Satellites move quickly relative to the background stars, and quite often their brightness will vary, with the satellite fading as it falls into the Earth's shadow. However, satellites don't have any blinking red or blue lights-if you see something like this, then it is probably a plane.
Stars, on the other hand, "move" much more slowly (well, I guess strictly speaking it's the Earth that rotates and makes the stars appear to move).
Try having a look at a star map (they can be found in many astronomy magazines, or in the link below) and try to pick out some of the more prominent constellations consisting of brighter stars. It might be difficult living in a city to see them very well, but I live in a fairly big city and can still see Orion (my favourite constellation!)
2006-10-28 01:58:30
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answer #1
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answered by friendly_220_284 2
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Satellites are best seen at dusk and dawn. The reflect the setting or rising sun light and are fairly bright. Some satellites move but some are stationary... stars are better later in the night. Light pollution in the city is a major problem for star viewing. get as far away from light sources as possible and wait for a clear, moonless night. Unless you want to look at the moon (which is neat also)
2006-10-27 05:48:20
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answer #2
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answered by The Cheminator 5
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Satellites will move across the sky and will usually be dimmer than the surrounding stars. It may be very difficult to see satellites while in the city because of all the light pollution.
2006-10-27 06:24:02
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answer #3
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answered by msi_cord 7
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if you look carefully at the point a satellite will change colour a star will not. A start twinkles but stays white. also on rare occasions you can actually see the satellites moving
2006-10-28 23:28:41
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answer #4
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answered by FlyingPm 2
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Since satellites move, crossing from horizon to horizon in only 5 minutes or so, you would have no trouble confusing them with stars. They can be mistaken for airplanes, but airplanes usually have colored flashing lights while satellites just look like moving stars.
2006-10-27 06:36:44
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answer #5
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answered by campbelp2002 7
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Satellites move relative to the stars behind them.
2006-10-27 05:48:17
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answer #6
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answered by PaulCyp 7
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Satellites move much faster than stars, but are usually dimmer than planes (and they don't blink).
Yes, you can see stars - bright ones, anyway. And some brighter planets - the planets don't twinkle like the stars do.
2006-10-27 05:47:08
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answer #7
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answered by eri 7
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satelites move fast across the sky where the background stars look like they are not moving ... I used to live in Tokyo, a city of 33 million people with alot of light polution from all the neon signs, and I was able to see stars.
2006-10-27 05:51:25
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answer #8
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answered by londonhawk 4
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Easy. If you see them in the city, they ain't satellites. They're too dim. You might catch the space station near sunrise or sunset.
2006-10-27 09:43:30
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answer #9
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answered by Nomadd 7
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Usually to much light pollution to see anything in City`s
2006-10-27 05:53:32
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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