What did I see?

[Frosty]

How u going guyz?

Ok my second night out tonight, and I was just showing a friend afew stars with 8 inch dob.

As I was looking at afew stars in the area of Sirius I saw somehting that looked like a small star glide past my view... I thought what was that??

5 min later I was looking around the same area and I saw it again, it just flew past the screen, though it was very small.

Any ideas what it was guyz?? Im guessing it might have been Machholz.

Whatever it was it was interesting to see :D

[silvinator]

Hey Frosty, I can tell you one thing for sure - it wasn't Machholz you saw. The comet is still in Eridanus and will be moving quickly down towards the Pleiades. Sorry mate!
It may have been a satellite though. What time did you see it? How bright was it? Was it a smooth motion? More details please :)
Just checked out heavens-above (http://www.heavens-above.com) and found two satellites within the vicinity of Sirius at your location of Melbourne:
Satellite 1 info (http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Size=600&SatID=23705&lat=-37.817&lng=144.967&alt=58&loc=Melbourne&TZ=AEST&Date=38347.4720071463)
Satellite 2 info (http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Size=600&SatID=12586&lat=-37.817&lng=144.967&alt=58&loc=Melbourne&TZ=AEST&Date=38347.4844886317)
The first one passed by Sirius at around 11pm-ish and the second one passed by (a bit further out) at around 11:30pm-ish. What you saw could be one of those :confused: Most likely it was the first satellite link. Hope that helps anyhow.

[Frosty]

I think your right silvinator. The first one i saw was about 11 or so and it was a very smooth motion. I reckon it was about mag 3.

Thanks for the feedback Silv and ye it probly wasnt Machholz coz it didnt have a tail or anything.

Wow my first satellite :)

[MintSauce]

satalites are great, not really in a scope tho, too hard to track, grab the bino's and track it moving through space at a high rate of knots :D I think they are amazing tbh.

[silvinator]

Well Frosty, it was either a satellit or a UFO :P The satellite that passed by your location at 11pm was supposed to have been about magnitude 3 so this is definitely the most likely explanation for your sighting.
Watching for satellites can be cool. I remember the first time I saw a satellite, I had no idea what it was at the time. I only realised what it was when I got fully involved in this hobby. Anyway, it was a bright red dot moving very quickly across the sky but it was moving in a wiggly motion, not very smooth. But I'm sure it was a satellite...right...? :)
I once tracked a plane through my scope, that was fun too!

[beren]

Good detective work Silvie :)

A cool feature on the LX200 is exploring the satellite database and keying it in so the scope starts tracking as soon as it becomes visible . You can do this way before the pass so you can continue observing and a minute before the event a alarm sounds and the scope goes auto and intercepts the satellite where it comes visible and starts tracking....cool :)

[silvinator]

Wow, that sounds like a cool feature. I wonder if the LXD55 can do that. I'll have to check it out. At any rate, that makes me want an LX200 even more :P

Well folks, looks like the LX200 is safe from me for now. I read my manual and whaddya know, the LXD55 can track satellites. :D