Are satellites visible during the night because I have just seen 2 things in the sky?!?!?

reply to post by StarPeace


After the OP mentioned smoking, I scrolled down just to find the dumb anti-smoking post.I knew it would be here.

Originally posted by Namaste1001
I often see satellites when star gazing. Sometimes they flare up like someone has flashed a torch (flash light) at you then dim back down. Unless these are not satellites. Can anyone confirm that satellites actually do this?

That's called an irridium flare and it's caused by the sun reflecting off the dish antenna of a communications satilite. Look it up on google, there is a site somewhere that tells where and when they will occur.

reply to post by lonegurkha


I explained that on the previous page and posted a relevant link, but for those that missed it and want to read more on the Iridium Flares:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by WolliOli
I did record at the direction the 2nd one was in but looking at the video just then you cannot even see any stars yet there was hundreds everywehere I looked!!

By that do you mean you could not see "moving object" with your naked eyes, but it appeared on the camera?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, it is pretty common to "grab" things with a camera that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Generally because cameras can pickup infrared light whereas human eyes cannot... when related to capturing objects in the sky, there is alot of speculation that some UFO's seem to be emitting only infrared light, and not "visible" light. I'm not sure on what this phenomena is, but i have spotted reasonably large lights (at night) through the viewfinder of a digital camera, that "should" have been visible by the naked eye.

Its very spooky and interesting.

I see satellites often down here too.
But I ask those who are more informed than me, do some satellites travel in a
weaving or snake like motion? I have only seen this once.

reply to post by weirdguy


No they do not. They travel in a straight even line and the speed is constant. I usta love to see the stars when I was a kid and when I lived in a isolated ares but now there is so much light pollution im lucky to see two or three stars even on a clear night.

Originally posted by woogleuk

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive


1. Really huge in size.

The ISS can appear quite large

2. Darting from left to right at break neck speeds.

A lot of satellites that are close travel at "breakneck" speeds just to maintain orbit, again the ISS, which is in LEO, orbits the Earth 15.7 times a day, bit faster than your average family car, lol.

3. Vanishes right before your eyes.

When a satellite goes into the Earhs shadow, it can appear to just disappear

edit on 26/9/11 by woogleuk because: (no reason given)

1. The ISS from the ground would not be considered huge. It's only like 350 feet across and is like 200 miles up.

2. I said breakneck and turn left and right. Satellites travel in one direction.

3. When anything goes into the Earths shadow, it can appear to just disappear.

reply to post by bluemooone2


I live on the outskirts of Adelaide in South Australia. The nights here are nice and dark
with only little light pollution and so the milky way streches across the whole sky. I feel sorry for people like yourself in big citys that dont get to see it all. It's awesome

There are several things one should know in the determining of what they saw was a satellite or not. There are indeed a number of programs that will tell you what satellites are visible and at what time by your geographical area.

But knowing where a satellite is going to be is only part of the story. A visual satellite pass requires a number of additional circumstances, without which you won't be able to see the satellite. These are:

* The satellite must be above the observer's horizon.
* The sun must be below the observer's horizon enough to darken the sky.
* The satellite must be illuminated by the sun.


If the Sun is unable to illuminate these orbiting devices, then you won't be able to view them. And if you should see something during a period of time that satellites shouldn't be visible.. then my friend, you've got a whole new equation to factor in (and those are the ones to me that are exciting).

reply to post by JohnnyAnonymous


Correct Johnny, with one small adjustment, the Iridium satellite flares can be visible during the day, even when the Sun is well above the Horizon. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to avoid confusion should a reader of this thread happen to be lucky enough to see a daytime one.

Satellites at night look like small light yellow dots moving at constant velocity in straight direction. Compared to airplanes at night, you can see by their size they are indeed higher than the airplanes you see and you can identify with their red blinking light.

Shooting stars look the same as satellites but they rapidly move through the sky in straight direction and burn out after passing a very short distance and can lit the air a little around them, all this happens for 1-2 seconds then disappear.

reply to post by JohnnyAnonymous


Thanks for the info. I never considered the earths shadow when viewing these, I always
assumed the satellites were high enough to catch the sun so I have always passed them off
as such. So If I see one around the midnight hours then it's probably not a satellite, Is this correct?

I see them sometimes around those hours of the night. If they were blinking then I would call them a high flying airliner, but they dont blink.

As for the one I mention earlier that was snaking through the sky. I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks at first, but as it passed by stars I could see it swerving. It was 11 years ago and it has always stuck in my mind as peculiar but I also assumed it to be a fancy gps satellite of some kind.

I shall have to take more notice of the details next time I'm out

reply to post by woogleuk


All satellites to my knowledge if at the right angle at the right time could be visible during the day, its just that the chances of them ever being bright enough not to be drowned out by the sun, and you looking directly at it at that moment is very very low.

The Iridium communication satellites though are strong enough reflective wise to do so any time if its strong enough. Haven't seen one during the day personally (Only the ISS), but they sure are neat at night, 'oh dear I think I pooped myself its looking at me!' kinda neat if you havent seen one before.

Lucky for me, my first one was a -1 magnitude... for a few seconds it looked like a bleeding car head light in the sky at 200 yards was quite an experience (felt like I could feel the reflective light it was that direct)

@Weirdguy, it could be an optical illusion, depends on how much of a wobble. Often when im following a satellite and sort of tracking its path through the stars in the background they sometimes appear to wobble slightly or take a slight wavy path even when I know its a satellite and hence it cant be wobbling, they all seem to have some curve to their path however if you get one that doesnt fade out to quickly and you can get a good long observation of it, but thats more than likely just the curve of the earth.

The 'satellites' I find the strangest (if in fact they are) are the grouped ones and the ones i term 'laggy' ones. Ive only seen a group of them once and given the number of them and alignment (4 lights in an L shape pattern) it isnt any satellite group ive read about.

And ive seen 3 laggy satellite which are noticeably slower compared to regular ones (at least half the speed of a typical satellite), they dont appear as a point of light, you cant see them unless they flash or flare and its usually the flash you notice first (thinking its a point meteor). They flare up randomly, but also flash for random amounts of times every few seconds, and even go out completely for long periods of 6 or longer seconds (one did so for 10 before it flashed again) then they flash and then slowly flare a little, followed by 2 flashes within just as many seconds etc completely random... thing is with the laggy ones is their speed doesnt appear constant. Your following its flashes and your predicting where its going along its path perfectly fine and suddenly one of the flashes or flares is only a tiny distance from the last one even though a number of seconds have passed that should place it alot further along its path when compared to other longer period flashes previously, and the path is more or less a regular satellite path. Could be reflective space junk tumbling, but that wouldnt explain the lag in its movements.

Anyone else seen a 'laggy' satellite? Havent been able to find any thing on em personally.