Author Topic: Starlink : Satellite Spotting (Read 53740 times)

gongora · « **Reply #120 on:** 07/16/2019 02:08 am »

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1150940486355628034

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Meanwhile, the first Starlink batch is now starting to be visible in the N hemisphere again. Early days, but it looks like observations are ranging from mag 4 to mag 7 or so - i.e. many are faint, but some are rather bright at least some of the time. Better info in coming weeks

high road · « **Reply #121 on:** 11/11/2019 03:04 pm »

Apparently, this is the thread for this question:

Is there a way to know when the line of Starlink satellites will pass overhead? So a map with the trajectory and time after launch, or somesuch? I'd love to see that with my own eyes. Considering I live in an area with extensive artificial lighting, my chances to discern anything are pretty low, so I'd love to at least know when I should be looking.

Now that the second set of Starlink sats has launched, and we had this beautiful graphic of where the second stage was during the coast phase, is it possible to extrapolate this to the trajectory in the upcoming week to see when the sats would pass over a specific location?

joncz · « **Reply #122 on:** 11/11/2019 03:15 pm »

https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=70003

Mandella · « **Reply #123 on:** 11/11/2019 06:32 pm »

I used these guys last time to good effect also:

https://www.n2yo.com/

2megs · « **Reply #124 on:** 11/11/2019 10:11 pm »

The satellites from this morning's launch were easily seen at the time and track from Heaven's Above. All in one line; I'd guesstimate about 3 degrees from start to end. Clearly visible to the naked eye, above DC city lights, for the entire transit. At one point they all flared in pretty close to unison.

Comga · « **Reply #125 on:** 11/11/2019 11:27 pm »

We looked from south Florida before 6PM, but the sky was still bright, there were many clouds, and the maximum elevation was 13 degrees.
Everyone has an excuse. Those are mime.
Better viewing tomorrow, although they will have started spreading out
Even better on Wednesday, with a max elevation of 78 degrees, but by then they probably be resolved as discrete objects in a thin line.
Not as good as the show last May a few hours after launch.

wxmeddler · « **Reply #126 on:** 11/11/2019 11:36 pm »

Tried looking from Fargo SW, on the chance that I might get it on the horizon (we are very flat here), but no luck..

wxmeddler · « **Reply #127 on:** 11/11/2019 11:55 pm »

Seen over Seattle though with a 300mm lens.
https://twitter.com/JosephGruber/status/1194049362172600320

jketch · « **Reply #128 on:** 11/12/2019 01:21 am »

Saw them from Fremont, CA just under an hour after sunset. My viewing conditions were far from ideal, I was in a brightly lit park, with occasional hazy clouds reflecting the suburban lights. Despite this, I was able to see the sat train very clearly. I first noticed them to the SW about 45 degrees above the horizon. There were six or so bright dots visible with what looked like a pretty dim line connecting them. They traveled eastward and I lost them as they dipped below about 20 degrees. Doubt I would have seen them if I didn't know exactly when and where to look. They more or less exactly followed the track predicted by heavens-above.

https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=70003

gchockry · « **Reply #129 on:** 11/12/2019 01:35 am »

Jack Beyer in Los Angeles
https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1194078953108987904

David Hash in SF Bay Area
https://twitter.com/turndownformars/status/1194077202763005953

c3infinity · « **Reply #130 on:** 11/12/2019 01:49 am »

I'll add my plug for heavens above. The pass was not quite directly overhead, but easily visible with just a bit of cloud cover. Most seemed to be fairly steady with just a few that brightned or dimmed noticeably. I didn't get to see any right after the first launch, so this was pretty neat.

kaiser · « **Reply #131 on:** 11/12/2019 11:33 pm »

Very faint tonight here in New Mexico, but pretty cool nonetheless.

thirtyone · « **Reply #132 on:** 11/13/2019 02:40 am »

Saw them in LA today *and* yesterday; Heavens Above has some pretty decent predictions. It appears as if they've already spread out quite a bit, couldn't see all in the sky at the same time today, but it was also pretty low on the horizon. I don't have a lot of experience with satellite tracking though.

