Stars or satellites?

[Surreygirl30]

Last night (and I have noticed many times before) there were loads of what looked like small stars but they just move along really slowly and they did not do the shooting star thing. At one point last night there were three of these things all racing each other � someone once said to me that they are satellites. Is this true? And if so how many are up there as I am seeing more and more (on a clear night). You can tell I sit star gazing for hours every night. :-)

[Mortartube]

Yes, they are very likely to be satellites. They are so high up and very shiny, that the sunlight can still hit them and reflect from them long after sunset in your local area. Most people won't believe that they are satellites because they cannot conceive that you can see such a relatively small object at that distance. There are quite a number of orbiting bits up there now. You probably will see one about every 5 to 10 minutes depending on your location on earth.

[Surreygirl30]

Thanks for the reply - I have noticed that there is one that comes across every night 10.05 ha ha set my clock by it � I am very sad. Its just I love looking at the sky at night and just wish I knew more about it all. I think I will have to take the time to have a good read at some point. Yes my ex was the person that told me and he was like � there is no way on earth you can be seeing them as they are so small and I was like I swear they are as small as a small star and lots people can see them � I have really got supersonic eye site ha ha.

[heathfield]

I've seen it stated that you would just be able to see a WWII German V2 rocket in the sky at the same distance as the moon if it was chrome plated. And they were only 45 feet long!

[delboy3]

"I saw a shooting star last night; I wished on them, but they were only satellites - it's wrong to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care"

[mibn2cweus]

When I first saw an Iridium Flair
I though I must be witnessing a supernova.