# What the HELL did I just see in the night sky tonight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2023, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486 "2023-09-02T02:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/21 "2023-09-02T17:25:32Z")
Well, now I’ve made use of the website that shows when it’ll appear for me again, so we can once again hit the hot tub and see the show. Looks like tomorrow night has a show, and Monday night will have two of them! ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/22 "2023-09-02T17:29:02Z")
I’ll check it out, thanks! Sadly, I have no hot tub though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/23 "2023-09-02T17:30:10Z")
well, jump on the ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee and drive north a bit and join us! ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/24 "2023-09-02T17:31:43Z")
Virtual like button!!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/25 "2023-09-02T18:01:39Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Indeed. My theory is that he got accidentally marooned here, and the entire SpaceX gig is a way of getting back off the Earth to rendezvous with his mother ship that is currently orbiting Mars. > **[Does a Bee Care?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does_a_Bee_Care%3F)** > > "Does a Bee Care?" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in If: Worlds of Science Fiction in June 1957, and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories. Gold Key Comics also published a comic book version of the story in 1976 in #4 of the four issue science fiction series Starstream: Adventures in Science Fiction. It also appeared in 1976's Questar: Illustrated Science Fiction Classics, published by Golden Press and adapted ... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/26 "2023-09-03T01:14:59Z")
Saw my first Space-X satellite train just now thanks to the help of that page. I didn’t know if I would see anything because my property is completely surrounded by tall oaks, but they ended up passing nearly directly overhead. I didn’t get to see the full estimated four minutes the exposure, but still had a pretty good view. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/27 "2023-09-03T01:23:35Z")
Thoughts from video. How high up are they? Why do they look as if they move fast? Do they move faster than regular satellites in the sky? Do they have propulsion? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/28 "2023-09-03T01:31:58Z")
I’m no expert, but googling tells me they’re 370 miles up, travel at 17,000 MPH so that’s why they look like they move fast, they circle the globe in 90 minutes, and there are over 4000 of them and they have ion propulsion engines, using solar panels to power the engines. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/29 "2023-09-03T01:44:14Z")
Thanks. Wow, that’s pretty fast. (My opinion of the founder of the company that made them is unchanged, though. I think if I was insanely rich I’d hire some people who’d be able to do some pretty cool stuff too.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/30 "2023-09-03T01:51:55Z")
Voltones. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/31 "2023-09-03T02:03:30Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Wow, that’s pretty fast. > > (My opinion of the founder of the company that made them is unchanged, though. I think if I was insanely rich I’d hire some people who’d be able to do some pretty cool stuff too.) A couple of points, in case it isn’t obvious. Anything in a circular earth orbit has a specific speed that is entirely a function of altitude – the lower the orbit, the faster the necessary speed to stay in orbit. The lowest earth orbits of around 100 miles altitude require a speed of just under 17,500 mph. At 370 miles up, the required orbital speed is 16,920 mph. The sole purpose of the propulsion engines is occasional gentle nudges to keep each satellite in the desired position. Geostationary communications satellites also have thrusters for the same reason, and so does the Webb space telescope, although in the latter case it’s because it’s in a somewhat unstable sun-earth L2 orbit a million miles from Earth. I share your opinion of the founder of SpaceX. I will say, though, that whoever came up with the idea, the Starlink concept was brilliant, aside from its astronomical and space-junk downsides. The total cost, including launch costs, of a single conventional geostationary communications satellite is enormous – on the order of around $500 million. And for two-way communication (such as using them for internet access) they have very significant latency because of distance. For Starlink to have 4000 of their little guys in LEO providing low-latency internet access is really quite remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/32 "2023-09-03T03:14:07Z")
Hmm, thanks. I’m going to assume it was an underling’s idea. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/33 "2023-09-03T03:56:18Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Sitting in the hot tub with my wife… Sneak brag! ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/34 "2023-09-03T16:59:05Z")
Note that the ‘string of lights’ effect is only part of the Starlink constellation, an effect that occurs shortly after the satellites are launched, and before they manoeuvre into their long-term orbits. Gradually, each satellite will ‘peel off’ from the string and take their place in the world-wide network of satellites that covers most of the world. Because they have so many satellites up there, the Starlink planners have taken some considerable effort to prevent reflections reaching the Earth from the satellites in their final orbits. The panels and surfaces of the satellites are oriented so that the reflections mostly miss the Earth, and so they are largely invisible. However, there is another side to this … the satellites **can** be briefly visible at certain angles, usually when they are in the night sky just above the horizon, and when the Sun is around 40° below the horizon. There are so many satellites up there that an observer might see several satellites flare sequentially one after the other, making it look like one object moving back and forth in a so-called ‘racetrack’ configuration. Since the Starlink satellites have been in place, reports of ‘racetrack’ UFOS have been quite common, often reported by pilots who are high up and can see these things more clearly. Here’s Mick West, explaining why these reports are (mostly) caused by Starlink satellites on station. [Why Racetrack UFOs are Starlink Flares (mostly)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VmrRGln1XA) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/35 "2023-09-04T00:31:55Z")
BTW, I want to thank Qadgop for starting this thread and inspiring me to actually try for a sighting. It looks like last night’s passage that I caught was [the last good one](https://i.postimg.cc/NG4VGZ2W/Screenshot-20230903-202617.jpg) for this cluster. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/36 "2023-09-04T01:01:03Z")
Yeah, I noticed that too. There’s one over me in about 15 minutes but it’s not super dark out. I’ll see if I can spot it. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/37 "2023-09-04T01:01:45Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > And you might be factually correct. I don’t think we’ve ever proven that Elon Musk is entirely human. I, for one, would like to see his long form Earth Certificate. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/38 "2023-09-04T01:38:01Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > There’s one over me in about 15 minutes but it’s not super dark out. I’ll see if I can spot it. No sign of 'em, but it wasn’t even quite nautical twilight here yet. I could make out the Big Dipper and other brighter stars but no signs of SpaceX. The website did say sighting 'em would be less like likely tonight. Oh well, I’ll try tomorrow. There’s a later one about 8:45 P, so it’ll at least be nautical twilight by that time, if not astronomical twilight. It is a lovely night out on the beach, though. Low 80’s, light breeze keeping the bugs away, low humidity. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/39 "2023-09-04T01:47:06Z")
Note that the tracker gives magnitude. At my location it dropped from 1.6 last night to 3.1 tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486/40 "2023-09-04T01:52:07Z")
Yeah, it was 2.2 tonight, which is what they call for tomorrow night later. So with more dark tomorrow night, maybe I’ll see it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-did-i-just-see-in-the-night-sky-tonight/989486.md?page=1)