Reply With QuoteUp!Originally Posted by ALindsay
And slightly more helpfully, generally west to east as said, and the elevation above horizon can be checked here: https://findstarlink.com/
Yes!
Saw them tonight, well we saw 21. I think there were 41
Maybe their solar panels aren’t all pointed the same way.
It was great. Much better than last night.
Even my wife was impressed. I might get sexy time later.
Up!
And slightly more helpfully, generally west to east as said, and the elevation above horizon can be checked here: https://findstarlink.com/
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Nope, nothing to see here. We got sat out under blankets from around 22:20 but saw nothing this time. Wonder if our seats were facing the wrong way tonight :-(
Most enjoyable though star gazing.
From the findstarlink site:
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.
And more details:
April 21, 2020
Hello,
I'm very sorry last night's timing wasn't very visible. About 20-25 satellites were expected to be seen, but only 1 or 2 of them were seen. In many places, people did not see any satellites at all. I know how annoying it is to wait outside and not see anything. :(
The reason for this is still being investigated. I checked other satellite tracking tools (including tools astronomers use, like Heavens Above), and they all had the same prediction as mine (i.e. same time and direction).
The prediction worked on Sun, April 19, with hundreds of successful sighting emails received from across UK and Europe. So it's probably not a timezone issue. The results have always been in your local timezone (including daylight savings).
--
Currently, I'm investigating three possible reasons for last night's failure: 1. Too long after sunset: The 9:58pm/April 20 timing was about 1hr 45 mins after sunset. Due to the UK being far in the north, maybe not enough sunlight was being reflected off the Starlink satellites. This could have caused the satellites to be invisible, since they can only be seen due to sunlight reflecting off them. The successful Sun, April 19 timing was just 1hr after sunset, so that would have been okay.
2. Atmospheric effects: I'm not a weatherman, but if anything was preventing sufficient sunlight from reaching or reflecting off the satellites to be seen.
3. Satellites facing away from us: SpaceX (the company operating these Starlink satellites) may have been moving them or rotating them yesterday. If the solar panels of the satellites were facing away from you, they wouldn't have reflected enough sunlight to be visible.
Again, I'm sorry about this. I'm still investigating the problem, and will try to find the real reason to avoid future disappointments.
Thanks, and cheers
~cmdr2
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
I lost count at 15 tonight (20:58) and got a bit cold but it was clear even though not totally dark.
Tried again last night and all we saw was a very bright light, nothing seemed to be moving and just sort of stayed there.
I wasn’t looking at the North Star either lol.
Was out from about 20:50 until 21.10, am I doing it wrong?!
I saw about 12 but using binoculars as they were hardly visible due to city light pollution I think. Even managed to track 2 at the same time they were so close. This was in Newcastle.
Im no astronomer but I also clocked a few other “items” tracking N to S ish looking directly E which were very bright
This might help those wanting to see them tonight
https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/
Now thats a cool Website
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
Saw them last night. A little procession of lights heading across the sky. Impressive, especially when you think of the tech involved.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I am convinced I must live in some part of the country where the rotation of the earth vs the satellite movement is optimally placed to show me zero movement.
My app suggests I am staring at the right part of the sky & the great glowing thing also seems appropriately bright.
Stupid question, do I need binoculars as have been doing it with just my eyes.
My wife has now mocked me for 2 nights of us seeing nothing.
The great glowing thing would be Venus and in the West I hope. How many stars did you see last night when it got dark?
I ask because it is possible that your far sight isn't up to it. I'm myopic but have a new pair of specs so I'm OK with distant objects. From past experience I know that people get on very well with less then perfect far sight. It annoys me when I'm sailing and cannot resolve ships on the horizon and so it's off to the opticians for me.
That aside, my aging eyeballs aren't as good as they once were and the night before last I saw only one satellite...but they were not as bright as last night when I saw plenty, but probably not as vividly as the younger amongst us.
Bottom line, if you can't make out too many stars and see id the well know constellations when it's dark then you'll struggle in the twilight as it was last night. If you're good with stars and finding Polaris etc then please ignore my rambling above.
Last edited by PickleB; 22nd April 2020 at 14:25. Reason: correct 'East' to 'West'
Venus is in the West.
Not sure I'm that happy with the Starlink array. I think I agree with most of the criticisms from astronomers. I wasn't wild about Musk putting his Tesla into space either.
Also the latency of the network seems far higher in reality than what was claimed , 600ms vs the claim of 20ms.
Seems like a massive waste of resources vs alternative ground based system not to mention the space trash/graffiti aspect.
It’s amazing to look up during the day and not see all the fumes from airplanes. Never seen the sky so clear
Oops...not the first time I'm mixed things up like that. Thanks...off to correct my post.
PS It is not only my eyesight that is aging.
That’s true, I was in the garden at lunchtime and there was one dissipating contrail across the otherwise flawless blue sky, quite the eye sore!
