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Thanks to the clear skies of late and my telescope being fixed I've been out in the garden again looking at the sky. While outside a couple of nights ago I looked up and saw a pair of bright satellites moving very fast, roughly S to N and almost directly overhead. (I'm in Edinburgh). Tonight I saw another pair, much fainter and closer together than the first pair so I am guessing higher up if the distance between the two is fixed. Both instances were early evening so dark but not that long after sunset. Starlink? Or do other satellites travel in groups?
Yes, there are some that travel a precisely set distance apart and measure mass of mountains, groundwater etc by the acceleration they experience due to that mass and how the distance between the pair varies as a result. They've figured how how much groundwater has been depleted in central Europe by changing results over time.
Think Starlink are about 30sec apart?
Other satellites do fly in tandem, but a few minutes apart is more typical.
Quite impressive to see Starlink just after launch when they are released, and then 1 orbit later (about an hour and a half) you can see them all in a line. Best seen if it's just dusk in Europe when launched.
Could be starling but they are often larger groups. Have a look on Stellaryium, it'll show satellites.
I thought these may be them. Taken last January looking westward.
Thanks all, good to know. Both pairs were locked together, the first set about a finger's width or two apart as they tracked across the sky. Identical velocity. Pretty cool to see.
@bonni it looked exactly like that but just a pair rather than a line of them.
Could be starling but they are often larger groups. Have a look on Stellaryium, it’ll show satellites.
Highly unlikely, starlings are black, will be roosting by dusk, and even the squabble* that are regularly in my garden number 40-50, if not more than 100. A really large flock at this time of year can be in the tens of thousands.
*Not an official collective noun, but by far the most appropriate!
If I could post an emogi I would give you a laughing face, let's see what appears ?
I saw Starlink in the sky before I'd ever heard of it. That was deeply weird! Bonni's photo is absolutely Starlink.
I've heard that they've... done something, turned out the lights or made them less reflective after complaints, so it's plausible that that's what the OP is observing.
name is indeed well earned 🙂