A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Astronomy and Astrophysics » Satellites
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

three satelites in a triangle



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 13th 04, 10:52 PM
Andy Thurkettle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default three satelites in a triangle

I live in Stroud Glos, UK, and just saw three quite faint light passing from
nnw to sse almost directly overhead. The local time was within a few minutes
of 22.30 BST. There was one leading with two trailing. the rear two were
about three times as far from the front one as they are from each other.
They passed in front of three seperate stars which were clearly visible, so
I am certain it was not a very slow low plane, and there were no navigation
lights.

Is it possible that this could be a satelite group that is not listed in
heavens above?

I realise that I am new to this group, buty would REALLY appreciate any
assitance, since in many nights of watching the sky and satelites, I have
never seen anything like it at all.

Thanks


  #2  
Old September 13th 04, 11:51 PM
Patty Winter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
Andy Thurkettle wrote:
I live in Stroud Glos, UK, and just saw three quite faint light passing from
nnw to sse almost directly overhead.


Those are quite something, aren't they? They're owned by the U.S. Navy
and are called the NOSS satellites. What you saw was a "NOSS triplet"
or "NOSS trio."

If they didn't show up when you ran a Heavens-Above list of satellite
passes for your area, try another query with a fainter magnitude. If
that still doesn't work, go to the "Select a satellite from the database"
option, and enter "NOSS%" (without the quotation marks) into the Satellite
Name field. You'll get lots of results! You can then check the passes
for some until you hit upon the correct triplet. (Or maybe someone else
in the UK who reads this group has been following them recently and can
tell you which triplet it was.)

Have fun!


Patty

  #3  
Old September 14th 04, 12:11 AM
Alexander Avtanski
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Andy Thurkettle wrote:

I live in Stroud Glos, UK, and just saw three quite faint light passing from
nnw to sse almost directly overhead. The local time was within a few minutes
of 22.30 BST. There was one leading with two trailing. the rear two were
about three times as far from the front one as they are from each other.
They passed in front of three seperate stars which were clearly visible, so
I am certain it was not a very slow low plane, and there were no navigation
lights.

Is it possible that this could be a satelite group that is not listed in
heavens above?

I realise that I am new to this group, buty would REALLY appreciate any
assitance, since in many nights of watching the sky and satelites, I have
never seen anything like it at all.

Thanks


This looks like a NOSS trio - fun to watch. Those are listed at Heavens-Above,
but if you do not specifically search for them, they most probably will not
show up in the list of satellites for the night, because are quite faint.

From main heavens-above page klick "Select staellite" and enter "NOSS%" in the
Satellite name box. If I'm not wrong, what you saw was NOSS-2:

Date: 13 Sep
Mag: 6.2
Start: 22:20:06 10-degrees [NW]
Max.Alt.: 22:27:31 75-degrees [SW]
End: 22:30:02 48-degrees [SSE]

Regards,

- Alex

  #4  
Old September 14th 04, 12:53 AM
Stephen Fels
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Andy Thurkettle" wrote in message
...
I live in Stroud Glos, UK, and just saw three quite faint light passing

from
nnw to sse almost directly overhead. The local time was within a few

minutes
of 22.30 BST. There was one leading with two trailing. the rear two were
about three times as far from the front one as they are from each other.
They passed in front of three seperate stars which were clearly visible,

so
I am certain it was not a very slow low plane, and there were no

navigation
lights.

Is it possible that this could be a satelite group that is not listed in
heavens above?

I realise that I am new to this group, buty would REALLY appreciate any
assitance, since in many nights of watching the sky and satelites, I have
never seen anything like it at all.


Google (or whatever your search engine of choice may be) will have lots of
information on the "NOSS triplets". I'm heading out at the moment, but
someone will be along shortly to tell you which of them you saw.
Essentially, the formation allows them to more precisely 'triangulate' the
position of ships at sea.
--
Stephen
Home Page: stephmon.com
Satellite Hunting: sathunt.com


  #5  
Old September 14th 04, 05:03 AM
William R. Thompson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

This looks like a NOSS trio - fun to watch. Those are listed at Heavens-Above,
but if you do not specifically search for them, they most probably will not
show up in the list of satellites for the night, because are quite faint.


From main heavens-above page klick "Select staellite" and enter "NOSS%" in the
Satellite name box.


Just to pick a nit, you should enter NOSS 2-% The three groups of
triplets are all second-generation NOSS. I don't think any of the
first generation satellites are flying in formation (although it's
been a while since I looked for any of them.)

--Bill Thompson
  #6  
Old September 14th 04, 12:42 PM
Ted Molczan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Andy Thurkettle" wrote in message
...
I live in Stroud Glos, UK, and just saw three quite faint light passing
from
nnw to sse almost directly overhead. The local time was within a few
minutes
of 22.30 BST. There was one leading with two trailing. the rear two were
about three times as far from the front one as they are from each other.
They passed in front of three seperate stars which were clearly visible,
so
I am certain it was not a very slow low plane, and there were no
navigation
lights.

Is it possible that this could be a satelite group that is not listed in
heavens above?

I realise that I am new to this group, buty would REALLY appreciate any
assitance, since in many nights of watching the sky and satelites, I have
never seen anything like it at all.


As others have pointed out, you saw NOSS satellites. I maintain a web page
on them, including their catalogue numbers and international designations,
which you can use in making requests to prediction services:

http://www.satobs.org/noss.html

Ted Molczan


  #7  
Old September 14th 04, 05:22 PM
Alexander Avtanski
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default



William R. Thompson wrote:
Alexander Avtanski wrote:

This looks like a NOSS trio - fun to watch. Those are listed at Heavens-Above,
but if you do not specifically search for them, they most probably will not
show up in the list of satellites for the night, because are quite faint.



From main heavens-above page klick "Select staellite" and enter "NOSS%" in the
Satellite name box.


Just to pick a nit, you should enter NOSS 2-% The three groups of
triplets are all second-generation NOSS. I don't think any of the
first generation satellites are flying in formation (although it's
been a while since I looked for any of them.)

--Bill Thompson


Thanks for the information. I've seen NOSS 2-2 and also 2-1 (I think)
and was assuming that the rest are also flying in formation (although
I heard these were by pairs, not triplets). Now I know better, :-)

- Alex

  #8  
Old September 15th 04, 05:04 AM
William R. Thompson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

Thanks for the information. I've seen NOSS 2-2 and also 2-1 (I think)
and was assuming that the rest are also flying in formation (although
I heard these were by pairs, not triplets). Now I know better, :-)

- Alex


In an e-mail, Russell Eberst pointed out that there's another NOSS
triplet: NOSS 7. On H-A, they're listed as 86014 D, E, and H

There's also the NOSS 2-3 triplet. There are two satellites pairs,
USA 160 A and C, and USA 173 A and C, which appear to be a new
generation of NOSS satellites. These pairs aren't as spectacular as
the flying triangles.

--Bill Thompson
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The Galilean Triangle, 2004/2/16 UT Dave Mitsky Amateur Astronomy 0 February 18th 04 08:59 AM
Center of the universe??? Jack53209 Amateur Astronomy 257 February 7th 04 06:44 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:55 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.