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#43918 03/05/2015 09:33 PM
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thebowl Offline OP
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Last night of another wonderful week. We have lost track at 20 some years or do.

To any astronomers on the site. We noticed an obvious satellite to the the south of Royal Palm, which looks to me to be over the equator. Very colorful. Maybe 1/4 up from the horizon. Each year I watch it. No change in its position. Any opinions welcome.

I will post a trip report when we get back, whenever that may be,

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We watch that every year from our balcony at La Vista Beach. I'd also love to know what it is!

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That is probably where you are getting your TV stations from. If you can find the resort's dish antenna see if it is pointing in that direction.

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Space station?
Does it twikle red and green, about 1/4 up on the horizon and a little to your left? [image you are in Maho at La Plage]
J&B

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JohnandBev said:
Space station?
Does it twikle red and green, about 1/4 up on the horizon and a little to your left? [image you are in Maho at La Plage
J&B


Yes! That's the space station?

Edited to add: I just looked this up online, and I doubt it's the space station, as what I see doesn't move...ever. The space station moves across the sky.

Last edited by GaKaye; 03/06/2015 07:58 PM.
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It is definitely not the International Space Station which orbits the earth at an altitude of 249 miles and is visible for a maximum of 6 minutes moving rapidly across the sky. Communication satellites do maintain a stationary position about 24,000 miles above the equator, but I would be surprised if one were large enough to be seen by the naked eye. My guess is that it is either a NASA or European Space Agency radio telescope used to collect data from deep space.

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It looks like a very bright star with the naked eye; it's with binoculars that I can see the different colors of the lights. But I'm almost blind in one eye, so others might be able to see the colors with the naked eye.

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It has to be something Geostationary, otherwise it set and rise in the sky depending on time.

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I think it may be the stars Sirius, Capella, or Arcturus. Sirius "The dog star". is quite apparent in the way it sparkles but I'm not sure it would be in the south. It's just a little below Orion in the winter sky. It has a unique feature that makes it sparkle red and green and white. It's the brightest star in the heavens and the sparkling is very apparent with binoculars.

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We are at La Vista Beach weeks 47, 48, and 49; so usually the last week in November and the first two in December. I think our balcony faces pretty much due South. This particular star/satellite is at about 10:00. Orion isn't visible; at least I've never seen it from there. I see Orion here at home in North Carolina in the winter, so I know exactly what it looks like.

I don't think it's a star. But I'm not an astronomer wink

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Can't be a Star because it's position in the sky would change depending on time of night. I'm wondering if it is something from Saba. The description sounds a awful like it is in that general area.

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Anything in the sky will change its position in the sky as the hours pass. Unless it's attached to earth. Geostationary things will move across the sky as the earth revolves. If it's a star it would VERY ( not really noticeably day to day) slowly change it's position as the earth rotates around the sun and our view of the heavens changes in each season. That's why you see it every year at the same time in the same place. Next time you see Orion, look lower and to the left for a very bright Star and look with binoculars and you will see Sirius twinkling in red green and white very distinctly. Orion is probably gone from the sky by this times of the year. Look next winter.

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Geostationary satellites orbit the earth at the same rate as the earth rotates. They do not move position viewed from the ground. That is why they are used for all GPS devices. If they moved there would be no GPS devices. Just GOOGLE geostationary for details.

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soualigacapt said:
Anything in the sky will change its position in the sky as the hours pass. Unless it's attached to earth. Geostationary things will move across the sky as the earth revolves. If it's a star it would VERY ( not really noticeably day to day) slowly change it's position as the earth rotates around the sun and our view of the heavens changes in each season. That's why you see it every year at the same time in the same place. Next time you see Orion, look lower and to the left for a very bright Star and look with binoculars and you will see Sirius twinkling in red green and white very distinctly. Orion is probably gone from the sky by this times of the year. Look next winter.

Does that include satellites (for tv, communications, etc)? It seems that if they did move across the sky, the "dish" that picks up the signal would not be pointing in the right direction to receive the signal. My TV cable "dish" is pointed up to the southwest sky to pick up the signal, but it is stationary and does not move to track a signal.

