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[Al Degutis]

In my mag 5.6 skies, spotting satellites is a common occurance whether observing or just looking up after dark. While watching for Perseids on Friday night, I spied three satellites moving together from north to south. They caught my attention because of their formation. I'd guess that the "lead" satellite is not "related" to the two following it.

I've put together a graphic illustrating their approximate movement across the sky when I saw them:

Here are the particulars:
Location: 42.33 N lat, 88.50 W long
Date: Aug 12, 2005
Time: 23:15 CDT
Their movement was probably more direct north to south whereas the graphic shows a slight angle.

[Rocketman]

Nice going Al!

Was this a naked eye observation?

I'm not coming up with anything. I'll have to do some digging.

[Al Degutis]

rocketman2 said:

Was this a naked eye observation?

Yes, it was naked eye. I'd estimated (based on memory) that they appeared about mag 3.

Good luck.

[Rocketman]

Estimated the time or location?

[Al Degutis]

rocketman2 said:

Estimated the time or location?

Dude, I think you stopped reading the rest of the original message when your eyes gazed upon the graphic. You must been hypnotized by it ;D

Here are the particulars:
Location: 42.33 N lat, 88.50 W long
Date: Aug 12, 2005
Time: 23:15 CDT
Their movement was probably more direct north to south whereas the graphic shows a slight angle.

[Rocketman]

I actually read the "particulars"...

Dude, I think you stopped reading the rest of the original message when your eyes gazed upon the graphic.

AAANNNKKK! Wrong answer... dude!

I simulated it using the Space-Track's Catalog.tle file, which contains about 9000 satellites, and I do not see anything for that exact time. Several minutes before or after there are possible canidates for one or two of the three, which is obviosly the reason I asked if you estimated the time. The location is close enough, but the time is critical. My data is not off.

Perhaps I should have assumed that you actually looked at the time before I posted that..


..dude

[Al Degutis]

My bad... I assumed...

As for the time and location, it is not estimated. I had my watch on and voice recorder with me and made a voice memo so that I'd get it right, so I know it was within a minute or so of 23:15 Central Daylight Time.

Thanks

[Rocketman]

Sorry about earlier, I had a rough day.

Al, from your experience of seeing satellites, how would you describe their velocity? Slow, average or fast?

I'm judging from your graphic that they stayed uniform in distance, and velocity. Did any of them eclipse at some point during the pass? I'm also guessing you would have stated this, as your are a well trained observer, and knowing the criticality of details. ;D

I've asked a more experienced, and what I'd consider a professional (if there is one) sathingycher to aid me in identifying these. He has logged thousands of satellite observations.

I surely will have something soon, and if not, I will add this to my things to check later once I accumalate more data on more satellites. From time to time I do add a few. I then retrieve the TLE of those I've added to see if they match my unidentifieds, and more recently, other people's unidentifieds. This however requires an older elset (TLE), which I can get from Space-Track at any time. I guess I like the detective work.

[Al Degutis]

rocketman2 said:

Sorry about earlier, I had a rough day.

No worries!

Al, from your experience of seeing satellites, how would you describe their velocity? Slow, average or fast?

Slow to average... definitely not fast.

I'm judging from your graphic that they stayed uniform in distance, and velocity. Did any of them eclipse at some point during the pass? I'm also guessing you would have stated this, as your are a well trained observer, and knowing the criticality of details. ;D

Observer in training, but still only human.

The two side-by-side stayed uniform with the same speed, distance between, etc. The one in front was slowly gaining distance between it and the other two so it was moving a bit faster but it took a good 15-20 seconds to notice the change in distance.

[Mike McCants]

The NOSS doublets and triplets are classified, so they do not appear in the Spacecom file of tles. This pass was the NOSS 2-1 C, D, E triplet. They are often fairly faint, but they are usually quite bright on a pass that comes up from the northwest towards the zenith.

[Rocketman]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the post!

I was aware of the 2-1 triplet, but it was ten minutes after the time that Al stated, which is why I was asking about the time in the previous posts.

Eye candy:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/MetalheadRocketeer/orbitron.png

_{Yes, I'm aware of the orbit number being incorrect in the information window.}

As you can see, the shape of the little squares fits Al's drawing. :-)

So I guess that solves it? Sort of...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's quite fun talking with Grady while he's monitoring sats. Things are beeping, screens are flashing and it's almost like being at NORAD... ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Mike,

Thanks for your input and assisiting in identifying the mysterious sats. Why not go all the way and join the Chicago Astronomer family as a member?

We won't bite...at first...

[Rocketman]

admin said:

It's quite fun talking with Grady while he's monitoring sats. Things are beeping, screens are flashing and it's almost like being at NORAD... ;D

Thanks Joe.

I'm trying to find info to make me an antenna for listening to satellites now.