They are quite small and spaced apart. Difficult to spot at first.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
That’s not fumes from the aircraft your seeing, it’s vapour trails from the hot engines mixing with the cold air, essentially compressed moisture..
Last edited by murkeywaters; 22nd April 2020 at 19:14.
I think you mean condensed moisture.
Yes, bloody phone auto type!
Ah in that case I think saw them 2 nights ago, but was possibly expecting a little more from the naked eye. No telescope or bins in this house, annoyingly lent to my folks pre lock down!
Sat outside since 9:20 and seen nothing, either I’m going blind or these apps aren’t worth a carrot
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I saw one going North to South which must have been something else and only one West to East, there was supposed to be a train of 42. I’m going to aim the telescope back to the woman at number 12.
All fart, no poo.
Saw nothing here in Darlington. Supposed to be from West to east. Patchy cloud though.
The regularity of the spacing is noticable , you can see about three equidistant from each other from SW to SSE for horizon to horizon .
Quite small and dim ( thank god)
Its actually a combination , changes in pressure in the air due to passing through the engine sublimating out water vapor from the engine exhaust which then forms water droplets and ice crystals around the soot particles and unburnt fuel from the engines .
The typical gap between the engines and the contrail forming is caused by the cool down time of the vapour before it can condense and freeze out.
Could only see a handful. Venus on the other hand, wow!
Starlink 6 is up...SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites: "SpaceX successfully launched a new batch of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit today (April 22) and nailed a rocket landing at sea to cap the mission..."
I've tried the sites suggested in this thread (and the other one) and while they're useful I don't think that they give a very clear indication of the expected magnitude (brightness) of the satellites. The Mobile Observatory app for handheld devices is much better in that regard, IMO, and so is www.heavens-above.com.
Click on 'Location' and enter your default. Then click on 'Starlink passes for all objects from a launch'...select a launch from the dropdown list (5 and now 6 are probably the brightest)...then use the 'Search period' arrows to scroll though the dates and look for low numbers in the 'Brightness (mag)' column.
I get a good result (lots around 1.8) for Launch 5 on 27 April (the 26th isn't too bad). Will the sky be clear...who knows?
If you scroll back to a good night, eg last night the 21st, you'll be able to compare the viewing opportunities.
Again, if I've got anything above wrong...as I did last time in the other thread...please correct me.
Last night was a good night as I said before however tonight there was only a couple and a few stray ones from other directions. What made it worth the wait was one that suddenly flared up bright as Venus for about 2 seconds. I assume it was changing orientation and panels caught the sunlight.
According to a couple of sites the train from the latest launch should be visible tonight (20h54ish for me) and should be reasonably bright. It will still be twilight but I'll take a look.
I was hoping for the same show as Tuesday but I didn’t see a thing last night.
Will give it a try again tonight.
Says 8.48 for us but 10 minutes either way, new train of 75 close together however also says partly cloudy for 9pm.
looking again that might be 75 because 2 different ones coming over at about the same time but slightly different paths.
Last edited by TBKBABAB; 23rd April 2020 at 16:59.
That timing could well be for the Starlink 5 satellites we saw the other night. Looking at https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ they're back and spread out as they were before. The animated graphic goes on to show another group close together that, I think, is the train from launch 6 yesterday.
I'll have to get out 10 minutes earlier if I'm to see both groups.
Yep that’s what I looked at but also Findstarlink.com which only lists the 6 at 8.54 so maybe 5 isn’t that visible at about this time because of the brightness. Think the 6 launch was meant to be 60 satellites.
I think Findastar has the 5 series down the page as being "with poor visibility", but they appear to take an average over the whole train. Have a play with https://www.heavens-above.com/StarlinkLaunchPasses.aspx and use the drop-down to look at each launch train. As mentioned in post #80 you can input your location using the links in the box at the top-right.
Looks like they’ll be getting harder to see anyway.
Musk says SpaceX is 'fixing' brightness from satellites https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52391758
The James Darpinian site until today had a link to street view so you could actually see an animation of the train going over your house and know exactly where to look as well, however that doesn’t seem to be working Now.
I’m just hoping it doesn’t cloud over.
https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/
says starlink 6 at 9pm tomorrow, looks good.
Clouded over here at the moment
Seen sweet FA the past two nights! Will have another crack tonight as looks like a path not far south
It was clear here but nothing.
ditto
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Likewise
Not dark enough for me. I saw zilch...apart from Venus and a few stars.
Another night and still haven't seen a thing in the sky outside.
Clear enough but not seen even 1 of the supposedly 41 satellites flying overhead.
Yeah we didn't see them either. It was just a tad too light I think. We did see one though traveling from South to North which was quite bright.
I’ve given up looking now.
35 of them coming over in 5 mins.
Gonna try again fingers crossed.............
Update. Saw 1 tiny one, very hard to see.
Ain't gonna bother again if they're that small.
Last edited by Nigel306; 24th April 2020 at 23:20.
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