another sun transit.

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Hi all - I was recording some solar H-alpha and noticed this during one of the frames. I've attached a screen grab of it. Looks like a satellite passing in front of the sun. The frame was recorded at 12:55 WST today. Now how do I find out what satellite it is? Perhaps it's an Imperial probe...
cheers,
Andrew.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Create yourself an account with http://www.calsky.com/
Use the "astronomer" user level.
Set the site to where-ever (eg Perth).
Go to the Satellites then "Satellites within Interval" page
Fill in the time, magnitude cutoff to 11, tick visible or not, "Go".
I used the "Searching for satellites in lower Earth orbit (LEO) found within an area of 15° diameter and centered at coordinates RA=8.0759 h Dec=20.3354°. This point is taken from the last starchart geometry." option, but you could do a full sky search.

"GEO IK 2" looks the best bet.

[Derek Klepp]

"Its life Jim but not as we know it."Good catch Andrew.Thanks for the link mithrandir its amazing just how much stuff is up there.

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Thanks Andrew - I'm continually amazed by the breadth of knowledge and experience on this forum!
cheers,
Andrew.