Prior to 1957, everything you saw high in the Everett night sky was untouched by human hands, assuming there aren’t any other humans out there beyond our solar system.
That all changed on Oct. 4, 1957, when Spunik 1 was rushed into orbit by the Soviet Union. The reaction in this country was frantic. The Russians had beaten us into space with a 184-pound satellite the size of a basketball with its steady beep beep beep signal. What was next? Would they be dropping hydrogen bombs on us from space platforms? America had to get something up there, and quick.
Our answer was Explorer One, launched on Jan. 31, 1958. Since then, thousands of satellites have been sent into orbit and beyond by many countries. Many of them have succumbed to the drag of Earth’s atmosphere and have perished in flames, but many birds are still up there, anywhere from 100 miles to over 20,000 miles above our world, watching the weather, studying the Earth’s geology, aiding communications, spying, and so much more. Some are even occupied, like the International Space Station.
Anyone who’s ever seriously stargazed has seen a satellite. It’s hard to go more than 20 to 30 minutes without seeing at least one of them cross the sky. Most satellites move from west to east like the space station, but some are in polar orbits. The best time to see them is early evening for about an hour after evening twilight or in the hour before the start of morning twilight. That’s because satellites have to reflect sunlight to be visible. Even if they had huge spotlights mounted on them you’d never see them. They’re just too high up.
Just before morning twilight and for a little while after evening twilight there’s no direct sunlight available to us on the ground, but high atop us in space there’s enough sunlight to bathe satellites, sending secondhand sunshine our way. During the middle of the night the sun is completely behind the Earth so even satellites passing over us are in total darkness.
Two of my favorite satellites are the aforementioned International Space Station and the Iridium satellites. When the ISS passes over it can be as bright as the brightest star.
There are also more than 50 Iridium communications satellites orbiting the Earth. They are about the size of Volkswagen Beetles with enormous solar panels. When the angle of one of the solar panels is just right, it can reflect a bunch of sunlight our way, causing it to flare up for several seconds.. After that the solar panel is turned away from us and disappears into the night. These are known to amateur astronomers like myself as Iridium Flares and can be a lot of fun, especially if you know one’s on the way and the person or people you’re with have no idea of what they’re about to see.
There are many good sites on the Internet to keep up with the comings and goings of bright satellites, but my favorite is www.heavens-above.com. You can set up the site for your location to get a complete schedule of when the Space Station is coming over your house, as well as the times and locations of Iridium flares. They also have a great app. There are also other great apps to help you keep up with the International Space Station and other satellites. My favorite app for tracking the ISS is called ISS Tracker. That app will set off an alarm to remind you when the space station is passing over your house.
Humans have really added to the cosmos.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications available at bookstores at http://www.adventurepublications.net
The three way planet conjunction in our early morning skies is starting to break up a bit but still is a great show. The planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are still aligned in a nearly straight diagonal line in the low southeastern sky. The planet parade is about the length of two of your fist widths at arm’s length. The best time to see them is about 60 to 90 minutes before sunrise.
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