Interesting Items...

I saw nothing but a single satellite passing through Leo, which might well not have been anything to do with Starlink. What time? I was a little late getting into position to avoid light pollution. However, once settled I had a good view to the west and south, with Orion half set and Sirius very low but still clearly visible.

mihaid said:
they were not so close together as advertised
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As advertised? The problem is they are intended to spread out over a few orbits, so they only look close together soon after launch. Typically, the press don't understand these things and hype everyone up for a disappointment. Super Moons, meteor showers, comets - all cases in point. I have seen a properly spectacular comet: West 1976. Most meteor showers only manage a few per hour if you are an average person watching from a back garden, you have to get very lucky to see a storm such as the 1833 Leonids (peaks like that only last a few minutes, so have to be in the right part of the world as well as looking at the right time).
 
Black Hole said:
I saw nothing but a single satellite passing through Leo, which might well not have been anything to do with Starlink. What time?
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9.56 my first one. saw about 15 20? last two were close ones about the whole length of the plough
I was only made aware by your post about half an hr earlier so did not have time to check my normal sources so yes the press hyped it.
 
mihaid said:
9.56 my first one. saw about 15 20?
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Yeah, I think I was too late.

mihaid said:
there's another launch on Wednesday so perhaps another chance
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Brilliant (for the spectacle, not so much for astronomers). My mate said about trying again Wednesday, I was dubious because of the spread but if it's a new batch that should be better.

Update: I just checked, and Wednesday's apparition is the same set: 10.34pm tonight and 9.33pm tomorrow (Wednesday). I'll have a look again (what else is there to do?).

The next set is due to launch on Wednesday at 7.37pm (our time), and it takes about 8 hours* for the Earth's rotation to bring UK under the north-eastward track of the initial orbit... but the orbital period is about 90 minutes* so it is entirely possible they won't be overhead when we are under the orbital track. Hmm. I don't know how long it is between launch and separation either.

I will advise any other information I come by.

* My estimates
 
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I saw two tracking West to East through the Plough plus one other coming from more Southerly direction. Probably not part of the train. Missed most of them because we looking too far South at first.
 
4291 said:
I saw two tracking West to East through the Plough plus one other coming from more Southerly direction.
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yeah, I saw that one as well. to start with I was looking west to where they were rising in the orion. but, there were some thin clouds which let through Betelgeuse but obscured the sats. so when I looked straight overhead lack of clouds and saw the first one. I thought perhaps that was some leader and the line would appear later. but they were about one a minute or so, apart from the last two. they are nowhere as bright as the iss.

if I do this again i'll put on a jumper and lie down on a mat in the garden. head east feet west
 
They are spreading out a bit and a little dimmer tonight; between 21:00 and 23:00 (might be a little too light at the start of that). Some are still only 30 seconds apart (so not as close as some of the images on the news of a day or so back.
I use this page https://www.heavens-above.com/Starl...000&lng=-2.0000&loc=Home+is+here&alt=0&tz=GMT
You can set your own home location. and choose the next launch when available.
Their app is good for pointing at the sky to help visualise where to look.
 
hairy_mutley said:
They are spreading out a bit and a little dimmer tonight; between 21:00 and 23:00 (might be a little too light at the start of that). Some are still only 30 seconds apart (so not as close as some of the images on the news of a day or so back.
I use this page https://www.heavens-above.com/Starl...000&lng=-2.0000&loc=Home+is+here&alt=0&tz=GMT
You can set your own home location. and choose the next launch when available.
Their app is good for pointing at the sky to help visualise where to look.
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great, it seems that the first one is the brightest remember the smaller the mag the brighter the object

for those not knowing where to look at about 9.15 they will pass through ursa major. everyone knows how to find that, right?
 
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@BH
Can't explain. Don't think I can even explain it as a GMT/BST difference. What was your source? (edit: OK, found it now; Tapatalk doesn't show the source)
There is obviously a question about how you correlate 60 satellites over a 2 hour period with just a single report of 6 minutes.
 
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