lots of planes in the sky tonight?

bakerlite

out for my evening stroll in the country here - nice starry night and spotted a lot of planes in the air - almost in a formation, looked to be coming in from the atlantic towards shannon perhaps eight in the brief couple of minutes i looked up , were in pairs first whihc caught my eye and then seemed to get in more of a line.
Is there any way to look up online whre they were from or going to? just seemed like unusal traffic but i guess at the oment it all is.

refusetolose

ya sure they were planes and not satellites?

https://www.flightradar24.com/

Spencer Brown

Starlink maybe?

bakerlite

thanks for the link;
I could almost make out the lights but they were high - no sound either so yeah I guess pretty high - pretty sure they werent satellites due to the travelling as pairs then assuming different formation, quite impressive to see so many in one go cross the full night sky in such a short time. quite the spectacle.

Foggy43

Elon Musk's Starlink 5 passed over, West to South East at 1021pm for 6 minutes.

Risteard81

Foggy43 wrote: »

Elon Musk's Starlink 5 passed over, West to South East at 1021pm for 6 minutes.

It was for 23 minutes tonight.

bakerlite

Oh! thanks a million thats great to know.
I'm so ignorant of all the aviation stuff so dont have a clue really - let alone the space stuff... not my area! but look up often enough (in case the sky is falling on my head) to recognise when something isnt your every day kinda thing that youd be used to.

Notoldorwise

bakerlite wrote: »

out for my evening stroll in the country here - nice starry night and spotted a lot of planes in the air - almost in a formation, looked to be coming in from the atlantic towards shannon perhaps eight in the brief couple of minutes i looked up , were in pairs first whihc caught my eye and then seemed to get in more of a line.
Is there any way to look up online whre they were from or going to? just seemed like unusal traffic but i guess at the oment it all is.

https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/?special=starlink

BionicRasher

Check out this site
Shows when and where Starlink satellites will pass overhead

Really impressive sight

https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/?special=starlink

endacl

BionicRasher wrote: »

Really impressive depressing sight...

... if you’ve an interest in visual astronomy and realise that the view is going to be fcuked up by Elon Musk’s ego, which apparently is too over inflated to be contained within the atmosphere of an entire planet.

You made exactly the same point with the same less then helpful language a few weeks ago. There's a wider discussion that relates in the Astronomy forum. Move on or get a sanction

bakerlite

endacl wrote: »

... if you’ve an interest in visual astronomy and realise that the view is going to be fcuked up by Elon Musk’s ego, which apparently is too over inflated to be contained within the atmosphere of an entire planet.

I was unaware of the bigger picture....

[Deleted User]

bakerlite wrote: »

I was unaware of the bigger picture....

I wouldn’t worry. He’s doing more than some amateur looking up through a telescope. It’s progress.

endacl

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I wouldn’t worry. He’s doing more than some amateur looking up through a telescope. It’s progress.

Professionals are quite concerned as well. Especially those concerned with observations over long time periods, which is pretty much anything deep-sky.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/24/21190273/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-constellation-astronomy-coating

While it is undeniably progress the problem, I suppose, is that it's one individual's vision of solving a problem that only he has identified.