Unidentified objects. Aircraft?

[AlcyoneSVX]

I went outside about half past nine to see if the sky was clear, and to decide whether to get my telescope out or relax in front of the TV with a glass of wine.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw a star that seemed to be moving across the sky. I thought maybe it was the ISS or something, which I've never seen before. Then I noticed another one following behind it, and another. I suppose they must have been military aircraft. There were at least 6 of them flying in a line (a long way apart, not a tight formation) in a North Easterly direction at high altitude. I see aircraft fly over quite often as we are near to Heathrow and Northolt, they are at much lower altitude and are easily recognisable by the flashing lights, green and red. But what I saw tonight was just single white lights like stars high in the sky and moving at a constant speed.

Anybody else see them. Any other suggestions what they could be?

Phil.

[John]

Starlink satellites:

 

[jetstream]

I don't think I like all these satellites...saw a big string of them last night.

[Stu]

Whilst they are amazing to view in some ways, I’m not a fan and think they will become incredibly distracting in future as more and more are launch. I like my skies natural and relaxing!

Not sure if this will post ok but this is a video of them going over last night.

[jock1958]

I counted 20 before I gave up.
As Stu says the more that are launched the more painful they will become especially for astro photography! 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

At 9.36pm 🙂I was observing around Leo and had a few pass through the eye piece at low power which became quite distracting. In the end I decided to line them up in the finder and watch them pass in the eye piece, It got tedious quite quickly 🙂

I did not that they were extremely bright last night which I assume is down to better sky quality in general. My wife has told me that social media is ablaze with people commenting on seeing them for the 1st time.

 

Baz

[Mark at Beaufort]

I was viewing DSOs in Leo last night and this string of satellites just went on and on. My thoughts, as some travelled close to M51, was this will ruin astro photography. 

[jetstream]

5 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I was viewing DSOs in Leo last night and this string of satellites just went on and on. My thoughts, as some travelled close to M51, was this will ruin astro photography. 

100% agree Mark and I don't think its going to be an asset for DSO observing either. I read there could be 20,000 of these things buzzing around. If these things are continuously in the eyepiece I might be throwing in the towel over here. I love the night sky in all its grandeur and its too bad more don't worldwide.

[Ships and Stars]

There are already so many satellites as it is, but these new satellite trains are going to be a nightmare for astronomers. Something needs to be done before they are streaming across the sky everywhere. Presumably once they go offline, they'll be left in a decay orbit to gradually fall out of the sky and burn up. Who knows, but it's a right mess.

[John]

59 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

... Something needs to be done before they are streaming across the sky everywhere. Presumably once they go offline, they'll be left in a decay orbit to gradually fall out of the sky and burn up. Who knows, but it's a right mess.

Too late to do anything about it I think - they have approval to launch 12,000 of these and may extend that to 45,000. 

Apparently they will be bought out of orbit and allowed to come down in a "controlled" manner in around 8 years or so,

 

[Ships and Stars]

1 minute ago, John said:

Too late to do anything about it I think - they have approval to launch 12,000 of these and may extend that to 45,000. 

Apparently they will be bought out of orbit and allowed to come down in a "controlled" manner in around 8 years or so,

 

Good grief, they will be everywhere...

[Mick H]

4 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

Good grief, they will be everywhere...

I also saw them last night 😡

Ships,

Time to get out of that Tank and into your satellite destroyer flying thingy. 😉

 

[Ships and Stars]

4 minutes ago, Mick H said:

I also saw them last night 😡

Ships,

Time to get out of that Tank and into your satellite destroyer flying thingy. 😉

 

I was thinking a custom 2000 watt laser pointer might knock them down. I'd bolt it to an AZ4 mount!

[Star101]

Chris Lintotts gives a mention of them in this months Sky at Night magazine.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Star101