(meteorobs) Geosynchronous satellites

[Wayne Hally]

Yes Rich, I have seen a few of these. When you are (like both of us) an
experienced meteor watcher, you know the sky in great detail. When a "star"
doesn't belong, you notice it. Unlike Iridiums, which last a few seconds,
GSS sats last many minutes. You just know it doesn't belong there J

 

Wayne

 

From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Richard Taibi
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 9:24 PM
To: Meteor Observing Mailing List
Subject: (meteorobs) Geosynchronous satellites

 

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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