GskySatellites

Satellite passes over Greenville for July 22-23

Here's list of satellites that will pass over Greenville Tonight.

Satellite passes for July 16, 2008

Calendar listing of Satellites viewable as they pass over Greenville for Wednesday night, July 16.

Satellites observed May 17, 2008

Cosmos 220 Rocket
Cosmos 1782 Rocket
Resurs 1-4 Rocket
Cosmos 1842
Cosmos 2360 Rocket

Satellites observed May 13, 2008

In between deer snorting at me I managed to break my old record with 20 satellites observed passing over Greenville.
Cosmos 1222
Intercosmos 24
Unidentified satellite (could see it flashing/spinning)
Cosmos 1674 Rocket
Cosmos 1980 Rocket
Cosmos 1346
TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite)
Unidentified (21:20)
USA 129 military satellite
Cosmos 1782 Rocket
Cosmos 1689 Rocket
Helios 1B Rocket
Unidentified (21:50)
Meteor-Priroda
Uosat 12 SS-18 rocket
Chunghua 1
MetOp-A
Unidentified
Resurs 1-4 Rocket
Cosmos 1603 Rocket4

Satellites observed April 26, 2008

Here's a list of the satellites I managed to pick out Saturday night. All of these were exactly on schedule and seemed to be at the magnitude listed on the Heaven's Above website.

Cosmos 1812
Cosmos 2369
Cosmos 405 Rocket
Cosmos 921 Rocket
Seasat 1 Seasat was launched in 1978 and it's mission was quickly ended due to a failure of the electrical power system.
Cosmos 1689 Rocket
Helios 1B


I was lucky enough to be in the direct path of a passing Barred Owl that decided to take a break not 15 feet from where I was observing. It sat on a tree limb in complete silence and watched me for about 5 minutes.

USA 193

I was out watching the total lunar eclipse Wednesday night and, just before the Moon began to leave the Earth's shadow, I saw a bright meteor in the sky. I didn't know it then but, I saw this meteor at about the time the US shot a missile at the defunct spy satellite USA 193. I'll never know if that's what I saw (probably not) but it's something to think about anyway.
I actually had the passover times for USA 193 for several nights before the shoot-down and tried to get a glimpse of it but it was either too cloudy or not quite dark enough when the satellite was passing over Greenville.

Satellites observed December 12, 2007

The sky was very bright tonight but I managed to pick out nine satellites while in the field. I didn't have my usual list but I wrote down some notes quickly and ran out to see what I could. Here's the list:

1 - unidentified (east to west below Pleiades) 6:17
2 - unidentified in same binocular filed and heading in the same direction.
1 - unidentified. West to east through Pegasus
ETS 7
Cosmos 1346
Cosmos 1939 rocket
1 - unidentified and very bright and also directly through Comet Holmes
Cosmos 1892 rocket

Satellites observed November 5, 2007

Cosmos 1939 rocket
OAO 3 rocket
unidentified
unidentified
Lacrosse 5
Cosmos 2082 rocket

ISS and Space Shuttle

I didn't have to try very hard this morning to catch a glimpse of the International Space Station passing over Greenville. It just so happened that the Space Shuttle Discovery separated from it a few moments earlier. I got an email from Bill All, President of the Carolina Skies Astronomy Club about the passover and decided it would be a great thing to view. At 05:53:53, I could just barely make out a slight separation between the two in the binoculars with the ISS and Discovery passing right through the zenith here in Greenville.
The Crescent Moon and Venus were also putting on a great show in the East and I could view both in the same binocular field.

Satellites observed October 14, 2007

Without the usual list of satellites I carry with me to the field, I nevertheless saw two of them making their way across the sky tonight.
I picked up one of them through the binocs by chance when scanning the Milky Way through Cassiopeia. It was very dim and not included on the Heaven's Above website, which only lists 4.5 magnitude or dimmer satellites. So, it will remain unidentified.
Lacrosse Rocket, however, was very bright as I watched it pass through Cassiopeia and then just inside of the Great Square in Pegasus and beyond before it finally entered shadow.
There were two deer in the field tonight also. They gave me a warning to let me know they were there and then slowly made their way to the treeline.

The 50th anniversary of the launch of Russia's Sputnik-1 satellite.

Here are a few facts:
October 1957 - Launch of Sputnik-1
October 1957 - U.S. authorizes the restart of the Explorer project to catch up
November 1957 - Launch of Sputnik-2
December 1957 - Failure during first launch of the Vanguard satellite
January 1958 - Successful launch of the Explorer-I satellite

Satellites observed September 18/19, 2007

I didn't have a list with me tonight but I went to the field and observed these. I noted the time and the location in the sky, then looked them up afterwards.

