What the blazes was this!?

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

I am in one hell of a spin right now!

I just came in from seeing something in the sky I have absolutely no idea what it was.

At 7:42pm local Sydney time I happen to look up to the sky towards the east to see long straight line of lights all moving in the same direction towards the south east. It was approximately at an altitude of 30deg when I first caught glimpse of this sting of lights towards the east.

The string of lights somewhat resembled a fireball, but the beaded structure did not change in brilliance, so all the beads of light stayed just as bright and static in their position in the line of lights, with no flickering at all.

It was very high in altitude, moving with the same velocity as the IIS, so again not a fireball as these move much faster.

My son saw it as well, and we followed its path across the sky until it disappeared into the murky south east horizon.

Below is a graphic of what it resembled, as an electric bright beaded string of lights.

My son and I have NEVER seen anything like this, EVER!

[mental4astro]

Could the IIS have blown up????

[GUS.K]

Starlink satellites?

[mental4astro]

Ivan, YES!

Oh My Freaking Lord!!!!!

:scared::scared::scared::eyepop::ey epop::eyepop::eyepop:

What a freaking dumb, f'ing thing to flaming do!!!

[GUS.K]

Imagine what it will look like when all 12000 are up there.

[RB]

Alex, I'm still in shock.
I saw them too and immediately realised what they were.
I said a few things I shouldn't have and I grabed a quick video on my iphone before they disappeared behind some trees.

I couldn't believe it, even though I knew what they were.
Hate to think when more are added.

:mad2:

[mynameiscd]

Definitely Starlink.

https://www.space.com/spacex-launches-starlink-5-satellites-misses-rocket-landing.html

Launch was yesterday with 60 more satellites which means 60 more calibration files!!!!
Well not quite but when the whole constellation is up there we will have a lot more subs with trails in them but really fast internet ???
Maybe satellite tracking software that pauses the camera during a pass needs to be invented.
I'll give Elon a call and he can pay for it.
Cheers
andy

[Lognic04]

I love astronomy as much as all of you - but do remember:
- The Satellites will spread out and be a good distance apart. They won't stay in this train.
- They will stick to about 30 degrees up, north for us.
- 6000 sats are already up there. Such an overreaction!



All this hype is generated with each launch, and once they spread out, no one seems to care anymore :)

[mynameiscd]

I hope so Logan.
I know the science community especially who do infra red are a bit worried.
They will need software to work out where the satellites are so they don't interfere with the sensitive telescopes.
Any heat source even the heat generated from batteries, charging, solar panels etc will give false readings for exoplanet searches.
Us imagers will just have to throw away more subs or use software to remove the trails especially with spacex's plan to launch 30,000 (12,000 already been given permission) and that's only 1 company so far.

Cheers
Andy

[DavidU]

Yep, starlink.
Pity they lost the booster.
One failed Merlin engine, still got the payload to orbit.

[Sunfish]

Yep. Those Starlink are a big surprise. Typically around dawn when reflection is at its peak. I have had messages from friends very surprised by what they saw and asking what is going on. Very much like a futurist vision and somewhat unsettling for most people.

[Xeteth]

The thing to remember is that Starlink may be expanded to include a total of 42,000 satellites, that's 6-7 times what is currently up there. Furthermore, more companies are looking into developing and deploying similar satellite constellations. I think unless stricter regulations are put in place now we are going to face a very polluted night sky within the next decade or two.

[Saturnine]

Just for fun, though it wont be dark enough to see them me thinks, in a 3 minute period tonight starting at 19:43 approx from the NW to SE, passing through Crux. Check Heavens_Above for exact times, there will be a fly over of about 40 of the things. That is from the Wollongong area of course so wont be visible from other areas.

[Sunfish]

Yep. Just saw those having a picnic at the beach. The people we were with were pretty surprised. Pretty much the Alexander reaction.

A very long stripe of satellites as long as the Southern Cross reflecting the setting sun. Sure changes the look of the sky at night. Pretty soon they will spell out M. U. S. K.

[gary]

They were blindingly obvious here in the far north of Sydney.

Get a paint brush and some white paint and draw a slash across the Southern
Cross on the Australian flag and it would give you a pretty good
approximation of how they looked.

[RB]

Exactly Gary !
Saw them again tonight.
Reminds me of a bunch of Lemmings roaming across our skies.

:lol:

[Sunfish]

A lot of light from those close packed satellites to create that long solid stripe across the sky before they disperse. A very clear warm evening to see it . It is just me or is there a world before starlink and a world after starlink and we are in a new environment now.?

[JeniSkunk]

Unfortunately the Lemmings in government all line up behind Mr Musk, like a train of those satellites, in the Belief that the astronomical pollution caused by those satellites is not a problem at all.

edit:
Ray, yes. There's the world before astronomical pollution, and the world after. ALL the satellites that get in the way of earth based astrophotographers.
Unfortunately, the world after is only going to get worse, since Money gives the Orders to government as to what governments MUST treat as legal and acceptable.

[gary]

Hi Andrew,

This evening, a friend wrote this :-

Cane toads in the sky. Once let loose for whatever purpose you are stuck with them.

[JeniSkunk]

That friend of yours pretty well nailed it.
Only difference is, cane toads aren't a protected species, unfortunately, those damnable satellites are a protected species.