I saw something!

(DougD) wrote in :

Snipola
Sooooo, what's your excuse!?!!!

Caught the satellite watching bug about 10 years ago. Don't
rememeber if it was sat's in general or Iridiums specifically.

But it sprang out of my astronomy hobby (see! more optics!)
when I started seeing the things in my FOV.

Being in the LA area I also have taken to watching rocket
launches from Vandenberg.

I don't have any super spectacular pics, but there's some
stuff in the astronomy section of my website, URL in sig.

Which reminds me...I took a pic of an Iridium the other day
that's still on my D200....

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

galwacco wrote in news:1184066784.737322.22240
@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

Snipola
Right at that very moment I saw a satelite passing by, it was also the
first time I'd seen one. Man, it was just awesome!!

It passed by really fast, and kind of drew a line path as it passed.
Snipola

How fast? Sat's take minutes to cross the entire sky. Only
the really low (about to reenter) ones zip by with much
speed, and then were still talking about a minute.

If what you saw only lasted seconds, it was most likely a
meteor - especially if it left a "line path" in the sky.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

In article , Skywise wrote:

How fast? Sat's take minutes to cross the entire sky. Only
the really low (about to reenter) ones zip by with much
speed, and then were still talking about a minute.

If what you saw only lasted seconds, it was most likely a
meteor - especially if it left a "line path" in the sky.

Brian

I was kinda curious about the "line path" part of his sighting as well.
However, as far as the speed, the Iridium's can appear to be a fairly
fast moving object, depending on where you are viewing it from. Keep
in mind that depending on the background light, etc. that sometimes
it's not possible to actually spot an iridium until it's started it's flare,
so that the normal transit time of maybe a few minutes gets cut down
to the 15-25 seconds when it's most visible. Also, the apparent speed
increases as it moves overhead compared to when they first come up
over the horizon. I've been lucky to have had a few years viewing them
from first my home when it was in Minnesota, to now where I'm on
Vancouver Island, and there's quite a bit of difference in the "experience"
between the two. In the case of Mn, I was able to see quite a few daylight
iridium passes, where here I've not been able to see any, they are just
in the wrong part of the sky at that time of the day. They're still up there,
they still produce a flare, but the background light is just too bright to try
and pick them up. So, who knows what he's seeing, the easiest way to
figure it out is to look up some in the prediction software and then see
if they coincide, although I've even gotten that wrong on occasion and
was looking at a completely different satellite than an iridium. That's
also how I found that "tethered" satellite (if that's what it was), which
still has me fairly amazed at having seen something like that, just so
odd.. A triangle of sat's all travelling at the same speed relative to each
other.

D.

(DougD) wrote in :

Snipola
sometimes
it's not possible to actually spot an iridium until it's started it's
flare, so that the normal transit time of maybe a few minutes gets cut
down to the 15-25 seconds when it's most visible.

Re-reading his description, I still doubt it was an Iridium,
unless it was a tumbler - he mentions changing magnitude.

I'd still like to get a better idea of what he means by "moving
quite fast". I think we're just arguing air with a description
like that.

If the original poster is reading this, coudl you describe the
apparent speed better? Perhaps hold out your hand at arms length
and spread your fingers wide - about how long did the sat take
to pass that span? How spans across the sky was the sat visible?



Snipola
also how I found that "tethered" satellite (if that's what it was)

Sounds like TIPS, which I've never seen.


which
still has me fairly amazed at having seen something like that, just so
odd.. A triangle of sat's all travelling at the same speed relative to
each other.

That sounds like a NOSS trio. I've seen those.

The most amazing thing I've seen was one of the USA series
spy sats, USA 32 I think it was. Thing looked like it could
have been Pink Floyds mirror ball up there the way it was
sparkling. I'm sure the conspiracy nutz would have had a
field day with that observation.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote:

The most amazing thing I've seen was one of the USA series
spy sats, USA 32 I think it was. Thing looked like it could
have been Pink Floyds mirror ball up there the way it was
sparkling. I'm sure the conspiracy nutz would have had a
field day with that observation.

Do you mean Ajisai (1986-061A)? The disco ball is
always an amazing sight, even if it's only visible in binoculars.

--Bill Thompson

"William R Thompson" wrote in news:Vvnmi.8241
:

"Skywise" wrote:

The most amazing thing I've seen was one of the USA series
spy sats, USA 32 I think it was. Thing looked like it could
have been Pink Floyds mirror ball up there the way it was
sparkling. I'm sure the conspiracy nutz would have had a
field day with that observation.

Do you mean Ajisai (1986-061A)? The disco ball is
always an amazing sight, even if it's only visible in binoculars.

No. I was observing a predicted pass of USA 32. It was so
spectacular that I recall it very specifically now.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

In article , Skywise wrote:

That sounds like a NOSS trio. I've seen those.

