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Old October 17th 11, 06:27 PM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Patty Winter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default Same satelite twice???


In article ,
swc wrote:

Hey guys/girls I am new to this site so first of I would like to say the
image verification to register may be the most ridiculous/hardest thing
I have witnessed in my life, it only took me 15 tries to get it right
(rather annoying).


Hello, swc. This isn't a "site," it's a Usenet newsgroup. It sounds
like you may be viewing the group through a gateway to a website. If
so, you can get yourself free Usenet software (search for "newsreader"
and whatever computer platform you use) and even a free Usenet account
and read all the newsgroups you want without going through a website.


Anyways I was sitting in my hot tub tonight staring
up at the stars when I noticed a fairly fast paced bright object moving
south it went really bright and then dimmed out and I could no longer
follow it. About 15 minutes later the same object appeared in the exact
same spot only dimmer than the first time and steadily got dimmer till
it vanished. Can someone explain what is happening?


That wasn't the same object; it was two objects in the same orbit. A
satellite in low earth orbit typically takes about 90 minutes to come
around again.

If you saw each one for only 5-10 seconds, they may have been Iridium
satellites. Otherwise, it was probably two parts of a single spacecraft,
and I don't recall which spacecraft have that situation. Perhaps someone
else here will know.


Patty