Cosmos 1154 Rocket (20:21:45)
TRMM (20:25:30)

Satellites observed September 17/18, 2007

Total of 14 satellites observed tonight.

Cosmos 2227
Cosmos 1812 rocket
Cosmos 1437 rocket
Cosmos 1378
Genesis II
OAO 3 rocket
Cosmos 1953 rocket
unidentified (very bright but not listed)
Cosmos 1154 rocket
Cosmos 1869
Cosmos 1689 rocket
Cosmos 1271 rocket
Uosat 12 SS-18 rocket
Cosmos 1943 rocket

Satellites observed September 16/17, 2007

Only one observed tonight.

Cosmos 2227 Rocket

Satellites observed September 12/13, 2007

Here's the list for tonight.

Genesis I (steady)
Lacrosse 5
Cosmos 1703
Cosmos 1378
Cosmos 1689 Rocket
Lacrosse 4
Zi Yuan 2
Delta 2 Rocket
Cosmos 2227 Rocket

Satellites observed September 6/7, 2007

Nice night to pick them out of the sky. Total of 17 matches my record.

Cosmos 1939
Cosmos 1833
Delta 2 rocket
Cosmos 1340
Cosmos 975 rocket
Cosmos 1726
Grace-1 dimmer than 4.5 (North to South)
Grace-2 dimmer than 4.5 (North to South)
Unidentified dimmer than 4.5 (Pegasus to Delphinus)
Cosmos 1242
Cosmos 1689 Rocket
Cosmos 1606 Rocket
Cosmos 1733
Resurs 1-4
MetOp-A
Cosmos 2369
Lacrosse 5

Satellites observed September 3/4, 2007

After a short break I finally get back out to the field for some observing.

Cosmos 1484 Rocket  
Cosmos 1892 Rocket  
Cosmos 1833 Rocket  
Helios 1B rocket  
Chunghua 1  
Zi Yuan 2  
Cosmos 1939

Satellites observed August 15/16, 2007

Observed 1 big fireball

Satellites observed:
• Cosmos 1689
• Cosmos 2278 Rocket
• Unidentified: • Bright with constant flash. 9:33 very near Alberio heading toward Pegasus (from direction between Vega and Hercules)
• USA 129
• Lacrosse 5

Satellites observed August 14/15, 2007

I've observed the Hubble Space Telescope flare up several magnitudes for the past two nights while passing over Greenville.

HST
Lacrosse 5
Okean 1-7 Rocket
Meteor 2-5 Rocket
Cosmos 2278 Rocket
Meteor 1-31 rocket

Satellites observed August 13/14, 2007

A total of 13 satellites observed tonight.
Also observed 4 meteors, probably left over from the Perseid Meteor Shower.

HST
Lacrosse 3
Cosmos 1674
Unidentified from Jupiter to top of teapot
Cosmos 1666
Cosmos 1544
MetOp-A
GRACE-2
Meteor 2-5 Rocket
Envisat
Meteor 1-31 Rocket
Cosmos 2278 Rocket
Lacrosse 5

Satellites observed August 12/13, 2007

Observed several fireballs during the Perseid Meteor Shower tonight.
Stayed out until 1:45 a.m.
Excellent sky conditions; better than last night, which was also excellent.

A record 17 satellites observed: The front page at right is an article I wrote about watching satellites as they pass over Greenville. I took the image while I was out tonight, observing the Perseid Meteor Shower in the field.

HST - Flared several magnitudes
Lacrosse 3
Cosmos 1666
Helios 1B
Unidentified - under Aquila, under Cygnus
Resurs 1-4 Rocket
Meteor 2-5 Rocket
Meteor 1-31 Rocket
MetOp-A
GRACE-2 - Timing early
GRACE-1 - Timing early
Cosmos 1536 Rocket
Cosmos 2278 Rocket
USA 129
Envisat
Cosmos 2263
Lacrosse 5

Satellites observed August 11/12, 2007

Total 14
All were steady. A couple were dimmer than expected.
Last two were at about 5 a.m.
•Also saw about 7 Perseid meteors (one night before the peak). One very bright but not a fireball.
•Conditions: Very clear and great seeing. Binocs brought out the Milky Way very clearly.

