In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

Hi all! I'm new to observing satellites in the sky.

Welcome, Von! Are you hooked on the hobby yet? :-)

I had a question -
when I see a light at night move in the sky and it does not blink, is that a
good chance it's a satellite? Do all passenger aircraft have lights that
blink?

They do, but if the plane is up high enough and still has its
landing lights on, it will be bright but you won't be able to
see its other lights.

I saw something move across the sky last night while I was
attempting to find a satellite. I don't think I saw the satellite but I did
see a non blinking light move across the sky. Since it was not blinking I
was wondering if what I saw was a satellite.

Could have been a plane, or a satellite other than the one you were
looking for. They move differently; you should start noticing the
difference soon.


Also, In the mid-west - Indiana. Will I be able to observe satellites
that are suppose to be viewable to me around 9:30pm? Something like the
Lacrosse satellite?

I just checked tonight's predictions, and one of the Lacrosse
satellites should have been easily visible (magnitude 2.5) in
the Indianapolis area just after 9:00 p.m. tonight. Are you
using Heavens-Above to generate satellite pass information for
your exact area? Of course, which satellites you can see will
be limited by how bright the sky is in your area. I'm in a
suburban area, so conditions are pretty bad. :-(


Patty