I Spy A Satellite!

My mother returned from holiday last year and told me that during the flight home she could see strange things that were definitly not aircraft flying way above the aeroplane. She was puzzled as to what they were so she asked me. I replied that they were either aliens or she was just plain daft!
But last night whilst online I was flicking through some pics and came accross one of Hubble, my mother jumped up and told me that that is the shape of the things she had been watching in the sky the night of that flight.

Is it possible to see satellites such as communications and hubble etc from an aircraft when at high alltitudes???

Certainly...you can see them from the ground on a clear nigth as they pass across the night sky.

Peace,
Lukefj

But can you see the outstreched solar panels and such from up there?
It was the shape of the solar panels on Hubble that she identified as what she had seen!

In that case, my personal opinion would be no. It would be far too far away to see any detail of the satellite. It would just be a dot in the sky. In this case, I'm not sure what your mother saw.

Lukefj

I see them all the time on clear nights. Usually you are only going to see the low orbiting ones and not the Geosyncronus Communication and weather sattilites. Often you can see more with binoculars.

I wish there was a way you could track it and figure out what the sattilite was for. I know my dad when he was in college would help NORAD track sattilites by observing them and recorind thier location at certain times. But that was before Radars were used to track them.

Even when I observed the MIR space station all I saw was a bright dot in the sky. Take some fairly powerful magnification to make out a shape. I seem to remember with the last Space shuttle disaster the Military released some photos for evidance of the space shuttle before it broke up and there was maybe 5-10m per pixel resolution

[edit on 3/3/2005 by Jehosephat]

How much of the shape can u see with a telescope?

And if my mother couldnt have seen the shape, then what did she see???

if she saw a shape, it was either her imagination, distortion, or even the proverbial weather ballon (they still use them sometimes)

She pointed at a picture of Hubble and said thats what i saw!!!

How fast did the object seem to move in relation to the plane ?
How high was the plane itselve flying ?
What's was the viewangle relative to the plane, what direction did the object seem to go relative to the plane?

What was the orientation of the "solarpanels" perpendicular to the flightpath of the object ?

It happened at night, how could the object be seen, did it have onboard little ligts or was it illuminated by the sun (theoratically possible if hihg enough to catch rays from over the horizon)

If it was relatively slow, I wouldn't rule out some project with high altitude surveillance blimps ,

Could your mother give us details about the route she was flying, date and time of the incident, possibly location or estimate the time of witnessing after departure? Would be interesting to know if any millitary airbase would be nearby....


[edit on 3-3-2005 by Countermeasures]

Not saying that she did see it or didn't see it. But lets just look at the facts.

The Hubble is 43.5ft (13.2 m) Long and 14ft (4.2 m) in Diameter. It is 353 Miles (569 km) above the Earth and travels at 17,500 MPH (28,000 kph).

She was in a plane travelling at what? Probably 30,000-40,000 ft. flying at 500-600 mph. The Hubble would be visible (if possible) for about 18 seconds.

If the Hubble was in direct path to reflect sunlight towards the plane she would have to been fairly quick and lucky to see it.

Phae

She was on a flight returning from Zante in Greece back to Newcastle UK! It was mid flight so half way between the two i imagine and she was at whatever height the boeing 767 flys at when cruising! The object wasnt moving fast and like i said at the start, there was more than one.
I didnt say she saw Hubble, i just said that it was that shape.

Why don't you post the picture and we can see for ourselves?

Why don't you post the picture and we can see for ourselves?

There is no pic!

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it turned out to be a French black project for stratospheric millitary blimps, French defensefirm Thales already did a joint - venture (with Raytheon of all places, see bussiness is not hindered by patriotic sentiments!) bid to offer the lower altitude surveillance blimps for the Olympics in Athenes.

I don't know if your mother was flying over French teritory, but the French are known to want to have all the toys that the big boys have...



[edit on 3-3-2005 by Countermeasures]

Im talking to her now about it and she says she seen five objects that looked all the same at different times during the flight. The flight was at about midday with clear blue sky and she could definitly see wing shaped objects coming from the sides which she says are the same as the solar panels on Hubble.

Im thinking, how fast does a satelitte orbit the earth? Could she have seen the same object at different times?

And it is very possible that she was in French airspace as i think the flight path leading to Greece does cross a small section of France!

Originally posted by MickeyDee

Im thinking, how fast does a satelitte orbit the earth? Could she have seen the same object at different times?

The Hubble makes a complete orbit every 97 minutes. Could be possible (If it is even possible to see) if she was in flight for several hours.

Phae

She was in flight for about 4 and a half hours! i dont think it was hubble she saw, im just extremley curious as to what she did see.

My feeling is that observation of features of the Hubble by an uninstrumented eye from the surface or a plane is just impossible.

I would say a person won't be able to tell the shape of an object the size of Hubble from just 3 miles away.

My feeling is that observation of features of the Hubble by an uninstrumented eye from the surface or a plane is just impossible

I have stated several times that it most probably wasnt hubble that she saw! BUT what she did see had the same type wings/solar panels as hubble.
I was just using hubble as an example!

I dont think she saw the Hubble...lol, nah just kidding.

It could have being an airship...or maybe a U-2 with external fuel tanks. Since i'm assuming she's not very familiar with different aircraft.

The U-2 Spy Plane....................................and the other is the Hubble.

I know what your thinking...WOW! that is an amazing MS Paint work of art, I agree.

[edit on 3-3-2005 by Murcielago]