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Who knows astronomy?

Smiledriver

Thinker
Smiledriver
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
168
So, I was doing a little star-gazing tonight and I noticed one body that looked like a star starting to move. I was waiting for it to "shoot," but instead it kept moving through the sky...rather quickly.

It was roughly a south to north trajectory and I watched it until I lost sight of it over the top of my apt. building. I ran to the other side of the building, but I lost it.

What was that?

I'm in Calgary and it was roughly 11:40pm...if that matters.

Thanks.
 
I'd suggest you saw a satellite - possibly even Russian given the direction you mentioned.

Below is a web site that will allow you to plug the info in and see what may have been out and about tonight in your area

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Let us know what you discover :)
 
Satellite seems to be the answer I suppose.

Odd how it works though. For a split second I thought: space ship!

So glad I'm a skeptic.
 
gabeygoat said:
well, in a real way, it was a spaceship!
plus, I think it's amazing that we can see artificial satellites, as small as they are.
Click to expand...

This might tell you why. www.saao.ac.za/~wgssa/as3/roberts.html
"Before going into the more advanced aspects of satellite spotting, some basic fundamentals have to be defined. For a satellite to be seen with the naked eye it must meet certain criteria, the most important of which are:

The geometry of the orbit must be such that the satellite can make suitable passes over your location;
The satellite must be large enough to be visible to the naked eye;
The satellite must be suitably illuminated, i.e. the satellite must be in sunlight whilst the observer is in darkness;
The satellite must be relatively close to the earth, preferably closer than about 1000 kilometres;
The satellite must be suitably placed in the sky to be readily seen;
One should have an idea of what to look for."
 
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SezMe said:
theprestige is right - the USA launches polar orbiters from Vandenberg AFB.
Click to expand...

While obviously you are right, the Soviets did launch a lot of stuff South - North. Which is why I suggested it was probably Russian rather than give a definitive answer in that direction.

Hopefully the OP will take advantage of the site I linked to and tell us the identity of his object

Either that or it was an advance scout for a Vogon constructor fleet :p
 
MG1962 said:
While obviously you are right, the Soviets did launch a lot of stuff South - North. Which is why I suggested it was probably Russian rather than give a definitive answer in that direction.

Hopefully the OP will take advantage of the site I linked to and tell us the identity of his object

Either that or it was an advance scout for a Vogon constructor fleet :p
Click to expand...

a satellite going a North - South route will also be travelling South to North half of the time.
 
It's a tradition on our family camping trips to sit and watch for satellites. Given good conditions, there are a lot more that you are able to see than you might expect.
 
alfaniner said:
It's a tradition on our family camping trips to sit and watch for satellites. Given good conditions, there are a lot more that you are able to see than you might expect.
Click to expand...

My personal best was a night in the mid 90's where I counted 7 in the sky at the same time. There is not a night go by when I am observing that I dont see something passing the eyepiece at least once a night.

There is an astronomy program, Stellarium

http://www.stellarium.org/

It has a function to show you what satellites are in the sky at any one time - sometimes it looks more like an LA freeway than the depths of space.
 
MG1962 said:
I am not really sure I understand your point
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MG1962 said:
I'd suggest you saw a satellite - possibly even Russian given the direction you mentioned.
Click to expand...
You think it was Russian because it traveled from South to North. Russian satellites like that only travel South to North depending on time of day, since the Earth is round, and eventually they hit the North Pole.
MG1962 said:
While obviously you are right, the Soviets did launch a lot of stuff South - North.
Click to expand...
Also, their launch direction does not have anything to do with their travel for the same reason. Unless the satellite in question was just launched.
 
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Careyp74 said:
You think it was Russian because it traveled from North to South. Russian satellites like that only travel North to South depending on time of day, since the Earth is round, and eventually they hit the south pole.
Click to expand...

But over any particular place on the earth's surface the same satellite should always been seen to be travelling in the same direction, yes?

So, from, say, the US and Canada, any particular russian satellite will, if it is ever seen to be travelling from north-south always be seen to be travelling north-south.
 
Careyp74 said:
You think it was Russian because it traveled from South to North. Russian satellites like that only travel South to North depending on time of day, since the Earth is round, and eventually they hit the North Pole.

Also, their launch direction does not have anything to do with their travel for the same reason. Unless the satellite in question was just launched.
Click to expand...

Okay then lets call it a polar orbit and keep it simple
 
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