30 strong convoy of high altitude aircraft just passed overhead

fryup

ps200306 wrote: »

I'm hoping it's a lot higher that that, unless I've read it wrong. You generally can't see them that low -- I found they have to be above 45 degrees. Are you sure you didn't look at the start times instead of the highest altitude times?

well i'm getting my info here i don't know how accurate it it

gamblor101

Didn't see anything this evening

TheChizler

gamblor101 wrote: »

Didn't see anything this evening

Just saw a couple 10 minutes ago, must make an effort to see the next tight train

UrbanFret

the seem to be well spread out though. Every couple of mins like.

WeatherOrWhich

gamblor101 wrote: »

Didn't see anything this evening

I had a look out and thought I saw three in a row but nothing as clear as initial youtube link at start of thread

HeidiHeidi

Had a few looks out, could see nothing, but shocking light pollution where I am

fryup

saw a number of very dimly lit sats passing by, damp squib really

celt262

UrbanFret wrote: »

the seem to be well spread out though. Every couple of mins like.

Yep can see them good distance between them.

gamblor101

Will venture out again after next launch

Shakey_jake

Is this appearing tomorrow?

upupup

They are too spread out and too high up to be a visible train now.
Starlink 6 launches on thursday night so that's the one to watch out for now

ps200306

Don't know what happened. Was the prediction a dud? I had a perfect view but only saw 6 sats in a 30 minute window

heavens-above predicted 45 or so at magnitude 2 which would have been easily visible.

Shakey_jake

upupup wrote: »

They are too spread out and too high up to be a visible train now.
Starlink 6 launches on thursday night so that's the one to watch out for now

When can i see this? sorry total novice here

dmc17

Shakey_jake wrote: »

When can i see this? sorry total novice here

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

This will take your location and create a simulation of the viewing using Google street view. List of sightings down the left side

upupup

Shakey_jake wrote: »

When can i see this? sorry total novice here

Have to wait for the launch first,then when it passes over ireland with a clear sky so no info yet

SCOOP 64

Seen three in a row but seem to be miles apart, hoping for better then that.

amacca

touts wrote: »

It is a satellite network Elon Musk is putting into orbit to provide global high speed broadband. Right now they have just over 200 satellites in orbit. They plan to put something like 27,000 in orbit in the next few years. What you saw tonight was just one train of around 60 satellites. By 2027 the night sky as we know it will be full of them. It will look like a net of moving stars covering the sky. I don't think people realise just how big a change this is going to be but Space-x can do it because no government really has control over it.

Anyone else of the opinion they shouldn't be allowed mess up the night sky like that?

I.like it the way it is in its more natural state without a grid of manmade objects ****ing up the way it looks..
Cool and all as it may be and despite the fact I would like affordable high speed broadband.

Xertz

It’s going to make astronomy challenging and they’re not the only company planning to do this. Several plans in several countries.

dkd21

Did anybody else view satelites in a perpendicular trajectory to the starlink ones ? Coming from the SE. I didnt have a live map but they could be observed easily at high elevation , so just wondering what those were ?

Squeaksoutloud

dkd21 wrote: »

Did anybody else view satelites in a perpendicular trajectory to the starlink ones ? Coming from the SE. I didnt have a live map but they could be observed easily at high elevation , so just wondering what those were ?

Yes I am pretty sure I saw something perpendicular also. Very faint however, as were the Starlink satellites.

lintdrummer

Went out last night and saw nothing. Went out tonight and I saw one satellite along the correct trajectory for Starlink, but that was it. Saw another satellite on a different trajectory.
I spotted this message on one of the tracking websites. So clearly many people have had difficulty seeing it. He also had the following message for tonight:
There is a chance that tonight's 10:34pm/April 21 timing may not be visible (or appear 30 mins before the predicted time, i.e. at 10:04pm). Many reports of failed sightings were received yesterday (April 20). Possible causes: too long after sunset, or satellites being turned by their owner. Still being investigated, sorry! Please try at your own risk.