They were quite bright, especially given that the LA sky is actually fairly smoggy today and has a ton of light pollution.

Caught some other pretty bright satellites today with Heavens Above as well. Their app is extremely useful for figuring out roughly where to look in the sky (compasses are often not that accurate though, so keep that in mind). Only plugging because it really made finding the satellites much easier for novices like me.

I won't get another visible pass for at least a week - I'd imagine in a lot of areas, if you missed these passes, you might have to wait until the next launch, which luckily will not be all that long from now.

xyv · « **Reply #133 on:** 11/13/2019 03:11 am »

Well I thought I captured the whole thing on video. I had never tried that feature on my DSLR and somehow in the dark probably turned it off for most of the pass. Out of what was left I could get one screen cap - this is what it looked like in Santa Barbara - same pass as the above videos. Heavens-above was spot on.

gongora · « **Reply #134 on:** 11/14/2019 03:53 pm »

https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1194875381666455553

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BIG thanks to @SpaceX for allowing us to use their #Starlink ephemerides (for both launches) posted on Space Track to create supplemental TLEs for CelesTrak users! You can find them at: https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/supplemental/.

ZChris13 · « **Reply #135 on:** 01/06/2020 10:46 pm »

Quote from: niwax on 01/06/2020 05:03 pm

So that's an achievement for 2020 down early: Just witnessed a Starlink train at over 60° elevation in a perfectly clear sky on a field outside of Munich. The spacing and speed really gives a nice preview of how the system is supposed to work when it's at full density and what a hard job the receivers will have.

Now if only my Lumia 950 hadn't died last year...

Comga · « **Reply #136 on:** 01/13/2020 12:05 am »

We interrupt this calm, careful monitoring of the evolution of the orbits of the Starlink satellites to say

WE JUST SAW TWO TRAINS OF STARLINK SATELLITES!

From south Florida through partly cloudy skies.
Heavens Above has yet to update their orbit data (It says epoch Jan 7.) but we watched Hubble go almost directly overhead a few minutes after the stale prediction for the Starlink satellites launched Monday (which I also saw!)

A few minutes after that the Starlink satellites appeared, one after another, between ~5-10 degrees apart. Real bright. Pretty evenly spaced. Peaked just to our south but very high overhead. We didn’t count but there were twenty or so, maybe more.

A few minutes later more satellites, going the same direction, but fainter and peaking just to the North. I assume this is the previous set, 1.0 Launch 1. These we counted:7. Popped into view within a fraction of a degree of Venus, which helped my eyes focus and point steadily.

I had four people watching with me. Everyone enjoyed the show. Breathtaking!

Edit:Thanks to the moderator for moving this post to this appropriate thread.

Comga · « **Reply #137 on:** 01/13/2020 12:45 pm »

Despite the hyperlink still saying “Starlink - 3rd launch placeholder” Heavens Above now has current orbits for all three Starlink launch groups.

nuukee · « **Reply #138 on:** 01/22/2020 10:22 am »

I have yet to see a Starlink train, but am struggling to get the times right.
I used heavens above for the last couple of days, but during the predicted times nothing was visible, even though they were supposed to be bighter than Venus which was clearly visible.
I just tried three different sites (satflare.com, me.cmdr2.org/starlink, heavens-above) and getting three different times for my location? It also does not help that there does not seem to be a consistent naming of the sats.

Based on your experience, what is the best website to track the sats?
Thanks!!

Semmel · « **Reply #139 on:** 01/22/2020 10:44 am »

Is there a prediction of the orbital path for the starlink satellites that launch on Friday? Given the time and track, it might be visible in Europe in the evening. Waiting to see the starlink immediately after launch here, always bad luck on the weather or orbital path in the past.