Geostationary satellite in front of the shadow side of the moon?

Geostationary satellite in front of the shadow side of the moon?

Had some fun yesterday at excellent conditions with 110/660. Gave an assessment of the shadow side on the crescent moon at 9%. Aristarchus is easy to locate as brighter spot, so is Kepler and Copernicus, Kepler even better of the 2 i find. In fact it is the ejecta blanket of them what is perceivable. Also the 2 long prominent streaks from Tycho going up to Umbrium were to make out.

But, the fun point was satellites crossing the shadow site, hadn't registered such so far. In the first second I did not realize what was going on, but then, some moments later (CEST 22:54:05), one passed straight through the middle, clear to detect in 65x on the entire way, I guess it was something around 8-9m.

So the question is: a geostationary satellite would take +/- 120 seconds to pass the whole moon diameter. I wonder, has such thing ever been observed? I mean, one of the brighter around 10m I expect it could be seen visually.

regards

Edited by CHnuschti, 11 May 2024 - 08:37 AM.

Most certainly a possibility.  Would be one heck of a get!  Wouldn't be easy though as these satellites are not particularly bright and the Moon tends to overwhelm most stars.

I have seen a geostationary satellite a few years ago - a very eerie experience as it was a dob and I did not need to move the dob to keep it in the field of view but the background stars were moving... does a bit of a mind-job on you!   It was from a dark site during a Club session with no Moon.  I have had a satellite cross my FOV just one time while looking at the Moon - a very fast zip across the lit Moon.  I've been observing the Moon for many years, sketching it is my niche.  Noticing a satellite cross in front of it is very rare or difficult.

Alex.

I'm prejudiced with geostationary satellites I fear.

Some weeks ago I saw a very bright , stationary, some 3-4m I guessed, "star" below Leo. Lasted at least 2 minutes, and then faded out. Some 2-3hrs after sunset. Researching, I found it might very well be Milstar 2-3 (USA 164). This is big military gear, 6tons, half of the Hubble.
Looked at it later, indeed is easy to spot, Skysafari lists with 10.2m, was brighter than that I guessed. In central Europe placed practically at the meridian.

But its brightness seems to be rather the exception. Tried yesterday (with 110/660) in near location AEHF 1 (USA 214) and WGS F1 (USA 195) but could not really detect them, listed in Skysafari with 11.7 and 11.9m, probably fainter I think. While Milstar 2-3 still bright, I estimated something around 9.5m. Also those other are big chunks around 6tons, the EAHF series is the successor/replacement of the Milstar series.

Nevertheless it's in the region were the moon passes. Possible it might cross Milstar 2-3 one day.

regards

Edited by CHnuschti, 12 May 2024 - 11:08 AM.

One thing you could to see if you have a chance is to see how dim a star you can see when the Moon is about and during different phases.  I would think that a  crescent phase smaller than 1st or 3rd quarter would be your best chance.

Are you able to see a magnitude 10.2 star in this instance around the Moon?

I know that there is an app/program that predicts when the ISS with transit across the Moon.  Might there be something for geostationary satellites transiting across the Moon?  There are a lot more of these satellites than the solitary ISS.

 

Are you able to see a magnitude 10.2 star in this instance around the Moon?

In the same observation of #1 at 9% I observed also some stars being overrun by the moon. One was 9.7m (HD 246163), could clearly be seen up to the very occultation, so yes, the moon is faint enough on the shadow side to make out such brightness. Might be a slightly different question when a point of such faintness is ON the moon surface, but it looks possible at least.

regards