Originally posted by Zaphod58
Except how can you tell they were higher than planes normally fly?

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Except how can you tell they were higher than planes normally fly? There's no way you can tell the altitude a plane is at looking up at it from the ground. You can tell something is "really high" but that's about it. The only way to tell is to have some kind of flight tracking software.

One of the interesting sights in the night sky are the Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) satellite formations, each having two or three satellites in close proximity to one another. Normally these satellites are relatively dim to the unaided eye, but on occasion they brighten sufficiently to be easily seen in a dark sky.

Normally, under favourable circumstances, 2nd generation NOSS satellites reach magnitude +5 to +6, observable with 7x50 binoculars. Occasionally, they brighten to magnitude +2 to +4, readily visible to the un-aided eye.

Rarely, they outshine the brightest stars. One observer of such an event commented, "Imagine seeing Venus in formation with itself separated by less than 7 degrees, with Saturn trailing along; that's what the spectacle looked like."

Originally posted by tgidkp
darn. dkp