Moving Stars?

Photograph of Mir passing overhead - photograph courtesy of http://www.seva.net/reg/satellite/How often have you seen slowly satellites passing overhead in the night sky?  If you know when to look, you can see the Space Shutte, the Hubble Space Telescope, or nearly a hundred communication or weather satellites.  From Earth, satellites look like dim stars, usually moving slowly from north to south (they look different from jet airplanes because airplanes have flashing lights).  There are software programs available for purchase that tell you exactly which satellites are visible from your house at different times.  There are also two WWW sites (NC and GA) that can make predictions. More information is available from the Visual Satellite Observers Organization (VSO) and by picking nearby locations at SatPass.

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Lesson designed by the YPOP Team

For questions about this lesson, please contact Tim Slater