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I can definitely see them at night under intensified IR. Perhaps not “all night” - I haven’t exactly done exhaustive tests - but I regularly see dots of constan
by Ancapistani 5y ago
I can definitely see them at night under intensified IR. Perhaps not “all night” - I haven’t exactly done exhaustive tests - but I regularly see dots of constant brightness, moving at a consistent speed, from horizon to horizon.
If I understand what you mean, though, I don’t see how it’s relevant. The article was speaking to astronomical telescopes, and my parent post in reference to high quality IR optics.
- rbanffy 5y agoAstronomical telescopes have a very narrow field. A satellite in LEO would take a very short time to cross it and, if the orbit is known (as constellations are) it should be trivial to protect the sensor from being exposed to it. Even if it's not, we should be able to keep track of thousands of satellites. You may be able to see them in IR if they are radiating enough heat. This should be the case for some time after they cross into the night side and, in this case, it would interfere with IR observations or with sensors that pick up IR.