can you see a satellite in orbit with the naked eye?

Answer 1

Yes, but the satellite has to be in sunlight to be visible. The ISS looks like a very bright moving star when it is visible. The Iridium satellites have large reflective solar panels that glint momentarily in the sunlight and sometimes appear brighter than Venus for a few seconds. Many other fainter satellites can also be seen. If you spend a night stargazing under a dark sky you're sure to see several.

Answer 2

The short answer is "yes". They are easy to see when you have dark skies with no moon and away from city lights. Most of the ones I have seen orbit from north to south or south to north. I have been told that those are usually military satellites. They appear as dim stars, but they slowly move across the sky. On the other hand, if you are looking just after sunset or just before sunrise, the sun's light can reflect more directly off the metal sides of the satellite and it will appear quite bright. Some have been mistaken as UFOs. Some satellites are in a geosynchronus orbit and so they do not move across the sky. These are almost indistinguishable from dim stars and unless you have a star atlas with you, you most likely will never know the difference. If you really want to see satellites, my suggestion is to go out on a moonless night with clear skies find a meadow on a farm (make sure the bull is in his pen), get yourself a lounge chair, blanket, munchies, drinks, tunes and binoculars. Some company would be a good idea too.

Answer 3

Oh yes, back in the sputnik days every one was out looking and spotting them once in a while. They were smaller then and conditions had to be very favorable. Usually just after dusk when the sky was dark but the sunlight was still hitting the satellite (as it was up high). And you had to know exactly where to look.

Today it is easy as there are web sites that will tell you when and where to look and more. Here's a good one for the ISS
http://heavens-above.com/

We were often looking in the wrong place years ago, this was in the 60's, and often came home shivering (I lived in New Hampshire) or if it was in summer a lot of mosquito bites. Gad that was fun and exciting.

With all that are up there, USA has about a 1000 and Russia has 1400 or so, it seems as though you couldn't miss nowadays. But it would still require you do a little research.

In the web site above you have to tell them where you live and then they will calculate a viewing opportunity for you location.

As the TV astronomer in Florida used to say when closing his program, "Keep looking up".

Good luck I hope you can spot some.

Answer 4

If you mean man-made satellites in Earth orbit, some can be seen. In fact you can see the shuttle if you know where and when to look.

Not all satellites are visible. Everything depends on how large the satellite is, how far away it is in its orbit, how fast it's orbiting, whether or not it has stealth technology, etc, etc, etc.

The trick is to know where and when to look.

NASA has a bunch of resources here,

http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/

Obviously you have to use some kind of realtime programming if you want to see where a lot of satellites are at any one time. Otherwise, check out some of the resources and links at the NASA page above. There are links to enthusiast groups, software, etc.

Good luck,
Big Al Mintaka

Answer 5

Of course. Hundreds of satellites are visible with the naked eye. Every night I'm out observing I see a few, without even looking for them.

Answer 6

Yes! A lot of them! Some even in the DAYTIME! You might want to start off by tracking the bigger ones like the ISS (International Space Station), and the NASA Space Shuttle (when its in orbit).

Two great websites for more info are www.nasa.gov, and http://www.heavens-above.com/

A 'stronger than average' pair of field binoculars can help see more details on the station/ shuttle!

Answer 7

There are two type of satellite: Man made and Natural.
We cannot see man made satellitewith naked eye because of their small size. But we can see Natural satellite(moon)with naked eye.

Answer 8

If you stare at the night sky for about 15 minutes on average, you will see one. You have to be far away from cities and on a very clear night but they are easy to see because they are moving. You can see them best a few hours after sunset because the sky need to be very dark.

Answer 9

Yes. Best bet: shortly after sunset, or just before sunrise, when the satellite is not in the earth's shadow.

Answer 10

Yes. They are easy to spot as a dim star-like object most typically moving between a west-eastern direction and a south-north one. You can usually see at least one every night if you watch the sky.