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SpaceX's Starlink Satellite 'Train'

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  • SpaceX's Starlink Satellite 'Train'

    My daughter stopped by this evening, and as we stood in the driveway talking, she pointed out what she first thought was a line of geese flying south. But they were in a straight line, and no "honking" was heard, so we just watched this series of lights in a straight line moving south across the sky.

    Little did I know we were watching SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Train!


    How to See SpaceX's Starlink Satellite 'Train' in the Night Sky


    SpaceX's new array of Starlink communication satellites has even the most jaded of satellite observers agog with excitement as they move across the sky.

    On Thursday evening (May 23), SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellites are in good health and are the first of a planned 12,000-satellite megaconstellation to provide internet access to people on Earth.

    The satellites, which are now orbiting at approximately 273 miles (440 km) above the Earth, are putting on a spectacular show for ground observers as they move across the night sky.


    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

  • #2
    Its pretty cool, though I hope they manage to reduce the albedo of the next satellite launches so we don't disrupt astronomers telescopic views of the sky.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
      Its pretty cool, though I hope they manage to reduce the albedo of the next satellite launches so we don't disrupt astronomers telescopic views of the sky.
      It sounds like they're planning about 36,000 of these?
      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
        It sounds like they're planning about 36,000 of these?
        Don't know what the final figure will land on, but you can bet your hide Google and Amazon, and Chinese companies want in on this eventually. SpaceX just happens to the first, shocking the world by launching 60 satellites at once.

        It certainly shocked the astronomers who are understandably a bit concerned.

        I love it when a technical development starts to shake up the foundations of business, and what's possible.

        Comment


        • #5
          Geese fly south from where you are??



          Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by mossrose View Post
            Geese fly south from where you are??

            They winter in Mexico or Central America.
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
              They winter in Mexico or Central America.


              Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                Its pretty cool, though I hope they manage to reduce the albedo of the next satellite launches so we don't disrupt astronomers telescopic views of the sky.
                My thoughts exactly. 12,000 satellites with that sort of brightness. Keep in mind the total number of visible stars in the night sky is generally quoted as under 5000. And many of those stars are much dimmer than these satellites.

                They would only be visible relatively early in the evening at that altitude, but still - not such a good thing for astronomers.

                Jim
                My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

                If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

                This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by oxmixmudd View Post
                  They would only be visible relatively early in the evening at that altitude, but still - not such a good thing for astronomers.
                  I'm honestly a bit disappointed in the Astronomical communities in not voicing their concerns earlier, but only beginning to right as the launches begin. SpaceX and Elon Musk had been talking about this for nearly a decade up until that point.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                    I'm honestly a bit disappointed in the Astronomical communities in not voicing their concerns earlier, but only beginning to right as the launches begin. SpaceX and Elon Musk had been talking about this for nearly a decade up until that point.
                    Do you think that the astronomical community maybe thought it was just a pipe dream, or would never really happen?
                    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                      Do you think that the astronomical community maybe thought it was just a pipe dream, or would never really happen?
                      The astronomical community has very little power to control such things. They could make a request is all - likely with little effect. The encroachment of light in the night sky is forever pushing astronomy to more and more remote places. The 200 inch Hale telescope on Mt. Palomar behind LA is almost useless for any sort of dark sky work, even though when sited it was a pristine location.

                      On that note, concerns have been expressed.

                      https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/en...wsid-117433857


                      http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...Are-Not-Happy&

                      https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comme...ming_starlink/

                      https://www.npr.org/2019/06/03/72927...-ruin-the-view

                      I find very interesting the fact they've already ruined an observation by the Lowell observatory - the observatory that discovered Pluto. I can't imagine what would happen with 12,000 of these things. They'd be occulting objects and/or adding significant amounts of stray light, requiring any serious observations to keep track of all 12,000 objects and their potential to interfere with observations at a given location. Noting that such precise tracking of so many objects would be problematic.


                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay

                      Low earth orbit objects are affected over time by solar wind and magnetic field variance, atmospheric heating and gravitational anomalies, making precise prediction of their long term paths difficult. Wide field, long exposure (deep sky) observations could become especially problematic.


                      Jim
                      Last edited by oxmixmudd; 11-14-2019, 09:47 AM.
                      My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

                      If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

                      This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by oxmixmudd View Post
                        The astronomical community has very little power to control such things.
                        Understood - still, I wonder if they got caught by surprise. That was my main concern.

                        They could make a request is all - likely with little effect. The encroachment of light in the night sky is forever pushing astronomy to more and more remote places. The 200 inch Hale telescope on Mt. Palomar behind LA is almost useless for any sort of dark sky work, even though when sited it was a pristine location.

                        On that note, concerns have been expressed.

                        https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/en...wsid-117433857


                        http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...Are-Not-Happy&

                        https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comme...ming_starlink/

                        https://www.npr.org/2019/06/03/72927...-ruin-the-view

                        I find very interesting the fact they've already ruined an observation by the Lowell observatory - the observatory that discovered Pluto. I can't imagine what would happen with 12,000 of these things. They'd be occulting objects and/or adding significant amounts of stray light, requiring any serious observations to keep track of all 12,000 objects and their potential to interfere with observations at a given location. Noting that such precise tracking of so many objects would be problematic.


                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay

                        Low earth orbit objects are affected over time by solar wind and magnetic field variance, atmospheric heating and gravitational anomalies, making precise prediction of their long term paths difficult. Wide field, long exposure (deep sky) observations could become especially problematic.


                        Jim
                        So, it would seem that, once the sky is absolutely polluted with this megaconstellation, the "observatory" would have to be in higher earth orbit to see beyond them, not through them, eh?
                        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                          Understood - still, I wonder if they got caught by surprise. That was my main concern.



                          So, it would seem that, once the sky is absolutely polluted with this megaconstellation, the "observatory" would have to be in higher earth orbit to see beyond them, not through them, eh?
                          yeah - Hubble is ~350 miles, so it should be ok. And Webb will be out at the L2 Lagrange point, which is a million miles or so, and so it will also be ok if it is successfully launched and positioned, But all these big new Earth bound telescope projects, billions of dollars, they might be useless unless someone gets hold of Musk on this and shuts it down.

                          https://earthsky.org/space/up-and-co...elescopes-webb
                          My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

                          If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

                          This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by oxmixmudd View Post
                            yeah - hubble is ~350 miles, so it should be ok. And Webb will be out at the L2 langrange point, which is millions of miles, so it will be ok if it is successfully lauched and positionsed, But all these big new Earth bound telescope projects, billions of dollars, they might be useless unless someone gets hold of Musk on this and shuts it down.

                            https://earthsky.org/space/up-and-co...elescopes-webb
                            Even my own backyard and my little cheapo telescope -- we purposely moved out "into the country" away from city light pollution to enjoy the Texas sky. I think that's how we noticed the "satellite train" so easily -- the sky was pitch black and alive with stars.

                            After we discovered it was most likely the SpaceX 'train' we saw, it made sense, because we've watched other manmade objects traverse the skies, and look similar in regards to the way it moved, but I never saw anything that seemed so "in line" like that.

                            HERE is a pretty good link for tracking SpaceX Group2 in real time.

                            Sample screenshot...

                            n2yo.jpg
                            Last edited by Cow Poke; 11-14-2019, 12:31 PM.
                            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Here's a good visualization using youtube's 360 video mode, that shows what the sky would look like if you could see all the satellites.

                              Comment

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