Why would they possibly be visible half an hour earlier than expected? Can't make sense of that. Anyhow, I might try again tomorrow night but I think I'm better off waiting for an opportunity to see the new launch.

Edser

Interesting. I thought I saw one last night and one tonight (around 10:35), but I did notice some flashes which were nearly directly above me on the same W > E trajectory and it did occur to me that it looked like they were catching the sunlight at that spot.

fryup

lintdrummer wrote: »

I'm better off waiting for an opportunity to see the new launch.

when is the next new launch?? anyone know?

Reversal

fryup wrote: »

when is the next new launch?? anyone know?

Around 8.30pm today. Live stream on SpaceX YouTube channel.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^

really and will we see it fly over irish skies?

two wheels good

I saw it last night: 22.35, Co Cork. Not at all what I'd expected.
One single small light that seemed very high and travelling fast, West to East and passed almost overhead. Visible for approx 1minute I'd say but clouds and trees obstructed view.

Starlink's Description:
10:33 pm (or 30min before), 21 Apr 2020
Starlink-5,6 OLD, DIM (2.7) for 6 mins
Look from WEST (265°) to EAST (74°)
Elevation (from horizon): start: 10°, max: 76°, end: 25°

So what was it - a single satellite?

Reversal

two wheels good wrote: »

I saw it last night: 22.35, Co Cork. Not at all what I'd expected.
One single small light that seemed very high and travelling fast, West to East and passed almost overhead. Visible for approx 1minute I'd say but clouds and trees obstructed view.

Starlink's Description:
10:33 pm (or 30min before), 21 Apr 2020
Starlink-5,6 OLD, DIM (2.7) for 6 mins
Look from WEST (265°) to EAST (74°)
Elevation (from horizon): start: 10°, max: 76°, end: 25°

So what was it - a single satellite?

I saw the half ten pass last night too. Saw about 20, around 30s apart. Unfortunately the weren’t that visible, most lit up brightly for a second or two only when directly overhead. Some visible for longer. So there was quite a few and they were close together, not all illuminated at once though. Sun angle etc all feeds into that so a matter of luck really.

Harry Palmr

https://twitter.com/VirtualAstro/status/1252308960352374789

Reversal

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^

really and will we see it fly over irish skies?

I really don’t know. Can’t find anything online to say it will or not. Saw one plot on Twitter, that showed a trajectory over Ireland. However the launch is is aroun 8.40 so it’ll still be bright if the second stage passes over here if all goes on time.

However, this will be a new bunch of 60 which will be close together for a few weeks so good opportunities to see a train.

ps200306

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^

really and will we see it fly over irish skies?

They are in an inclined orbit, similar to the ISS. So you only see them when the trajectory takes them close to Ireland and its within an hour or two the right side of sunset or sunrise so they are lit by the Sun. But obviously there are a lot more of them so it happens more often than the ISS. Over time they disperse along the orbital track and move to higher orbits, so only the latest, lowest, tightly bunched lot seem to be worth looking for. Don't know if anyone will have predictions for today's Starlink 6 until after the launch. There's probably some uncertainty in the orbit achieved.

Inclined orbit, Earth rotates underneath:



On a 2D projection it looks like a sinusoid with each orbit passing over a different location:



Starlink has a similar orbital inclination to the ISS (53° vs. 51.6°). That takes it close to Ireland whenever it flies over Florida, which would be good for a launch like tonight except the satellites don't deploy until after it has passed by us. The next pass is then around 10.15pm (assuming on-time launch at 8.30). That's fine from a sunlight point of view but no idea if they'll be anywhere near Ireland on that pass.

EDIT: Speak of the devil, this site is predicting that the launch vehicle will be visible over the British Isles on first pass around 20:58 IST, but that the sats won't have deployed/dispersed. The second pass is a few hundred kilometres below our south coast so I'm guessing too low down / nothing much to see. Then as far as I can see there's nothing for a few days. I could be wrong.