Line of stars moving across sky?

Wow, yes, this was definitely Starlink. I gotta get out and see it, possibly right now!

It seems the whole second constellation is passing over us each morning at present, between 5.00am and 7.00am. All 60 of them of them go over, along with several pieces of Falcon 9 debris. The window is longer than a single orbit so we get to see most of them twice, for a total of over 100 sightings yesterday and 125 today! That said, they start off around mag. 6 which would be a difficult spot, but get down to mag. 2-3 after 6am. And although they are spread out across the orbit, they are currently strongly clustered so that yesterday there would have been one every few seconds between 6.15 am and 6.25 am, giving a "string of pearls" appearance. Today, Saturday 30-Nov, the string of pearls goes over twice with the brighter second sighting between 6.40 and 6.50 am and it will pass almost directly overhead from west to east at mag 2.6.

heavens-above has got the schedule up...

• Draggy globe live simulation, gives a good idea where the string-of-pearls is right now (passing over New Zealand into southern Pacific as I write so I have half an hour to get out there): https://www.heavens-above.com/starlink.aspx
• Main page, click the "Starlink -- all objects from second launch" link: https://www.heavens-above.com/main.aspx

Don't forget to set your location and time zone. Half a chance of clear weather for the next few days, so worth trying to catch. In the long run I don't know how the schedule evolves but the orbit looks similar to the ISS so maybe they come around periodically (but I'd imagine more often than the few weeks between ISS returns). Also, I guess the string of pearls will become more spread out over time. Just looking at the live simulation by eye, it looks to me like the orbit takes them up to latitude 53 or 54, so they have the potential to pass directly overhead in Ireland. Right, gotta go catch 'em!

A pox on Irish weather! (How many times has that been said?)

Got a good whole-sky viewing spot at 6.30. A clearance had set in from the east (and a chill wind with it) but the rest of the sky was clouded out. There was already sunlight in the east so no chance of seeing mag. 2-3 that low down. All I caught was a stubbed toe and slightly twisted knee before I remembered to use the phone torch. :pac:

P.S. Forgot to post this "how to spot" link earlier ... https://www.space.com/see-spacex-starlink-satellites-in-night-sky.html

what is the overall aim of the project?

Are they passing over in the evenings as well, at around 6ish, seen something last night?

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Are they passing over in the evenings as well, at around 6ish, seen something last night?

So did I, around 18:30?

I only noticed one though, but it was freezing so wasn't hanging about outside.

Sparko wrote: »

The ISS was visible between 18.12 and 18.16 last night - could have been that?

Yeah maybe it was a bit earlier than I thought. I was going to point it out to himself and the kids but they all think I'm already crazy I presume it's easily visible with the naked eye?

Sorry I didn't now.

Sorry for the following q's as I'm sure it's answered repeatedly but is there an easy website that shows the times of the flights as the 4 yo loves stargazing. He'd love the idea of seeing something extra

ps200306 wrote: »

Clouded out again this morning.

I don't think I'm destined to see these things. Last chance for the time being is tomorrow (3rd Dec), 6.20 - 6.30am.

Meanwhile: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/spacex-starlink-astronomers-1.5378769

Cool. Looks like I'll be up early tomorrow morning. Heres hoping for clear skies.

ps200306 wrote: »

https://www.heavens-above.com/


Don't forget to set your location (top right hand side) in order to get correct information. Only needs to be set roughly, e.g. Dublin etc.


The ISS is by far the brightest of them all, and is going over twice each evening at the moment. Nice and early -- perfect for a youngster. Look for the lowest brightness (mag.) numbers. -2 or -3 is very bright. I always try to show beginning skywatchers the ISS and tell them it's half a dozen people travelling at 28,000 km/h.


https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=53.3498&lng=-6.2603&loc=Dublin&alt=0&tz=GMT

e.g. 5.24 pm this evening:

Ah brilliant thank you, fingers crossed for clear skies

Incredible, what a sight! First time seeing it, thank you so much for the heads up! Not a cloud in the sky!

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

Where are you seeing it from?

Bray, my garden. At one point I think I counted 10 very clearly visible to the naked eye at the same time.

patrickflem wrote: »

Did anyone see the sky tonight at 20.30 literally like every star in the sky was moving at a rapid rate I never seen anything like it I tracked one constellation of stars from a distance come in fast them after about 2 minutes the whole sky stopped the way it should be and no I was not seeing things

I'm gonna hazard a guess it wasn't a change to the Earth's rotation or the proper motion of the stars. I'll hazard another guess that it was partly cloudy with a high wind. That can produce an extremely compelling optical illusion. Then it either cleared or you managed to fix your gaze on one particular spot and the illusion went away.

Are those predictions still accurate? I went out to spot them a couple of weeks ago and only saw two. I was wondering if the sats had spread out along their orbit by now. I'll give it another shot this evening and see what I see. There's another launch due tomorrow, but I think it'll be the darker painted sats designed to minimise light pollution.

ps200306 wrote: »

Are those predictions still accurate? I went out to spot them a couple of weeks ago and only saw two. I was wondering if the sats had spread out along their orbit by now. I'll give it another shot this evening and see what I see. There's another launch due tomorrow, but I think it'll be the darker painted sats designed to minimise light pollution.

The predictions are exact! Only question is cloud cover or light pollution near to you. Heavens Above app is perfect for it