Can you see the satellite?

GreGorGy

GreGorGy

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Okay, silly question: are the satellites for TopTV and DSTV visible to the human eye, at night? The reason I ask is every night there appears to be a light (star, I assumed) in the general directions that my TopTV and DSTV dishes point.
 
satanboy said:
ja it is stuck up there with gaffer tape
:D
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I'll stick you up there with Gaffer tape!
Wasn't that a Jim Carrey movie?
Actually, many years ago I knew a chick who was a capper loader and she always had Gaffer tape. Best. Tape. Ever. It probably could hold one up!
 
I always found it strange that the Dstv dishes always point more to the horizon than the sky...meaning the satellite looms just above the horizon, and not high in the sky?

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Because it feeds africa not just south africa.

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All television satellites are in a geostationary orbit at different longitudes on the equator. The closer you get to the equator, the steeper the elevation of the dish. Also, because we use offset dishes, the the signal comes in at an angle... With prime focus dishes, the signal comes in straight.

I doubt you would be able to see the satellites with the naked eye.
 
very small and far. Like the space station, you only see it when the sun reflect on it. May be with a very good telescope.. Same reason they did not see Apollo landed on the moon., too far, too small.
 
Robertvv said:
very small and far. Like the space station, you only see it when the sun reflect on it. May be with a very good telescope.. Same reason they did not see Apollo landed on the moon., too far, too small.
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If it actually landed, that is!
 
would definately be interesting to know if it is just a star or actually a satellite.

@nited, just careful some people on this forum get a little anxious if you start stalking conspiracy theories :P
 
Peder said:
would definately be interesting to know if it is just a star or actually a satellite.
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Somehow doubt its the DSTV satellite you're seeing. Geosynchronous orbit is 35000Km up, not like the 350Km low-earth orbit of say the ISS.
 
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Roman4604 said:
Somehow doubt its the DSTV satellite you're seeing. Geosynchronous orbit is 35000Km up, not like the 350Km low-earth orbit of say the ISS.
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Mmmm - so, a telescope (something I have been wanting for ages) would really be the only way to know, or would it just be a bigger shiny thing?
 
No way you can see it. Even under ideal conditions. However, if you use a powerfull and expensive telescope, at exactly the right time (pointed accurately), you just might be able to pickup a speak of light. The electromagnetic waves (light photons), weaken inverse proportional to the square of the distance! (A object at 1m is 4x easier to see then at 2m and so on.) A satellite at 350km is roughly 100x100=10000times easier to see then at 35000km. And the normal sized satellites are barely visible at 350km! Mind you,thanks for the mental exercise you gave me. To take this approximation a step further - it takes about 13 doubles to get close to 10000. If a sensitivity of mag 5 is needed to spot it at 350km (Leo) 13 will give a mag 18 just to (barely) make it out in the sky. At that sensitivity, atmospheric distortion will play a role too. Do a Google for a optical telescope of such sensitivity if you want one.
 
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Robertvv said:
Hey, there is a website showing where every satellite is. try them. Seen it on tv.
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DishPointer is good for finding the direction but I found an Android app that is quite happy to project the sats on a camera background. In fact, there are a few of them. I have, however, always doubted Android's accuracy with its compass needing pointing and calibrating and all sorts of things.

It puts the shiny objects directly below sirius 4 and pas 7
 
intel8080 said:
No way you can see it. Even under ideal conditions. However, if you use a powerfull and expensive telescope, at exactly the right time (pointed accurately), you just might be able to pickup a speak of light. The electromagnetic waves (light photons), weaken inverse proportional to the square of the distance! (A object at 1m is 4x easier to see then at 2m and so on.) A satellite at 350km is roughly 100x100=10000times easier to see then at 35000km. And the normal sized satellites are barely visible at 350km! Mind you,thanks for the mental exercise you gave me. To take this approximation a step further - it takes about 13 doubles to get close to 10000. If a sensitivity of mag 5 is needed to spot it at 350km (Leo) 13 will give a mag 18 just to (barely) make it out in the sky. At that sensitivity, atmospheric distortion will play a role too. Do a Google for a optical telescope of such sensitivity if you want one.
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