(meteorobs) Geosynchronous satellites

[Richard Taibi]

Geosynchronous satellites (GSSs) are not a topic I have seen on meteorobs (but I could have missed it.)  I was fascinated by seeing at least two 'GSSs' during a morning observation on 7 October UT.  My observation period was from 645 to 800 UT at Bel Alton, MD and I faced south with a field center near alpha Ceti.  During the watch, I noticed an unfamiliar 'asterism' northwest of beta Ceti.  There were two unfamiliar 'stars' near
 theta and eta Ceti, forming a diamond shape when first seen.  During 
the session, the asterism changed shape and periodically, one or both 
GSSs waned into invisibility.  The two, when first seen, were about 
fourth magnitude, but at 800 hr UT, one was actually second magnitude! 
 At first I
 was perplexed as to what I was seeing, because the 'stars' were not the
 usual sky- spanning satellites, nor satellite flares of the Iridium 
sort.  But, I remembered an article in October 2011's Sky and Telescope 
magazine about observing geosynchronous satellites during a telescopic 
session.  I reread the article and much of what the author had to say 
about the visibility of GSSs applied to my 'stars.' The author mentioned
 that equinox times were favorable for seeing these 22,000 mile distant 
satellites due to the satellites' angles with respect to the sun.  
However, the author cautioned, "Rarely (a GSS) may glint to conspicuous 
naked eye visibility."  Despite the caution, these 'stars' were in the 
correct declination and elevation positions indicated in the article and
 therefore were very likely GSSs.  So, apparently, GSSs can get to be 
bright enough to be distracting to meteor observers too.  Perhaps some 
members of meteorobs have already noted these unusual sky interlopers in
 the past few weeks pre and post-equinox 

Best wishes Rich

 

 

 

 

 

 


 		 	   		  
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