The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh, (AAAP) had scheduled a club event for the 29th and 30th of July. It wasn’t a star party; it was a club get-together to see how many satellites we could spot in the course of a night. There had been a previous record of 62 set by two club members many years ago, it was time to try and break the record.
As so many of our clubs' events go, the weather on Friday was rather “iffy”. An e-mail was sent out cancelling that night's event. Four of us showed up anyway.
A beautiful sunset appeared as I drove up to the observatory. It was that time of the day where the colors seem more intense. The tiny crescent moon was located a short while after the sun set, a mere 2% illuminated. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a moon as thin as this before! That was the highpoint of my night, but the rest didn’t let me down either.
We sat on the concrete pad beside the observatory and watched as the sky darkened. The brightest satellite we saw was the International Space Station, (ISS) making a 5-minute pass. It skimmed stars in Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) and Ursa Minor (The Little Dipper) before cruising through Cygnus and then disappearing in the earths’ shadow and the clouds.
In the couple hours of darkness that I was there, I saw 8 satellites, 9 if you wanted to count the moon! I went home a happy sky gazer.
Saturday delivered another nice night sky. The moon, a little bit larger than the night before was located around 8:30. As the sky darkened, (sunset was at 8:37) it became much easier to see.
I took a walk over the hill to get some pictures of the moon and the observatory. While I was playing with my camera, I missed the first sighting, the ISS. I was watching for it but between the lower position on the hill and the bright sky, I missed it. (I know…excuses, excuses) I did see it on its second pass 90 minutes later.
There was at least 14 people that showed up on Saturday. It is hard to say since it was dark when some arrived. By the time I returned to the top of the hill, they were well on their way accumulating their numbers.
The rules are pretty simple. It has to be an artificial satellite; the moon doesn’t count. There also has to be at least two people that see it, it needs confirmed. That was it, nice and simple.
Thank heavens for the members with good eyesight, that and laser pointers. They would see a satellite and then point to it with their pointers, enabling me to find the satellites with my binoculars. I was able to see the brighter ones by eye, but most of the ones I saw were seen with optical aid.
We saw Saturn rise and we saw some falling stars. In-between sightings I browsed around the constellations, checking out things I normally only observed with telescopes.
I left a little after 11, there were some clouds moving in and I had to get up early the next morning. I saw one final satellite as I was getting into my car bringing my total to 30. I had watched a couple satellites that appeared to be crossing each other’s paths, which was pretty cool. I saw three in the sky at the same time, though I’m sure there were probably more up there, I just didn’t see them.
The most satellites I’ve seen in the sky at one time was well over 15 or 20. It was right after a Starlink dump. They stretched across the sky, coming from behind a cloud and disappearing near the horizon. It was a morning I’ll always remember. There were over 30 satellites in the parade passing overhead.
Sadly, the official grand total for Saturday as computed by our esteemed official, Eric Fischer, was 42. That is 20 less than the current club record. Cirrus clouds moved in and hid the fainter satellites from view as the night progressed. Since we are moving into August the angle of the sun isn’t favorable for long nights of satellite viewing. We will try again next year, maybe the Pittsburgh weather will co-operate with us for a change.
I believe we all enjoyed ourselves though, we talked, we laughed, we visited with each other unlike at star parties where we tend to our telescopes and only talk with the public and the members parked beside us. We relaxed and had a good time, sitting under the stars and the satellites.