Helios 1B Rocket
Resurs 1-4 Rocket
Cosmos 1666
Unidentified (at same time as Cosmos 1666, but slower)
Cosmos 921 Rocket
Lacrosse 3
Cosmos 1766
Meteor 1-31 Rocket
USA 129
Lacrosse 5
MetOp-A (dimmer than expected)
Unidentified (Cassiopeia, through Pegasus)
meteor 1-4 rocket - 4:56:22
unidentified - 4:58:00

Satellites observed August 8/9, 2007

Observed one fireball very bright and moving fast from East to West
Satellites observed:

ATEX Taurus Rocket - steady
Unidentified - from Hercules toward Jupiter at 9:15 pm - about MAG. 3.0
Cosmos 1689 - steady
Abrixas Rocket - Constant flash
MetOp-A - steady
Meteor 1-31 Rocket - steady
Cosmos 1346 - steady
Envisat - steady
Cosmos 2278 Rocket - steady

Satellites observed August 7/8, 2007

No early Perseids observed tonight. It was too hazy and cloudy to see much of anything, anyway.
I managed to pick out five satellites in-betwen patches of clouds.

TRMM - not 1.7 Mag. / More like 4.o Mag.
Meteor 1-31 Rocket - steady
MetOp-A - Steady
Cosmos 1975 - steady
Unidentified - pretty bright from Arcturus toward Virgo

Satellites observed August 6/7, 2007

Terrible sky conditions tonight - Very hazy and very muggy. Total of 10 satellites observed.

ISS
Cosmos 2058
Iridium 41 Flare - exactly on time. Flared for 6 seconds, very bright
USA 129
Meteor 1-31 Rocket
Abrixas rocket
Cosmos 1346 Rocket
Envisat
MetOp-A
Lacrosse 3

Satellites observed August 4/5, 2007

Seeing poor tonight (Very Hazy) Total of 12 satellites.

• Also saw 1 fireball - Straight through Cassiopeia

* Cosmos 1689 steady
* Cosmos 1222 rocket steady
• Cosmos 2333 (slightly behind schedule)
• UARS
• TRMM
• Okean 1-7
• Cosmos 1500
• Unidentified (probably 3.5 - from Cygnus to Aquila @ 21:29:10)
• Iridium 39 - Polarid to Cygnus to Aquila and teapot (Flared to brightness of
Jupiter while crossing Cygnus for abouut 4-5 seconds)
• Meteor 1-31 Rocket
• Okean 1-7 Rocket
• GPS 2-05 Rocket1

Satellites observed August 3/4, 2007

Total of 13 satellites tonight; a new record for me.
• Also saw 1 meteor

• Zi-Yaun -2
• Cosmos 2297 rocket
• Cosmos 2151
• Cosmos 2333
• unidentified
• Meteor 1-31 rocket
• TRMM - Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission
• Envisat
• Cosmos 1515
• Unidentified : Arcturus halfway to Virgo
• Unidentified : 10:28 Cygnus to Polaris (mag 3-3.5)
• Lacrosse 3 : Military reconnaissance satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SAR) payload
• Terra

Satellites observed August 2/3, 2007

Total of 9 satellites observed from the field.
Moon started rising at around 11 p.m. so these satellites were seen in a mostly dark sky.
Good conditions tonight; low humidity. Got out to the field at around 9:14 p.m. Saw the first satellite (ISS) from the front yard).
Also saw three meteors.

• ISS
• TRMM 1.5 mag. Really bright
• Cosmos 1437
• Unidentified from Cygnus toward teapot @ 9:39 p.m.
• Meteor 1-31
• Unidentified north to South through cygnus toward teapot @ 9:47 p.m.
• MetOp-A - Flared up ( 10:00:15) for three seconds in Cygnus to almost as bright as Jupiter
• Unidentified at (10:00:10 p.m. )
• ISS

Satellites observed August 1/2, 2007

1) ISS from Hercules toward Polaris

2) Cosmos 1743 @ 9:14:21: Launch date: May 15, 1986

3) Cosmos 1441 @9:25 pm: Launch date: February 16, 1983

4) Cosmos 2297: Launch date: November 24, 1994

5) OAO-2 Rocket @9:38:12 pm: Launch date: December 7, 1968

6) Cosmos 2333 Rocket: Zenit booster second stage used to launch the Cosmos 2333
military signals intelligence satellite / launch Sept. 4. 1996

7) ISS (shot photo))

8) MetOp-A

9) Cosmos 1953: Launch date: June 14, 1988

10) Resurs 1-4 Rocket @ 11:08 pm: Launch date: July 10, 1998

• Also saw three meteors

Satellites observed July 31/ August 1, 2007

• Cosmos 1862 Rocket
• Cosmos 1315
• TRMM - Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission
• Cosmos 1441
• Meteor 1-31 Rocket
• Cosmos 2333
• Cosmos 2151
• Iridium Flare
• Unidentified satellite
• Also saw two meteors