I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment. Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings. I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs. Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead?
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried. I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either. Dan -- Sent from my iPhone. Please pardon any mispelings or errors.
On Mar 16, 2020, at 7:22 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings.
I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs.
Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead? _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
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I haven't tried either, but I do look at the sky frequently even if I don't have a telescope handy. People forget that satellites only appear right after sundown and right before sunup, never in the middle of the night. So they really shouldn't interfere with astro-imaging, though the artsy crowd might have issue with them for terrestrial time-exposures near sundown/sunrise. On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 7:48 AM Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> wrote:
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried.
I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either.
They may not be much of a problem for visual astronomy but they certainly can be a major headache for wide field survey scopes and they may be even more detrimental for radio astronomy. Projects like the event horizon scope could face significant challenges with thousands of these things always above the horizon. On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 8:05 AM Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I haven't tried either, but I do look at the sky frequently even if I don't have a telescope handy. People forget that satellites only appear right after sundown and right before sunup, never in the middle of the night. So they really shouldn't interfere with astro-imaging, though the artsy crowd might have issue with them for terrestrial time-exposures near sundown/sunrise.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 7:48 AM Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> wrote:
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried.
I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either.
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Of course, there are going to be many times more of these 2nd magnitude objects Sent from my iPad
On Mar 16, 2020, at 8:25 AM, Dale Hooper <dchooper5@gmail.com> wrote:
They may not be much of a problem for visual astronomy but they certainly can be a major headache for wide field survey scopes and they may be even more detrimental for radio astronomy. Projects like the event horizon scope could face significant challenges with thousands of these things always above the horizon.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 8:05 AM Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I haven't tried either, but I do look at the sky frequently even if I don't have a telescope handy. People forget that satellites only appear right after sundown and right before sunup, never in the middle of the night. So they really shouldn't interfere with astro-imaging, though the artsy crowd might have issue with them for terrestrial time-exposures near sundown/sunrise.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 7:48 AM Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> wrote:
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried.
I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either.
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This is only the start, unfortunately. Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 16, 2020, at 7:47 AM, Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> wrote:
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried.
I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either.
Dan
-- Sent from my iPhone. Please pardon any mispelings or errors.
On Mar 16, 2020, at 7:22 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings.
I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs.
Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead? _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
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I heard "The Sky is Falling!" when Iridium was in the news, I only ever saw three of those flares and it was a big non-event. If Starlink only shows up at sunset and sunrise, it's not a problem. I'd trade away light pollution for a hundred Starlink clusters, personally. This is a transition time for astronomy. I think before the century is done, most of the serious astronomical research will be conducted from the far side of the moon. Both visual and radio. If we don't kill ourselves off first. On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:49 AM Joe Bauman via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
This is only the start, unfortunately.
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 16, 2020, at 7:47 AM, Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> wrote:
I haven’t seen any, but frankly I haven’t tried.
I think the worry for most with starlink interfering with astronomy is with photography. But I also haven’t heard anyone having troubles either.
Dan
-- Sent from my iPhone. Please pardon any mispelings or errors.
On Mar 16, 2020, at 7:22 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings.
I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs.
Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead? _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
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The SpaceX launch of another group failed to launch Sunday morning. Jamie On Mon, Mar 16, 2020, 7:22 AM Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings.
I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs.
Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead? _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
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I seriously doubt that we'll see that much on the far side of the moon over the next 80 years. We are now 50 years past Apollo and we have hardly any real presence on the moon, absolutely none for observations looking away from the moon. There are also serious dust & power issues that need to be resolved regarding lunar observations. JWST is basically proof that we are reaching the limit of the complexity of what we can launch without the ability to have human servicing (i.e. what was done for Hubble until 2009). I would really hate to see us be so cavelier in giving away so easily something that would be so difficult to reclaim. Hopefully, the darkening procedures that SpaceX is going to use will help. But, the higher up they push those satellites into orbit the later at night they are visible. So count me as a pessimist about this one. Clear skies, Dale. On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 2:11 PM Jamie Bradley <astro@jamiebradley.com> wrote:
The SpaceX launch of another group failed to launch Sunday morning.
Jamie
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020, 7:22 AM Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings.
I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs.
Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead? _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
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Put a frog in hot water it jumps out, put a frog in cold water and then heat, it stays there until cooked. Sent from my iPad
On Mar 16, 2020, at 2:53 PM, Dale Hooper <dchooper5@gmail.com> wrote:
I seriously doubt that we'll see that much on the far side of the moon over the next 80 years. We are now 50 years past Apollo and we have hardly any real presence on the moon, absolutely none for observations looking away from the moon. There are also serious dust & power issues that need to be resolved regarding lunar observations. JWST is basically proof that we are reaching the limit of the complexity of what we can launch without the ability to have human servicing (i.e. what was done for Hubble until 2009).
I would really hate to see us be so cavelier in giving away so easily something that would be so difficult to reclaim. Hopefully, the darkening procedures that SpaceX is going to use will help. But, the higher up they push those satellites into orbit the later at night they are visible.
So count me as a pessimist about this one.
Clear skies, Dale.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 2:11 PM Jamie Bradley <astro@jamiebradley.com> wrote:
The SpaceX launch of another group failed to launch Sunday morning.
Jamie
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020, 7:22 AM Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment.
Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military
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