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Is it possible to see Starlink satellites with your eyes?

modeless 4y ago
They are launched into low orbits where they are often visible to the naked eye, as a train of 50 or more satellites following each other across the sky. It's quite a sight. Over a few weeks they raise their orbits to operational altitude. Once they reach it and orient themselves for operation they are much dimmer and can't be seen without magnification. So the vast majority of orbiting Starlink satellites are invisible to the naked eye.
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
Yes. (I have.)
walrus01 4y ago
In the days and weeks directly after launch, yes, particularly when they're illuminated in direct sunlight at their altitude and where you're standing on the ground the sun has just set. https://findstarlink.com/ https://findstarlink.com/ search youtube for "Starlink train" for some good examples.
jen729w 4y ago
Last year we got up at 4am to view a supposedly-spectacular comet. Or meteors, or something. It was cold and we lay in the garden for the best part of an hour. We saw nothing. Just as we were about to give up, I saw a satellite. I pointed this out to my partner. Cool. And then we saw another ... and another ... and another! Turns out one of the Starlink launches had just happened. We must have seen 30, 40 satellites cross the sky. As each one reached a point, the angle produced a spectacular flare. We couldn't have been luckier. My partner said that this is what it'll look like when humans evacuate the planet. It was amazing. (Note: I have very mixed feelings about Starlink and am genuinely worried about the Kessler syndrome. But that doesn't take away from the visual effect.)
- bagels 4y ago
  Starlink's orbit will be cleared after 5-10 years due to drag on the relatively low altitude. Low risk of permanent Kessler syndrome there.
  - modeless 4y ago
    It's ~5 years for intact satellites to deorbit from Starlink's altitude. Debris will generally have a higher surface area to mass ratio due to the square-cube law, so should experience proportionally higher drag force and deorbit somewhat faster. But the real key is that debris doesn't have to deorbit all the way to stop kessler syndrome, it just has to get a few km down below the orbits of active satellites, which will be much less than 5 years. I believe it would be difficult to trigger Kessler syndrome even intentionally at that altitude.
bagels 4y ago
Yes, usually easier near sunrise or sunset if the angle allows sunlight to reflect back to you. ISS is also a bright object that can often be viewed one a week or so if you are willing to be awake at the right time.
- heliodor 4y ago
  Not exactly "easier". These two time windows are the only times you can see satellites. The rest of the night there's no sunlight falling on satellites when they are in line of sight to you.
User23 4y ago
In a dark place you can see a whole lot more than that with the naked eye, including some distant galaxies.
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  > including some distant galaxies "Distant" only in the sense that all galaxies are distant. You can see Andromeda and the Magellanic Clouds with the naked eye. You can see the Orion Nebula (but that's not a galaxy). There might be a handful of other nearby galaxies that you can see with the naked eye, I don't know.
  - User23 4y ago
    If it’s dark enough Triangulum is naked eye visible too. Sure those are all in some sense local, but it’s still neat to see almost three million year old light.
mihaaly 4y ago
I only had chance with monoculars but that is exciting as spotting in the supposed position through the lens and tracking the fast moving dot in front of the stars (amplified by the magnification) turns into a high speed chase.

They are launched into low orbits where they are often visible to the naked eye, as a train of 50 or more satellites following each other across the sky. It's quite a sight. Over a few weeks they raise their orbits to operational altitude. Once they reach it and orient themselves for operation they are much dimmer and can't be seen without magnification. So the vast majority of orbiting Starlink satellites are invisible to the naked eye.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

Yes. (I have.)

walrus01 4y ago

In the days and weeks directly after launch, yes, particularly when they're illuminated in direct sunlight at their altitude and where you're standing on the ground the sun has just set. https://findstarlink.com/ https://findstarlink.com/ search youtube for "Starlink train" for some good examples.

jen729w 4y ago

Last year we got up at 4am to view a supposedly-spectacular comet. Or meteors, or something. It was cold and we lay in the garden for the best part of an hour. We saw nothing. Just as we were about to give up, I saw a satellite. I pointed this out to my partner. Cool. And then we saw another ... and another ... and another! Turns out one of the Starlink launches had just happened. We must have seen 30, 40 satellites cross the sky. As each one reached a point, the angle produced a spectacular flare. We couldn't have been luckier. My partner said that this is what it'll look like when humans evacuate the planet. It was amazing. (Note: I have very mixed feelings about Starlink and am genuinely worried about the Kessler syndrome. But that doesn't take away from the visual effect.)

bagels 4y ago
Starlink's orbit will be cleared after 5-10 years due to drag on the relatively low altitude. Low risk of permanent Kessler syndrome there.
- modeless 4y ago
  It's ~5 years for intact satellites to deorbit from Starlink's altitude. Debris will generally have a higher surface area to mass ratio due to the square-cube law, so should experience proportionally higher drag force and deorbit somewhat faster. But the real key is that debris doesn't have to deorbit all the way to stop kessler syndrome, it just has to get a few km down below the orbits of active satellites, which will be much less than 5 years. I believe it would be difficult to trigger Kessler syndrome even intentionally at that altitude.

bagels 4y ago

Yes, usually easier near sunrise or sunset if the angle allows sunlight to reflect back to you. ISS is also a bright object that can often be viewed one a week or so if you are willing to be awake at the right time.

heliodor 4y ago
Not exactly "easier". These two time windows are the only times you can see satellites. The rest of the night there's no sunlight falling on satellites when they are in line of sight to you.

User23 4y ago

In a dark place you can see a whole lot more than that with the naked eye, including some distant galaxies.

denton-scratch 4y ago
> including some distant galaxies "Distant" only in the sense that all galaxies are distant. You can see Andromeda and the Magellanic Clouds with the naked eye. You can see the Orion Nebula (but that's not a galaxy). There might be a handful of other nearby galaxies that you can see with the naked eye, I don't know.
- User23 4y ago
  If it’s dark enough Triangulum is naked eye visible too. Sure those are all in some sense local, but it’s still neat to see almost three million year old light.

mihaaly 4y ago

I only had chance with monoculars but that is exciting as spotting in the supposed position through the lens and tracking the fast moving dot in front of the stars (amplified by the magnification) turns into a high speed chase.