I was observing the Sun yesterday afternoon with my Lunt 35mm scope when over a period of a few minutes I saw 5 black dot-like objects separately pass across the face of the Sun in a linear path. I have seen this before over a number of years but usually only one or at most two objects. I have seen them at different times of the day and different months of the year. I have wondered what they could be -Satellites?, Balloons? Planes?? out of focus birds?? (I don't believe in UFOs)
They always look the same - same size and appear like small black dots (like 'ball bearings'). Another member of our society (ASNSW) has also seen and videoed them independently of myself and showed a video of one of them at a talk given at this years star party.
I managed to capture videos of 2 of them and was wondering if anyone knew what the are? Have any of the regular solar observers seen them as well?
My guess would be satellites, wouldn't be hard to work out speed they are travelling with a bit of math.
I have videoed birds transiting a couple of times, gives a bit of a start until you see the wings flapping!!
Thanks guys,
I think satellites is the most likely explanation.
I found some other videos posted on YouTube of similar events.
I wonder if being close to the equinox has anything to do with their frequency?
Hi Richard,,I have seen these objects many times,they are not satellites.
These objects usually take about eight seconds to float by.A satellite
would be about one second.Probably ballons or airborne junk.
regards Graham
These would be a lot slower, maybe too slow. Geosats are actually in a slightly inclined orbit so they move up and down during the year. The alignment with the sun wouldn't be exactly at the equinox, but within a month.
Really need time and location to rule out satellites.
Hi Richard,,I have seen these objects many times,they are not satellites.
These objects usually take about eight seconds to float by.A satellite
would be about one second.Probably ballons or airborne junk.
regards Graham
Hi Graham,
Thanks for you comment. They move really fast. Those videos are real time. They take a couple of seconds to cross the sun.
Hi,Richard,they are too slow to be satellite transits..
I see floating objects every week l observe,sometimes
twice a day,l am a Solar Telescope Busker,l have a licence
for Circular Key and the Melbourne CBD.l spend everyday
out looking at the Sun as it is my main income,my customers
have seem them as well.lt amazes me how often l see
these,it seems to suggest there is a lot of junk floating
around up there in our atmosphere,considering the Sun is
an arc of 31 minutes.
The ISS transit is about 0.8 seconds,and it's at about 400
Klms,so satelittes are lower,thus faster to transit.l would love
know what these objects are.
Regards Graham
I'm with Graham one this one. Objects in the atmosphere. Weather or other research baloons maybe.
One thing it ain't: Geostationary satellites. These do not move at several degrees per minute, plus at more than 35,000 kilometres of altitude, there is NO WAY you would see them in front of the Sun in a 35mm telescope.
Other sats similarly difficult. They are smaller than the ISS, whose apparent size isn't very big when it transits the Sun or Moon. Add the angular speed they would have to be travelling at heights low enough to be visible as big as in the videos and you have a pretty unlikely scenario.
Hi Richard
I have lost track of how many of these I have seen. They are a mix of satellites and weather/research balloons. The rate of movement is too slow for a typical satellite. A GPS satellite would have a slower traversal as these are about 20,000 kms out from earths surface but then you would be hard pressed to get the apparent size in your video. My guess is a weather or research balloon.
. I must admit that seeing 5 in a short space of time made me also think about local stuff flying around.