The most amazing thing I've seen was one of the USA series
spy sats, USA 32 I think it was. Thing looked like it could
have been Pink Floyds mirror ball up there the way it was
sparkling. I'm sure the conspiracy nutz would have had a
field day with that observation.

Brian

From what I have read of the spy sats, I got the impression that at
least one of these tethered ones fell into that catagory. The night that
I spotted it, I had been watching for the ISS, and the shuttle which had
not yet linked up. I guess I had missed the ISS, but thought that I was
looking at that pair until I noticed a third sat travelling rel. to a pair
that I thought was the ISS/shuttle. So, whatever it was, was tracking in
an orbit very close to the ISS's, delayed by about 3 minutes. I've never
been able to spot it since, although I kept a note of the obs. data here
somewhere..

d.

On Jul 15, 1:07 am, Skywise wrote:
(DougD) wrote :

Snipola

sometimes
it's not possible to actually spot an iridium until it's started it's
flare, so that the normal transit time of maybe a few minutes gets cut
down to the 15-25 seconds when it's most visible.

Re-reading his description, I still doubt it was an Iridium,
unless it was a tumbler - he mentions changing magnitude.

I'd still like to get a better idea of what he means by "moving
quite fast". I think we're just arguing air with a description
like that.

If the original poster is reading this, coudl you describe the
apparent speed better? Perhaps hold out your hand at arms length
and spread your fingers wide - about how long did the sat take
to pass that span? How spans across the sky was the sat visible?

Snipola

also how I found that "tethered" satellite (if that's what it was)

Sounds like TIPS, which I've never seen.

which
still has me fairly amazed at having seen something like that, just so
odd.. A triangle of sat's all travelling at the same speed relative to
each other.

That sounds like a NOSS trio. I've seen those.

The most amazing thing I've seen was one of the USA series
spy sats, USA 32 I think it was. Thing looked like it could
have been Pink Floyds mirror ball up there the way it was
sparkling. I'm sure the conspiracy nutz would have had a
field day with that observation.

Brian
--http://www.skywise711.com- Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ:http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions":http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Hi there again!!

Sorry for not answering your questions posted throughout this weekend.
I was out traveling.
I understand that there is a mistake on the subject.

In my very first post I reported an iridium flare, though I didn't
still understand what I had seen. That flare lasted quite long, about
50 seconds maybe, I didn't count though. It appeared to be a -3
magnitude.

I also reported in another post that I had supposedly seen a sat just
about a week before I had seen that flare just mentioned. That thing I
was which I thought it was a sat passed really fast, it crossed the
sky within no longer than 10 seconds I believe.

I said it was MAYBE a satelite as I had never had that type of
experience before. Reading your posts I understand it was just an
asteroid, bigger than the average ones we see as shooting stars, that
is why I wondered if that wasn't anything other than an asteroid.

But like I said, it passed too fast.

My first post, I reported to have seen the flare during the morning
time, and the second event was during the night time, right on the
southern hemisphere of a full moon.

I hope I answered all your questions, since when, I thank you all for
all the priceless help you've extended to me. If I say any absurdity,
please forgive me. I just started learning about this hobby, and
still, up here in southern Brazil is very cloudy latelly.

My scope, binos and charts are all shut in the closet awaiting for an
opportunity, which I didn't have yet since my very first posting in
here. I will try to keep up with your postings to either continue
learning a lot from you all and to answer any questions that might
still be unclear concerning my reports due to my bad English.

Thanks folks!

If the original poster is reading this, coudl you describe the
apparent speed better? Perhaps hold out your hand at arms length
and spread your fingers wide - about how long did the sat take
to pass that span? How spans across the sky was the sat visible?

Is it concerning the iridium flase I saw or the asteroid during the
night?

If it's the second one, it drew a line of about 80° and lasted no more
than 10 seconds.

In article .com, galwacco wrote:

I hope I answered all your questions, since when, I thank you all for
all the priceless help you've extended to me. If I say any absurdity,
please forgive me. I just started learning about this hobby, and
still, up here in southern Brazil is very cloudy latelly.

My scope, binos and charts are all shut in the closet awaiting for an
opportunity, which I didn't have yet since my very first posting in
here. I will try to keep up with your postings to either continue
learning a lot from you all and to answer any questions that might
still be unclear concerning my reports due to my bad English.

Thanks folks!


Well, you've got great english skills, don't knock yourself, you're
better "spoken" than a lot folks that have been raised in English.
As far as the sat. observing, I'm really not that much further ahead
in this than you, I'm a very, very casual observer, I'm not into
astronomy as much as I'm into the instrumentation, so take whatever
I say with some scepticism, I'm no expert, or even an average
observer. That's why it's best to rely on folks like Heaven's Above
who know their subject.
Thanks for the reply and update!

D.