in stelarium? i searched starlink but nothing

They aint no Starlink satellites. Those are the ever present Geostationary satellites. Orbiting above the equator with orbital speeds that just exactly match Earth's rotation speed, therefore they stay in the same place relative to the Earth below. Perfect for communication and weather satellites etc. They are in much, much higher orbits than the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites , circa 22,000 miles as  compared with a few hundreds of miles for LEO. Not easy to spot without some considerable effort.

[John]

Lets keep things calm folks.

Thanks

 

[jetstream]

I presume these things will form a grid eventually- anyone figure out the grid square size in degrees yet? thoughts?

Edited April 21, 2020 by jetstream

[MarkAR]

2 minutes ago, jetstream said:

I presume these things will form a grid eventually- anyone figure out the grid square size in degrees yet? thoughts?

Each string will be 1 hour apart so 15º and each satellite will be 5.45º

[jetstream]

1 minute ago, MarkAR said:

Each string will be 1 hour apart so 15º and each satellite will be 5.45º

Thanks Mark, I'm just trying to figure out if there will be any static "holes" in the grid to observe through. A bit dense here- an image or illustration would be great. What do you mean each satellite will be 5.45deg? This is each ones size in the sky?

[MarkAR]

11 minutes ago, jetstream said:

This is each ones size in the sky?

No it's the gap between.

Have a look at the YT link I posted earlier, it shows the proposed network animated. Basically they will be crisscrossing our skies.

[tony4563]

They could only have been bright for one night.

I've been out last couple of nights at the correct time of passing, and  hardly saw them at all.

Dim and very well spaced apart by around 3 or 4 minutes.

I was looking up thinking what the heck all the fuss about

Edited April 21, 2020 by tony4563

[John]

I saw 10 earlier tonight and they were quite bright - about magnitude 2 I guess ?

Spaced out by around 20 seconds.

[tony4563]

That's weird John.

I was out from just after 9.30pm tonight (Tuesday) looking Westerly towards Orion.

Saw the first go by, but took another couple of minutes to see the next, which had the same path.

They looked no brighter than any normal satellite seen in the night sky.  Again, the next one took a couple of minutes to see.

It was a clear night and the skies here in Driffield are rated as Bortle 4.

i eventually went in disappointed. It was nothing like the you tube video i saw of them earlier

[Stu]

Sounds like you weren’t seeing them Tony. Tonight they were brighter than last night, and as John says, still relatively close together.

[tony4563]

I did have the right time, didnt I?  lol 

 

9.32pm Tuesday was the info I was told

 

What time does it go past Wednesday if I missed actually did miss it?

 

[John]

The ones I saw went almost straight overhead from west to east. I didn't check the time but I guess it was around 10:30 pm ?

[tony4563]

Ah!   🙄

[Stu]

5 hours ago, tony4563 said:

Ah!   🙄

This seems a good site for predicted passes

https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/

[Expat_tony]

Update on 22.00 pass, Tuesday 21st.  Towards the end of the "show" there was a missing link in the chain. I wonder if this was a deployment failure, or a test of the "darksat".

If that's so, then it certainly succeeds to the naked eye. In an astrophoto, though, it remains to be seen, or not as the case may be.

They passed quite close to Thuban, alf Dra, 3.7mag. I saw them a little brighter, maybe 3.5. I know their final orbit will be further out, but it's still going to be inconvenient to say the least.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Expat_tony
Extra info in last para

[Chris]

Took my boy out side last night and he was excited to see a string of them whizzing by. I said loads more of them will be launched soon and the sky will become really busy with them at which point he looked freaked out! I told him I wasn't pleased about it either. I'm pleased to see my boy getting more and more into astronomy, I just wonder what kind of sky he'll be looking at when he grows up with bright fast moving satellites cris-crossing the night sky!  

 

 

[Skyline]

Sounds like blade runner

[Spaced Out]

On 20/04/2020 at 08:00, Stu said:

I had a somewhat lively debate on FB about these. I’m told they will be in low enough orbits that they will only be visible a couple of hours after sunset and before dawn. We shall see, I suspect they will still be quite distracting.

I caught them during in my lockdown garden timelapse the other night. Did only see them towards the end as it was getting light but could that have been because they happened to be there at that particular time an not there for the rest of the time, or are they whizzing by constantly ?

Edited April 23, 2020 by Spaced Out

[JamesF]

I'm told Starlink is being discussed on Jeremy Vine's R2 programme at the moment.

I'd listen, but I just can't stand Jeremy Vine, nor most of the people who usually seem to phone in.

James

[Floater]

5 hours ago, JamesF said:

I'm told Starlink is being discussed on Jeremy Vine's R2 programme at the moment.

Indeed it was. And I’m sure one of the contributors said that 9.45 - 10pm tonight was the best time to see a new(?) ‘train’. But most of the online media I’ve found says 8.58 and 9.10.

Does anyone have a definitive answer, please? Don’t want my grandsons staring at nothing happening and thinking grandad’s off his rocker ...!

[DaveL59]

as if those numerous satellites weren't enough
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54797917

will these madcap ideas never cease?