Several celestial phenomena intrigue those who contemplate the stars in the evening. In particular the passage of “trains” from Starlink satellites, which we will have to get used to.
Posted on Apr 26, 20 at 6:43 p.m.| Modified on Apr 26 20 at 20:54
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Sunday, April 26, 2020 in the evening, France will once again be overflown by a “Train” of Starlink satellites, from the network deployed by the company SpaceX, ofElon Musk. Satellites in low orbit (about 550 km) which should be visible for a few minutes to the naked eye, weather permitting.
If you want to see an incredible thing that will make you feel like you are in a science fiction film, go out around 10pm to look at the sky … #Starlink pic.twitter.com/uNDfSxHq1K
– Celsifi (@celiasteroid) April 26, 2020
Also read: Vendée: SpaceX starlink constellation satellites in the sky
Calls to the gendarmerie
“We had to respond to several people intrigued by these very visible light points a few days ago, it is true that it is quite impressive”, explains Captain Loïc Jolivet, second in command of the gendarmerie company of Pornic ( Loire Atlantique).
Especially since the observers of the sky also could see a shower of shooting stars, the lyrids, which come from comet Thatcher, as explained by Science et Avenir.
Also read: Montpellier: the explanation of these luminous points aligned in the sky
12,000 satellites by 2025
But we will have to get used to seeing more and more of these tail-leu-leu satellites developed by SpaceX, to the chagrin of researchers and astronomers, as described The world, February 6, 2020 :
The first phase of deployment of Starlink plans to launch by 2021 nearly 1,600 satellites which will be distributed in 72 orbits at an altitude of 550 km. With the launch on January 29, 2020, there are already 240 in orbit and SpaceX plans to increase the rate with, eventually, a rate of 180 new satellites per month on average until 2025 for the orbit of 12 000 satellites; a total that could be increased to more than 42,000 in the following years!
Because The world Space X was not the only operator to deploy its network:
OneWeb (United Kingdom) has already launched in 2019 the first elements of a constellation of 5,260 satellites and the following ones are coming, Amazon announces more than 3,200 satellites for its Kuiper project from 2021, Lynk and Facebook speak of thousands of satellites between 2021 and 2023, and this count does not even include projects from China, Russia or South Korea.
Also read: What do these aligned points of light seen in the sky correspond to?
Releases by “clusters”
Science post has indicated, Sunday, April 26, that reports from sky observers were also numerous in Belgium. The site explains the reason for the visibility of the satellites:
The releases are generally carried out by “clusters” of about sixty satellites. The latest launch was on April 22. And it can happen, while they are in orbit, that all these instruments are visible in the night sky. Thus, a succession of small luminous points forming a long white trail were seen in the sky of many French regions Thursday, Friday then Saturday evening, around 22 hours.
When to see the Starlink satellites on Sunday April 26?
Find Starlink website allows to consult the moments of visibility of the satellites according to where we are.
Thus, Sunday April 26, we will be able to see the Starlink satellites. For example, in Paris, around 10:05 p.m., for 2 minutes (with poor visibility), from 10:05 p.m. (direct your gaze to the west). A second pass must take place at 11:22 p.m., for six minutes (North-West)
AT Nantes, the satellites should be clearly visible at around 10:04 p.m. for about 3 minutes (looking southwest). Same time at Reindeer (3 minutes), looking south, or Toulouse (for 4 minutes of show).
The satellite train #Starlink of @elonmusk spent Saturday evening in the skies of Gironde & Dordogne… He’s back tonight, it’s amazing!
???? https://t.co/WWoGKYpTmtpic.twitter.com/PyWvKTJm91– AXA SARLASSUR (@axasarlassur) April 26, 2020
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