(meteorobs) satellite question

[Chris Peterson]

Sure, this is exactly what geosynchronous satellites do.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Hankey" <mike.hankey at gmail.com>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 11:27 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) satellite question


> Hello Observers,
> 
> I have a question about something I noticed in a series of pictures I
> took during the Geminids.
> 
> Basically I have what looks to be a small flare, (2-3x bigger than a
> star, but still very small). The flare is present and moving in a
> series of 40 pictures (30 second exposures each) that span 20 minutes
> total. The flare is not visible in every picture but it is visible in
> 2 or 3 in a row, then not visible for 5 pictures, then shows up again.
> It seems to clearly be moving in a linear fashion towards the horizon
> against the star trails.
> 
> The only explanation I can come up with is that its a satellite (maybe
> a tumbling one), but to me it seems to be moving far to slow to be a
> satellite as it takes 20 minutes to traverse the field of view of the
> camera. Most satellite streaks I have captured usually last 1 or 2
> frames max (30-60 seconds).
> 
> Are there slower moving satellites that could be present in a single
> field of view for a 20 minute time frame? I checked calsky and didn't
> really see satellites that would appear in the same part of the sky
> for more than a minute or two.