In my experiences at 6 total eclipses I can't remember seeing any stars and only the brightest planets. probably nothing fainter than 0 or -1. The sky is quite bright, it may seem to be dark because it was so bright just seconds before but you can easily read and it is, on average, similar to the sky 10 or 15 minutes after sunset. Spotting anything but the brightest satellites would be futile. I have wondered if it might be possible to get a photograph of a geosynchronous satellite passing through the lunar umbra or penumbra when the shadow may not necessarily strike the earth but only pass close to the earth. A time exposure tracking on the stars would show the satellite as a streak that would dim and brighten again. I know there have been some instances of the shadow just missing earth but I don't know if the geometry could be right to see the satellites from a night location. Dale ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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