Telescope Reviews: Hunting for satellites

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General Astronomy >> General Observing and Astronomy

Pages: 1

pmaxim
journeyman

Reged: 11/29/12

Loc: Catania, Italy

Hunting for satellites new

#5546834 - 11/30/12 09:13 AM

Anyone interested in the subject?
bye
piero

Post Extras:

csa/montana
Den Mama

Reged: 05/14/05

Loc: montana

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: pmaxim]
#5546894 - 11/30/12 10:03 AM

Welcome to Cloudy Nights! We enjoy having new members join us on the forums!

Indeed; I think you will find many here interested in satellites! Here's a link that I use frequently:

Link

Don't hesitate to share your sightings with us.

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pmaxim
journeyman

Reged: 11/29/12

Loc: Catania, Italy

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: csa/montana]
#5546948 - 11/30/12 10:35 AM

Thank you for the welcome.
I am registered since many years in the heavens-above and calsky.
For my blog I use both of them.
http://myorbiter.blogspot.com

In this forum I am searching other people that have my same hobby to exchange information and parameters to use.

bye
piero

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bumm
sage

Reged: 01/07/11

Loc: Iowa

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: pmaxim]
#5547868 - 11/30/12 08:58 PM

I'm not a big satellite watcher, but I did make a point of spotting everything left in orbit launched during the 1950's. It's not a long list, and I had fun doing it.

The oldest things still in orbit are the Vanguard 1 satellite and it's launch rocket, from March 17, 1958.
Marty

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frito
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/05/12

Loc: Fremont, CA

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: bumm]
#5547980 - 11/30/12 10:27 PM

sure, watching sats passing by is good fun. by chance i accendently discovered a tumbling sat a few weeks ago. i verified what sat it was using heaves above and viewing it multiple days in a row. if you get a chance and Landsat 4 is passing over you get out and view it. it flairs at a bright mag of by my estimation somewhere between 1 and 2 and dims down to just over 4 over and over again in a pattern, pretty neat.

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frito
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/05/12

Loc: Fremont, CA

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: frito]
#5547983 - 11/30/12 10:32 PM

based on your location in your profile you should have a great visible pass tomorrow night

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.aspx?lat=37.5&lng=15.1&loc=C...

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pmaxim
journeyman

Reged: 11/29/12

Loc: Catania, Italy

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: frito]
#5548221 - 12/01/12 02:38 AM

I never observed Landsat 4.
This evening, if the weather allows, I will try to watch it.
Thanks.
bye

Post Extras:

pmaxim
journeyman

Reged: 11/29/12

Loc: Catania, Italy

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: frito]
#5548699 - 12/01/12 12:20 PM

unfortunately it was cloudy...
I will try next time.
bye
piero

Edited by pmaxim (12/01/12 12:22 PM)

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Skylook123
Postmaster

Reged: 04/30/05

Loc: Tucson, AZ

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: pmaxim]
#5551272 - 12/02/12 11:28 PM

My 10" Atlas does a great job tracking satellites, so now and then I go out and bag a few. Last year at the Grand Canyon Star Party, while the other volunteers were showing off eye candy in the sky, I set up and tracked the ISS and Hubble back to back one night. With a big crowd all they could do was watch the Telrad, but the scope doing a fast slew across the sky and wait for the satellites to pop into view was quite a different experience with the other 54 telescopes on Saturn or deep sky objects.

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pmaxim
journeyman

Reged: 11/29/12

Loc: Catania, Italy

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: Skylook123]
#5551365 - 12/03/12 01:29 AM

Quote:

My 10" Atlas does a great job tracking satellites, so now and then I go out and bag a few. Last year at the Grand Canyon Star Party, while the other volunteers were showing off eye candy in the sky, I set up and tracked the ISS and Hubble back to back one night. With a big crowd all they could do was watch the Telrad, but the scope doing a fast slew across the sky and wait for the satellites to pop into view was quite a different experience with the other 54 telescopes on Saturn or deep sky objects.

Hi.
Did you take some picture of that event?
bye
Piero

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LivingNDixie
TSP Chowhound

Reged: 04/23/03

Loc: Trussville, AL

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: pmaxim]
#5551424 - 12/03/12 02:37 AM

Check out the SeeSat usergroup, they are serious satellite observers. I have completed the satellite observers pin from the Astronomical League and I still enjoy observing them. My favorites are the Lacrosse spy satellites and anything that are flashers/flaring.

Post Extras:

csa/montana
Den Mama

Reged: 05/14/05

Loc: montana

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: LivingNDixie]
#5551846 - 12/03/12 11:09 AM

Thanks Preston! This thread is getting me interested in satellites now! I've seen many, but never thought of identifying them!

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jmandell
super member

Reged: 06/15/11

Re: Hunting for satellites new

[Re: LivingNDixie]
#5552919 - 12/03/12 09:44 PM

Quote:

Check out the SeeSat usergroup, they are serious satellite observers. I have completed the satellite observers pin from the Astronomical League and I still enjoy observing them. My favorites are the Lacrosse spy satellites and anything that are flashers/flaring.

Thanks for this link, it has a ton of great info! This thread has helped reignite my interest in satellite observing. I got into it a few months ago when reading about people determining the orbits of newly launched spy satellites., but couldn't find any truly good info such as this.

Thanks

Post Extras:

LivingNDixie
TSP Chowhound

Reged: 04/23/03

Loc: Trussville, AL

Re: Hunting for satellites [Re: jmandell]
#5552968 - 12/03/12 10:13 PM

Carol,
For the most part Heavens-Above will tell you what 99% of the stuff is up there. Only thing it is a little bit rough when it comes to new launches or Progress/ATV/Soyuz launches to the ISS.

jmandell,
The SeeSat user group folks should be able to hook you up with observing recently launched spy satellites.

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