PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Lights out over the South East anyone ?
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Old 10th Mar 2024, 10:57
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MickG0105
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Sunshine Coast
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Originally Posted by CaptCloudbuster
Genuinely can’t remember. The links to other threads on this subject provide some plausible explanations re starlink. Still not convinced however.
Seeing a satellite illuminated by the sun when you're in darkness is a matter of trigonometry that is to a large part dependent on the altitude of the satellite and how far the observation point is from the day/night terminator. I can recall reading somewhere that for Starlink orbits, the distance to the terminator is 2,000 km or so. Given the Earth's inclination, that means that depending on the time of the year, at far southern (and northern) latitudes it is possible to see the Starlink trains at times like midnight.

Last edited by MickG0105; 10th Mar 2024 at 11:19.
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