Lights in the sky?

[PickleB]

One last look tonight at 22h20...for a while at least. Maybe when the next launch goes up...if the weather is OK.

[unclealec]

I saw over 600 of them last night, clear as day, over my house in inner Manchester. At one stage they got into a formation which spelled my forum username.

Incidentally, Hecks & Son of Somerset now sell their farmhouse cider online in 10 litre boxes. I can recommend the Vintage Dry.

[Matt London]

I saw over 600 of them last night, clear as day, over my house in inner Manchester. At one stage they got into a formation which spelled my forum username.

Incidentally, Hecks & Son of Somerset now sell their farmhouse cider online in 10 litre boxes. I can recommend the Vintage Dry.

I definitely need a link for that, I have seen F all the last few nights! 😁

[Pretzel]

One last look tonight at 22h20...for a while at least. Maybe when the next launch goes up...if the weather is OK.

Clearly visible tonight at long last

[PickleB]

Clearly visible tonight at long last

Yep...plenty to be seen in the clearest, darkest sky of late. It also meant that I was able to press my 2.5 x 42 binos into service that I bought following a discussion about viewing a meteor shower. They really assist my aging vision. See:

Not so with ultra-wide Galilean binoculars … which have a larger FOV than the naked eye. which not only have an exceptionally wide FOV, but which for faint astro phenomena, also enable a 1.5x increase in magnitude. I'll be laying on a flat garden recliner with the Galilean bino eyepieces against my eyes … and my camera(s) will fitted with wide angle lenses to hopefully capture all that's happening during the exposures activated by the intervalometer(s).

dunk

Edited … they do not in fact have a wider field of view than the human eye but they make better use of the what the eye can see by improving the fainter phenomena's brightness (magnitude) in the galilean bino's wide field of view … more so than when observing with regular wide field binoculars.

A couple of links to examples of same: Kinglux & Sky Rover...there must be others (and they may be cheaper).

Searching on www.cloudynights.com using terms like ultra-wide, deep-sky and names of manufacturrers will turn up more info.

Thanks Dunk.

[Pretzel]

Yep...plenty to be seen in the clearest, darkest sky of late. It also meant that I was able to press my 2.5 x 42 binos into service that I bought following a discussion about viewing a meteor shower. They really assist my aging vision. See:
Thanks Dunk.

Did the binoculars make much difference? I tried with an old compact travel pair but they didn't help a lot.

[PickleB]

Did the binoculars make much difference? I tried with an old compact travel pair but they didn't help a lot.

For me they did. Being over 65 my eyesight isn't what it was and the light gathering assistance from 42 mm lenses brightened things up. In daylight you'd wonder why you used them as the minimal magnification doesn't do a lot. But that's not what they're for.

I'd recommend following either of the quotes I posted above (both to the same thread) and have a read though. Dunk's explanation is bound to be better than mine.


Update I just found this site with a half decent explanation of their functionality (link) albeit in the context of an equipment review. They're £100+ and so a nice to have in my book as they won't get used very often...unless you're into shy viewing, of course.

[PickleB]

The next launch (Starlink 7) has been scheduled (link) for 18 May 08h09-09h09 BST / 07h09 - 08h09 GMT / 0909-10h09 CEST.

[PickleB]

The next launch (Starlink 7) has been scheduled (link) for 18 May 08h09-09h09 BST / 07h09 - 08h09 GMT / 0909-10h09 CEST.

The launch has been brought forward to 17 May at approximately 09h00 BST / 08h00 GMT / 10h00 CEST.

[JohnnyE]

This thread has had me out in the back garden at some ridiculous hours this past while! It was all in vain until I downloaded the app called ISS Detector.

Here it is in the Google play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ar.issdetector

It's brilliant. I paid to go ad free and paying to resister tracks everything from the ISS to starlink and planets. A compass guides you in what direction to face. A dot on the compass guides you to the correct trajectory angle.

I was sceptical... And then last night the ISS gracefully slid over head. Brilliant!

For many of the sightings, you can tell that the angle is so low, you've no chance of seeing anything. That was the case tonight for me with starlink. 15 degrees or so above horizontal. I would have needed to be on top of a mountain to see that!

I'll post up screen shots if anyone wants a look. It's really got me into this. I also did a screen recording video for my Dad who was trying the same app. Happy to upload if anyone wants to see the app in action.

[PickleB]

The launch has been brought forward to 17 May at approximately 09h00 BST / 08h00 GMT / 10h00 CEST.

And now the weather has pushed it back to 08h10 BST Tuesday or later (link).

[andy tims]

Seen a few of the satellites now, but not yet a train of them.

The ISS was extremely bright on Friday night though.

[PickleB]

And now the weather has pushed it back to 08h10 BST Tuesday or later (link).

And again...link. Launch date now TBD but likely to be in June.

See SpaceX targets Wednesday night for next Starlink launch for details, noting that it will be Thursday morning over here:

04 June around 02:25 BST 03:25 CEST 03/21:25 EDT
61 min launch window opens at 20:55 EDT 00:55 GMT 01:55 BST
a but Starlink launches are typically in the middle of the window
the launch time gets roughly 20-21 minutes earlier per day thereafter

It doesn't look as though the weather here will be a clear as it was for the last launch so the observations may not be as good as last time...link.

[PickleB]

With the Starlink launches being delayed etc if the weather clears we may have better luck with Comet Neowise.

[JasonM]

Looks like a good opportunity to see loads of them tonight.
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/...ezuibrX0sJ60rs

[alfat33]

Looks like a good opportunity to see loads of them tonight.
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/...ezuibrX0sJ60rs

Thanks for that. Must have seen about 10 using the binoculars Dunk sold me recently. Then I got a stiff neck. Quite something when they are so close that yiu can see two at the same time through the binoculars.

[JasonM]

Sadly very overcast here in Cambridgeshire so no views for me.