· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Observing >> NEO Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 bandhunter super member Reged: 12/01/09 Loc: North Carolina Near Earth Object Located, Identity?       #5512627 - 11/10/12 02:21 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Don't have any experience with near earth objects or geo stationary satellites. Need some help identifying while observing at this moment. Object has been centered in eyepiece for last 20 minutes. Only the stars,background sky moves. This object has remained completely centered. It is not an illusion in the optics. Brightness has remained constant. Current Time 2:16 am. RA 6:02 Dec -05.6/7 Any help identifying object would be appreciated. Pretty exciting, viewing at 150x, watched it "travel through M42 and had to continue observations due to its "apparent slow speed". Never observed an object that consistently stays centers in eyepiece on a non tracking scope. Geo stationary? Fairly perplexed at the moment. Edited by bandhunter (11/10/12 02:21 AM) Post Extras:       rdandrea Carpal Tunnel Reged: 06/13/10 Loc: Colorado, USA DM59ra Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: bandhunter]       #5513285 - 11/10/12 02:50 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Reflection off your eyeball? Post Extras:       bandhunter super member Reged: 12/01/09 Loc: North Carolina Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: rdandrea]       #5513383 - 11/10/12 04:01 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Definitely not, I noticed the object while i was manually tracking M42, it went from one side of the field of view to the other, and exited the field of view, due to my tracking. I abandoned M42 and was able to re center the object. The star field moved behind the object and I only had to perfectly recenter the object 3 or 4 times. For the significant portion of my observation it was stationary. I will note that in my previous post I stated that brightness remained constant, towards the end of the observation I noticed some fluctuation in brightness. I am pretty confidant this was indeed some sort of object, however I am going to use the same barlow/eyepiece combination in essentially the same star field tonight to ensure there was not some type of reflection. Edited by bandhunter (11/10/12 04:03 PM) Post Extras:       nytecam Postmaster Reged: 08/20/05 Loc: London UK Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: bandhunter]       #5515491 - 11/12/12 04:15 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Sounds like a geostationary sat for TV broadcasts etc - the Orion Neb field is a clue as from the northern hemisphere these sats [which orbit directly over the earth's equator] are viewed south of the celestial equator in an arc from east to west. You need to check the azimuth [essentially fixed!] for your observations to help identify. Post Extras:       RedLionNJ professor emeritus Reged: 12/29/09 Loc: Red Lion, NJ, USA Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: nytecam]       #5534109 - 11/22/12 03:43 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Closest match for these co-ordinates (NC, date, time, RA, Dec) would appear to be AMC-6 (GE-6), NORAD # 26580U. I didn't have a specific location for you, so I used Charlotte. This was the only geostationary satellite within a degree or so of that RA/Dec at that time. Magnitude nominally around ten, but I've seen such bodies brighten and then fade again over the course of minutes. Identification determined using Guide9. Grant Post Extras:       bandhunter super member Reged: 12/01/09 Loc: North Carolina Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: RedLionNJ]       #5535318 - 11/23/12 11:43 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks Grant. Glad to know what I observed. I'll have to check out Guide9. Daniel Post Extras:       JIMZ7 Pooh-Bah Reged: 10/22/05 Loc: S.E.Michigan near DTW Re: Near Earth Object Located, Identity? [Re: bandhunter]       #5536498 - 11/24/12 12:06 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   About 3 summers ago I viewed maybe a 4th magnitude object in Cygnus. It took maybe 25 minutes to cross the entire 3-degree FOV of my low power eyepiece at 20x with a Apogee 90mm f/6 refractor. The object kept on moving in a irregular straight line-like a wobble but ever so slow. I found this object by sweeping the "Milky Way" in Cygnus only by luck. It moved slowy passing a star & I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Very interesting sight! Jim Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 0 registered and 1 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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