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Can any satellite train still be seen?

Astronomy Asked on September 28, 2021

I "missed the train" on the Starlink satellites last year, and now it looks like they’ve separated, and the conservative voices convinced Space X to darken new ones with visors or paint.

Is it still possible to see 2 or more satellites moving in the same direction with the naked eye? (Actually, any celestial bodies visibly moving in the same direction will do.)

I’m located in California and I tried Find Starlink and the Heavens Above app but wasn’t able to see anything.

One Answer

I can personally attest that the Starlink satellites are visible with the naked eye even after they have spread out, however they are quite dim - with apparent magnitudes near 5.5. Here is a brightness comparison drawn from a widefield capture where two Starlink satellites are can be seen (albeit barely) juxtaposed with another satellite with apparent magnitude near 3.

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The region in which this was taken is Class 1 on the Bortle Scale and the entire 60-satellite train was visible, though only 4-5 were visible at any given time. In brighter regions the satellites would not be as readily visible. Furthermore, since they have such low orbits, they were only visible for ~105 degrees in the sky before they passed into Earth's shadow.

Answered by William Miller on September 28, 2021

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