The Humanity Star

Update: Deorbit did take place, the expected several month long lifespan made it just past two months and it won't be long before atmospheric re-entry occurs.

Did deorbit or won't be long? It's too early for these riddles?

On Topic. I was aware of the bugger, but never went out in search of it pessimistically assuming there would light pollution and a I had a bad latitude.

Very cool that you caught it twice! I've spent a lot of hours gazing into the night looking for satellites and such so I can relate to the small thrill of the experience. . ...but now I'll never have a chance to see it!?

Oh the Humanity!

It did deorbit, but has not burned up yet. If you can see stars from your location you might be able to see the "star". It looks like a plane flying at a high altitude, moves right along. Looks like 5:44 AM Monday for Chicago, visible for two minutes. I find it best to track in online just before it is due to "arrive" so you have an idea where to look.

Speculation on my part, since the viewing time is so short, 3 minutes vs. the 6 minutes I've been seeing in the past, it may be very low in the sky making it appear much brighter. If this is correct it may help overcome any light pollution you have there.

I think I missed my chance:

You will not be able to see the satellite within the next 30 days. Please check again later.

It was cloudy this morning here and I could not see it. Sadly, now I'm getting the, "You will not be able to see the satellite within the next 30 days. Please check again later." message as well. Don't know if this is because it will re-enter before then, or, maybe there is still time.

I think it's toast already....

Thinks for the vids. According to the Website it is still up there. Hope to see it again tomorrow.

16H, 30M from now.

Unfortunately, no, I haven't been able to see it. We've not had much good viewing weather recently, and when I last looked, I got that message that it wouldn't pass over here during the viewing times this month.

In a somewhat related topic: 20-30 years ago, I commonly went outside about an hour after sunset and watched for satellites. In those days, I found that I waited an average of about four minutes before seeing a satellite pass over, with nothing but the naked eye. The vast majority of those were polar satellites, but I did see oblique equatorial ones too. I've seen the ISS pass over several times, and did indeed see the original Sputnik with binoculars.

Recently, I've done the same thing from the same location, but commonly spend ten or fifteen minutes without seeing a single satellite. The trees have indeed grown taller, restricting my field of view somewhat, and of course my eyes are older, but I have worn glasses for around 40 years, and my vision is still pretty good, as long as I have the glasses on.

My suspicion is that the satellites have gotten smaller and that their surfaces are less reflective. ...or are there really fewer of them???

Any comments?

You just dusted off some cobwebs of mine from years back when I also looked for and occasionally spotted man made items in orbit. Thanks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris