Satellite over co.clare ?

zweton

Prob a stupid question but often at night when dark looking up to the sky i see what looks like a satellite way up, i dont think its a star as it seems like it has one red and one white flashing (faintly) light. It is always in the same location from my back door and curiosity has got the better of me :-)
Is it a satellite do you think, are there any websites i could check this out.
Its intriguing to say the least, would love to know what it is and what its doing.

Tragamin2k2

its a star

zweton

damn! lol

The Hill Billy

Enter your location in www.heavens-above.com & it will give you a list of visible satellites & their tracks across the sky each day.

ps200306

Satellites don't have flashing lights. You see them by reflected sunlight, just like the moon.

If I was to hazard a wild guess, I'd say you're seeing Sirius -- the brightest star in the sky but generally low down in the south, below 20 degrees elevation. Because it's low down it twinkles a lot. It often seems to be flashing red/green/white.

Download Stellarium from http://www.stellarium.org to find out exactly what your sky looks like at any time, and heaven-above.com for satellites like the other poster said.

Stuxnet

Plus satellites move really fast, they are not stationary

Stare at a clear dark sky and you'll surely spot one after a few minutes, they are very common, and you can follow them with your eye as they orbit the earth !

MeteoritesEire

look up in any dark sky location and you will see a satellite within 10 minutes almost guaranteed.RaRELY takes me even that long.

I was curious about the geosynchronous sats but apparently they are too high up to be seen (22,000 miles as opposed to the usual 200-800 for most sats)

according to Nasa http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970414f.html

ps200306

MeteoritesEire wrote: »

look up in any dark sky location and you will see a satellite within 10 minutes almost guaranteed.RaRELY takes me even that long.

I was curious about the geosynchronous sats but apparently they are too high up to be seen (22,000 miles as opposed to the usual 200-800 for most sats)

according to Nasa http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970414f.html

NOAO has an interesting note on how a solar scientist managed to do it with fairly ordinary equipment, just for fun.

http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr01/pr0106.html

feargale

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Enter your location in www.heavens-above.com & it will give you a list of visible satellites & their tracks across the sky each day.

Thanks

Carawaystick

Astronomy Live on the Beeb had this to say

Planes have flashing lights, strobing

Satellites move at the same speed as planes, but don't flash

Meteors travel much faster.