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GRAN BANTA has gone wild for the stars this week with the arrival of swarms of bright satellites in the night sky.
The surprising show has appeared in the UK every night since Saturday, and it’s the work of SpaceX, a rocket company that wants to stream Wi-Fi to people from orbit.
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Moving like slow shooting stars (without the tails), satellites are fairly easy to spot, but it can be tricky knowing where to look.
Fortunately, we’ve rounded up some of the best apps and websites you can use to locate the next Starlink screen, which is scheduled for after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Sightings in the UK are expected to continue throughout the week.
You’ll need a smartphone (with the brightness off), but that’s it: Starlink swarms are so bright you don’t need binoculars to see them.
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How to track Starlink satellites in real time
There are several stargazing apps you can use to track Starlink “trains”.
But first you will need to know approximately what time the satellites will appear.
Your best bet is the Find Starlink website, which shows you the times of all the next Starlink screens in your area.
Just visit Find Starlink (or the “Find Starlink Satellites” app) and enter your location.
Once you’re outside, you may need an app to guide your eyes to the right place.
In the Apple App Store, we recommend Night Sky, which is free and helps you find all kinds of heavenly wonders.
For Android fans, Satellite Tracker should be the trick (also available on iPhone).
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What is Starlink?
Here’s what you need to know about Elon Musk’s satellites …
- Starlink is a satellite project led by billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
- Musk intends to put 12,000 satellites into Earth’s orbit, possibly increasing to 42.00 in the future.
- The ‘mega-constellation’ will eventually be able to transmit Internet coverage to any part of the planet
- SpaceX also intends to sell satellites for military, scientific and exploratory purposes.
- The company ships its satellites in batches of 60 at a time and so far has deployed more than 360 in orbit.
- Satellites are launched on unmanned Falcon 9 rockets, which are also built by SpaceX
- How space technology will affect the night sky is causing concern as they look bright in the night sky
- Astronomers and amateur astronomers have repeatedly criticized the company for ruining its observations.
- SpaceX argues that its satellites are only bright shortly after launch because they are in low orbit.
- For several weeks, the satellites apparently drift away from Earth, cushioning their effect on space observations.
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How do satellite tracking applications work?
Companies and space agencies that manage satellites must keep track of where they are in orbit.
This is in part to help operations (whether sending GPS signals or taking space photos) work smoothly, but it also ensures that they can change course if their space technology is about to collide with someone else’s.
The position of the satellites is recorded by multiple ground stations on Earth, which send the coordinates to whoever is responsible for them.
Robert Frost, a specialist in the use of GPS for space navigation, wrote on Quora: “The location of the satellites is determined by tracking from ground stations.
“Ground stations use mechanisms such as radar, signal doppler, and laser reflectors to determine the position of a satellite and maintain an understanding of its orbital elements.”
In addition to spy satellites and other secret technologies, the coordinates of most space probes are publicly available.
Satellite tracking applications simply collect data provided by dozens of space agencies and companies and present it on a digital map.
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Recent Starlink sightings
Star watchers in the UK have received three samples of Starlink since Saturday.
The first took place on Sunday night around 9:20 p.m. BST, while another occurred on Monday at 9.55 p.m. and a third graced the skies at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The British turned to social media to express their satisfaction at the rare events, which will continue this week.
“I just saw #Starlink pass over brighton UK. It looks impressive, “said a Twitter user.
Another said, “Wow, what a show! My wife and I went out and saw a dozen satellites and two shooting stars. If I remember just one thing about April 2020, it will surely be this.”
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The sighting reports spread across the UK, with users in London, Manchester and Leeds among them going to social media to report that they saw the ship.
Some people compared dazzling satellites to UFOs.
“These Starlink satellites in the UK are terrifying me of those that look like UFOS,” wrote one Twitter user.
Another joked, “I’m watching the #Starlink satellites but they shoot in different directions. It is not direct training. Unless these are UFOs. “
Why are Starlink satellites appearing in the UK and why are they so brilliant?
According to space experts, the current high rate of Starlink sightings is because the satellites are in low orbit after the first launch.
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites in batches of 60 before they gradually rise to a higher orbit and become less visible.
The most recent batch was launched into space in mid-March, with another batch scheduled to take off on April 23.
The satellites have been deliberately designed to be light and compact so that they can be launched in large batches.
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Is Starlink “blocking” the night sky?
The Starlink program is controversial among astronomers, who have criticized Musk’s brain schema.
They say that Starlink gets in the way of the observations due to the light reflected by the satellites.
Western Ontario University meteor researcher Denis Vida stated in a blog post last year: “You have to worry about what our skies will look like when we hear that there are plans to launch a total of 42,000 satellites.”
“This could completely refuse to make optical meteor observations as early as 2024.”
Never to take something lying down, Musk has lashed out at his critics, claiming that satellites have no such impact.
Speaking at a conference in Washington DC last month, he said: “I am sure we will not make any impact on astronomical discoveries. Zero. That is my prediction.
“We will take corrective action if it is above zero.”
SpaceX engineers are also said to be looking to make satellites a little less bright so they don’t reflect as much of the sun.
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Will Starlink ‘trap’ humanity on Earth?
There is concern that humanity may be trapped on Earth by too much space debris in Earth’s orbit.
That’s according to a space scientist, who says that Starlink could create an impenetrable wall of garbage around our planet.
A catastrophic disorder of space debris left by satellites could prevent rockets from leaving Earth, an effect known as “Kessler’s syndrome.”
“The worst case scenario is: you launch all your satellites, you go bankrupt and they all stay there,” European Space Agency scientist Dr. Stijn Lemmens told Scientific American.
“Then you have thousands of new satellites without a plan to get them out of there. And you would have Kessler-like syndrome.”
It will take thousands of years for the SpaceX satellites remaining in our orbit to descend to Earth and burn in the atmosphere.
The firm says it has already taken steps to avoid crowding the region. It is launching the satellites into a lower orbital plane than most space technology to avoid collisions.
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What do you think of Musk’s satellite plan? Let us know in the comments!
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