Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

Took me a few minutes to spot them as I was expecting something much brighter. Only caught on about 10:05 so missed half of it.

lyrids meteors out the next few nights too

Think that was back when they were first launched as they were all launched together. They're in the process of moving into their final orbits so will be moving further away.

You can see their positions here: https://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=starlink#TOP

I saw the first one as it was much brighter than the ones following. They did seem spaced out more yes, only saw a few faintly after the first

Clear night again tonight, aren't the meteors visible about 3am or something? Will research a bit more.

Last night, Venus was out early again, with a very dramatic sky.

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The Starlink were scarily visible before the hour went forward...

The Starlink train visible on 19th was much brighter than last night's and much more closely spaced.

I suspect last night's was an older group which has had time to separate. Plus the sun was at a less favourable angle to illuminate them by 10pm.

I forewarned my FB buds of the 19th April prediction (9:30pm) . That thread was buzzing afterwards with amazement at how bright, clear and how long the display lasted for - around 20 mins.

I reminded them to look out last night too, and there was a lot of disappointment - there will be many more opportunities I suppose.

Yeah just spotted this video from Jan so I guess they are still quite close:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LzkYrrj5Wg

The ones I spotted last night were definitely not as bright, so either they were a more spread out group, or they were just at different elevations and I could only see a small portion of them. Thinking more likely the former.

Apparently there's another pass this evening around 22:35 so will be better prepared then!

I am going to see if I can catch Markarian’s Chain tonight, an arrangement of galaxies in Virgo, just off the tail of Leo.

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So 22.30 for starlink?

Whens best to catch any meteor shower tonite?

Early hours of the morning are best for meteors generally. I can’t decide whether to bother, as it will be fresh out, and there’s work tomorrow.

Some static shots of the sky last night with a 10mm lens.

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Midnight to 3am

This is saying 22:30 - 22:40 for me: https://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=starlink#LIST

You can get a better idea by popping your location in here: https://stellarium-web.org/

Edit: Just realised you were responding to the meteor shower bit, not the Starlink bit, my bad!

Ok cool thanks @greentricky

@mmccarthy cheers was interested in both so useful!

I'm guessing with the lack of chat everyone's viewing was as lacklustre as mine?

Where I live is quite prone to sudden cloud/fog cover which appeared just in time for the main window (around 22:30) and shifted around a bit until 22:45. Managed to spot a few of them, but none in close proximity to each other and most that I did see were quite faint. Quite interesting how many non-Starlink satellites are visible too. Had a pair of crossover sightings with Starlinks going West-East and other satellites crossing paths North-South.

Looking forward to when it's a bit warmer after dark and can just relax in the garden and watch the stars!

yup
didn't see them last night, they were a bit further north, the sky wasn't as clear as night before either

Do you now Heavens-above? They tell you what's overhead for your location:

mag 2.1, bright, pass tonight 70deg altitude to the North:

https://heavens-above.com/StarlinkLaunchPasses.aspx

I was using this: https://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=starlink#TOP

to get rough times then Stellarium to get a better visualisation of where they'd be arriving.

That heavens above site is pretty handy, might just use that in future!

Just watched the Starlink placeholder pass overhead. V bright.
This just shows it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HKKotpBV6WCVY5US8

And if you look closely you might see Brian, our local bat.

Now awaiting starlink 41

There it goes!

And there goes number 34

Of all the astronomy articles in recent weeks, this was my favourite:

Wasp-76b is what astronomers call an exoplanet, one that orbits a star outside our solar system. Scientists have discovered that the local weather conditions include 2,400C temperatures, winds in excess of 10,000mph and a steady pelting of iron rain.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/11/scientists-identify-rain-of-molten-iron-on-distant-exoplanet

I always enjoy this exoplanet stuff. Some excellent speculation.

Managed to catch what I think was the Starlink 6 train a couple of days ago, definitely got the line arcing across the sky though quite spread out, only 3 or 4 visible at a time I think. Popped out to look up yesterday and saw Starlink 7 just after launch as well I believe. One bright light across as no time for them to have separated. Hoping it's looking good tonight to catch them overhead.