Observation by Nick James: Starlink-6 deployment

Uploaded by

Nick James

Observer

Nick James

Observed

2020 Apr 22 - 18:52

Uploaded

2020 Apr 22 - 22:17

Objects

Spacecraft

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Constellation

Cetus

Field centre

RA: 03^h05^m
Dec: +04°02'
Position angle: -179°56'

Field size

0°07' × 0°04'

Equipment

Sony A7s + Canon 200mm, f/2.8L lens

Exposure

1/25s

Location

Chelmsford, UK

Target name

Starlink-6

Title

Starlink-6 deployment

About this image

Another batch of Starlink satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral at 19:30 UTC this evening. Satellite deployment took place 15 minutes later and 7 minutes after that the second stage and satellites came over the UK. With the naked eye this was like a bright ISS pass but moving much more quickly. These images were taken from a hand held video. The bright core is the second stage and satellites. The four faint dots are presumably some debris released during deployment.

Edit on 2020-04-23 - Apparently the four dots are the four retention rods that hold the two stacks of 30 satellites in compression up to release.

Files associated with this observation

starlink6_20200422_195229_ndj.jpg (511.5 kB)

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Dominic Ford, Neil Morrison, Jimmy Fraser, Martin Lewis, Chris Dole, Jeremy Shears, Andrew Dumbleton, Peter Carson

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