Moving objects 21/01???

[Jabba (Keenan)]

wow.. What a good viewing night tonight, very impressive.

As I was searching for M42, just south of it I saw 2 seperate objects moving at a decent speed within a matter of 2 minutes.
The first one I saw for a second was a very very dim light, definately not an aircraft, but I lost it fast and couldnt find it again.
Then as I attempt to find the Orion neb again, I saw yet another moving object heading the opposite way, this was a little clearer than the first, and it made go wow! I could follow it with my finder scope for a little bit as it moved a long, then I lost it, but I could track it with my naked eye.

As I was wowing at whatever these were, I saw like a shooting star too LOL.

Anyway could anyone tell me what I was seeing, I thought it might of been a satellite maybe?

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Jabba

I thought it might of been a satellite maybe?

NASA also has a web site which details when, for how long and how bright the International Space Station from pretty much any place on Earth:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata...ngs/index.html

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

And don't forget about Heavens-Above.

[Jabba (Keenan)]

hmm I cant figure out on those sites if it was a satellite or not, but it was surely a good site to see.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

The early evening is the best time to spot satellites. If you have a pair of binoculars, train them towards the South, around where the Small Magellanic Cloud is, and you will literally see dozens whizz through in a matter of minutes.

Some give of flashes as they rotate in orbit, others are dim. I saw two go through the field of view while I was observing 47 tuc last Saturday night. Bit distracting, but still a thrill.

[Coen]

You most certainly saw a couple of satellites. There are a large number of satellites floating around, most of which are no longer operating or are debris from deployments (e.g. covering panels).

There also was a very high altitude Anti-Satellite Test conducted where a missile was launched at a defunct weather satellite. It turned one large piece of space debris into many many smaller pieces and these are what I often see crossing my eyepiece FOV, problem is the altitude means that stuff is up there for a very long time. Before people get excited it was not the USA, they typically do their tests lower where stuff only stays in orbit for a few months before re-entry.

Download Orbitron and get the latest TLEs if you are interested in finding out what crosses your path - you'll need to know your lat/long and times. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/...Orbitron.shtml

[pgc hunter]

Definately satellites. Quite common to see these in the eyepiece actually.

[Jabba (Keenan)]

I thought it was pretty cool to see, but never seen them or noticed them before in the skies until now, and they were pretty visible.

I will have to show my mates sometime, they wont beleive it :d!

I've seen a satellite go right across M42 every night at around 10.00
going west to east very fast too!

Last year I think, a working American satellite & old C.C.C.P satellite collided, so there is junk everwhere up there.

[that_guy (Tony)]

who cleans it?? No wonder no aliens visit earth

[Jabba (Keenan)]

haha tony!

yeah I saw it at around 9pm crossing passed M42 ><!

brb sleeping