Re: Question about a satellite I may have imaged

From: Matt via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2020 13:08:39 -0400
Thinking this through a bit more... I'm wondering if what happened 
during the 64ms exposure was a blurred image of something (small) with 
two panels perpendicular to the direction of motion. So it happened to 
move the approx. 100 pixels in 64ms, itself spanning approx. 50 pixels 
from end to end.  Because the frame rate was about 7-8 per second it 
then jumps along and is then blurred again in the next image.

If I think of this being a small item with two panels, then those panels 
become more like 20-25 pixels in length and I think that puts them in 
the range of a satellite.

Does that make (or not make) sense?  What I'll do now is try to back out 
likely combinations of distance/speed/size.  And then try to find a 
database to search what could have been in that line of sight.  If 
anyone knows of a way of doing *that*, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for everyone's attention and thoughts,

Matt

On 7/2/20 3:10 PM, Frank E Reed via Seesat-l wrote:
> Hello Matt.
>
> In your images, the Sun has a diameter of about 830 pixels. Your pair
> of rectangles is approximately 100 pixels by 50 pixels. Since the Sun
> is 32 minutes of arc across on average, your rectangles are 4 x 2
> minutes of arc. This is much too large to be a satellite. You can
> calculate physical size from:
>    size = (minutes_of_arc/3438)*distance.
> Assuming a very low orbit, 175km, right at your zenith, this would
> imply an object 200m by 100m, much bigger than the ISS and those
> apparent solar panels would have to be something like ten times bigger
> than solar the panels on the ISS. Whatever it is, a rectangular bird?
> an internal reflection? ...it is not a satellite.
>
> Frank Reed
> Clockwork Mapping / ReedNavigation.com
> Conanicut Island USA
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Received on Fri Jul 03 2020 - 12:09:19 UTC

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