An increasingly large number of low earth satellites have been launched recently, with SpaceX alone having launched more than 2500 Starlink satellites (as of May 2022). What impact do those satellites have on your view of the night sky? Have you ever seen a satellite? Do you think you might see more in the next year or two? In the next three years, it is planned to launch as many satellites as in the previous sixty!!
Sat Detectives asks you to share what you’ve seen on this form. We’d like to gather data from all parts of Ireland, from dark sky locations to the centre of cities and find out what you are seeing! No telescopes needed, just a few minutes to look up and tell us if you’ve seen a satellite (or three!)
V2.0 is now being used – we have added meteors as objects to be spotted. (Update July 2022)
Reporting Form Structure (8 questions total). Report Form
Did you see any satellites or meteors?
Please describe what you saw: (number of satellites /meteors, direction of travel, time of night, etc.)
How long were you observing the sky?
On which date were you observing the sky?
What were the sky conditions? (clear skies? partial cloud?…)
How light polluted was the sky? (optional question)
From which county were you observing the sky?
How did you hear about this project?
These early measurements will help us develop a mobile phone app for reporting and give us a baseline of data. In the autumn we will be sharing our summer data.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this project, or find out more, please contact frances.mccarthy@bco.ie
We’ve made a short guide to finding the International Space Station, one of the brightest satellites. If you do spot the ISS, keep looking for a bit longer and tell us if you see any other satellites too. You can read this booklet, prepared by Science Foundation Ireland in 2021, for second level students, about the impact of satellites on our lives.
Sat Detectives is funded with the financial support of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), ESERO Ireland and the Department of Education under the SFI Discover Programme.
