RE: Starlinks, very bright

From: Ted Molczan via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2020 21:51:11 -0400
I just had a similar sighting. It was not a planned observation. I just happened to be looking out my window at about
01:00 UTC (Apr 20), toward the WNW. 

I spotted a bright satellite that peaked in brightness at about the azimuth of Venus. Another followed shortly on the
same track, and it flared to about the brightness of Sirius (mag -1.5). That's when I realized what I was seeing. The
next two behaved likewise. I watched about 10 more. They did not flare, but peaked in brightness in the narrow range
between that of Capella and Procyon (close to mag 0). All peaked at about the same azimuth as Venus, 280 deg. The sun
was at about 297 deg, 10 deg below the horizon.

The satellites were from the fifth launch, on 2020 Mar 18.

Ted Molczan

Site 2701: 43.68764 N, 79.39243 W, 230 m


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Seesat-l <seesat-l-bounces+ssl3molcz=rogers.com_at_satobs.org> On Behalf Of Marco
> Langbroek via Seesat-l
> Sent: April-19-20 5:19 PM
> To: satelliet lijst (SeeSat) <SeeSat-L_at_satobs.org>
> Subject: Starlinks, very bright
> 
> 
> 
> Between 20:25 and 20:45 UT I saw a file of dozens of very bright Starlink
> satellites from the 2020-019 launch pass by, very impressive, in a long
> continuing line that went on for some 20 minutes. At any time there were at
> least 7 or 8 of them visible in the sky.
> 
> Very bright: almost all magnitude +0.5, only 1 or two fainter (mag +2).
> 
> Maximum elevation in order of 60 degrees.
> 
> - Marco
> 
> 
>  -----
> Dr Marco Langbroek  -  SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands.
> e-mail: sattrackcam_at_langbroek.org
> 
> Cospar 4353 (Leiden):     52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL
> Cospar 4355 (Cronesteyn): 52.13878 N, 4.49937 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL
> Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
> Twitter: _at_Marco_Langbroek
> -----
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Received on Sun Apr 19 2020 - 20:52:20 UTC

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