Watching satellites in the night sky great family fun

Roger Moroney.

A few weeks back, on one of those warm evenings when you can sit outside after sunset and endure the attention of mosquitoes, one of the grandkids was startled and delighted to see a fast-moving light in the sky.

So of course I rattled on about it being a space ship with strange beings who had large heads and unblinking eyes inside who were on a mission to find a new world to shift to because they'd stuffed their one up (kind of the same path we're on).

Quite rightly, she wouldn't wear that, given she'd already been told it was a satellite passing across the high and dark northeastern skies.

A shining light moving quite fast across a big black sky is rather an exciting thing for a child to see ... or anyone for that matter.

Because, unless it is the very bright International Space Station and we've been alerted to its crossing, they are a thing of mystery.

What we watched cross over at that time could have been the Vanguard 1 or the Kosmos 2281.

Maybe the Sputnik 2 or the Terra or the Oscar 7.

In fact it could have been any one of about 35,000 orbiting items which are said to be "up there".

It has to be pointed out though that most of these fast-travelling things are effectively pieces of junk.

Space junk.

Some the size of a small truck down to fragments the size of a loaf of bread.

There's also, apparently, a glove floating around and around and around up there.

But the thing we saw that night was clearly of a working size, and given it was giving off quite a glow must have had a polished hull or reflective solar panels because the sun was glinting off it in a big way.

Back when I was a curious kid there weren't a lot of actively working satellites up there so when you saw something bright moving across the sky it was pretty well expected that you would rush and tell as many people as you could before it disappeared.

And the next day there would be a small story in the paper about "a moving light seen in the sky".

So the space-gazing kids today have got it real good because according to the Goddard Space Flight Centre there are 2271 satellites currently in orbit.

The Russkis lead the charge with about 1300 of them and the USA has a smidgen over 650.

The UK, France, Japan, China, India and whoever else can send a rocket up have got the rest.

So when those devices are added in with all the thousands and thousands of pieces of discarded space flotsam and jetsam that are also going round and round it means you'll see more than just the occasional one.

During one night an estimated 1400 "things" will cross our patch of high sky ... most will go unseen but on average, and on a clear night away from light pollution, you'll likely see one on average every 15 minutes.

Many years back, when our lad was indeed a lad, we'd sit outside and have a competition to see who was first to spot a fast-moving light on the edge of space.

By the conclusion of our sessions, which usually ended after the mosquitoes eventually got the better of us, the total result usually hovered around the dozen mark, and he would invariably win.

I remember one night the most remarkable sight of a satellite we spotted being rounded up by a second one, clearly at a different altitude, which looked like it was chasing it.
It overtook the first one and we applauded.

And then, as the chaser and the chased faded into the low horizon and out of the sun's reach, another one appeared from the low sky to the southwest where most of them appeared to come from.

It was a right light sight show that night.

As was the night the space station was scheduled to come over.

Right on time (thanks to the advance word from starwatcher Gary Sparks) and it shone like a fast-moving little sun.

It's moving at about 8km a second so gets a few laps in.

The summers are a fine time for sky-watching as the air is warm, the skies are clear and the satellites all seem keen to come out and play.

And I get the feeling now one of the grandkids may also have caught the bug after excitedly pointing at the little moving light so far away.

So pick a fine, clear night and give yourself an hour and see how many satellites you can spot.

There's 2271 of them amidst the 35,000 circulating items so go for double figures.