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Read the post above yours....

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boucharda said:
Read the post above yours....

Thanks,
We were typing at the same time, apparently my old fat fingers weren't moving as fast as his young nimble ones. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

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mrsunshine said:
Geostationary satellites orbit the earth at the same rate as the earth rotates. They do not move position viewed from the ground. That is why they are used for all GPS devices. If they moved there would be no GPS devices. Just GOOGLE geostationary for details.


Actually the GPS satellites are not Geostationary. They are in orbits at one-half the geostationary altitude.

Here is a link to the explanation: GPS.gov

It is mainly communications satellites that are in a geostationary orbit that exactly matches the speed of the earth's rotation so they remain above the same spot on the earth.


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What I meant is that geostationary things will move across the background of stars as the earth rotates.

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Actually it is the stars that appear to move across the sky as the earth rotates. Back in the days of film cameras I set up a Minolta 35mm SLR on a tripod next to my huge 10 ft satellite TV dish and pointed it at the same area of sky as the dish with a normal lens on a clear, moonless night. I used a cable shutter release that allowed me to hold the shutter open for several minutes for a long time exposure.

I took several time exposures over a couple hours, experimenting with diferent exposure times.

When the film was developed and printed I had several photos that showed the stars as curved streaks (rotating around Polaris...the North Star...) and a string of dots arcing across the sky in a line.

The dots were the geostationary satellites, made visible by the long exposure times and the sunlight bouncing off their shiny surfaces. It was a neat experiment.


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We are at Royal Islander right now and I pointed this "star" out to my wife a couple of nights ago. It is in the southwest sky (to the left of where the sun sets) and definitely the brightest object in the sky (other than the moon). When I pointed it out to the wife, you could see no other stars but this object was very bright. Don't know what it is but I see this same bright object in the same general position from my home in south Georgia. I have always wondered what it is and reading all the comments, I guess I still do.

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My guess is that you are seeing the planet Venus. It is the brightest planet in our solar system because it is much closer to the sun than earth and has a very cloudy atmosphere which reflects sunlight very well.

If you only see one light in the sky shortly after sunset and in the same general direction it is nearly always Venus. Poets often refer to Venus as the "Evening Star", although it is not a star.


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It flashes red and green. I think it has to be a satellite.

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Actually that is a trick of the atmosphere as the light passes through it. The light refracts slightly as it passes through the dust and moisture in the upper atmosphere causing the apparent glints of color. I worked in the space arena for decades both in the Air Force and in Industry and none of the satellites flash color on purpose...and most birds are covered with reflective gold mylar as needed for thermal control where they are not either black or white in color.
Go outside and look around on a dark moonless night. You will often see stars and planets appear to flash colors as the white light passes through the atmosphere. The effect seems to get more pronounced nearer to the horizon, since the light passes through more of the atmosphere for a longer time at low elevation angles.


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Clearly you know more about it than I do, so I'll defer to your knowledge! I do know that this particular object is always in the exact same position in the sky as it relates to the view from our balcony at La Vista Beach.

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Someone needs to suggest it...
[Linked Image]

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Wow, this thread came back to life? Amazing.

This different colors don't seem to be any sort of "twinkling"; they are very distinct. And it seems to remain in precisely the same position, at least when I am there.

I'm surprised that there seems to be no consensus here.

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If you have an iPad, just download the "Sky Guide" app. It is really cool ... it shows the night sky with all major stars, planets and visible manmade objects identified. You can even see the names of specific satellites and look them up on the internet to see their purpose and ownership. There are also shaded outlines of mythical creatures superimposed on the constellations. I'm not sure, but I think this app was free. There are several such apps available; this is simply the one that I like. Let us know what you find ... my guess is that you are probably seeing the planet Venus.

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does anyone use the skyview app? love it... if you focus the circle on what you want to see, it identifies it... above and below the horizon! so if you point it at a dot, it could be the space station.... or a star in what constellation... very fun

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