This webpage says you can see see them if the conditions are right: 28. Geostationary satellites form a belt around the celestial equator. Observing these objects can be fun during the equinoxes when active solar arrays tend to be favorably oriented causing the normally 12-14th magnitude objects to brighten to +9 or even brighter during a one week period in the vicinity of the months of March and September. http://www.eclipsetours.com/sat/why.html
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brent Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 1:18 PM To: Sundial List Subject: stop the earth I have been wondering why I can determine my latitude using simple tools but not my longitude? The earth is a sphere, I would think if you can determine one you can determine both. The problem with calculating longitude seems to be the earth is rotating on its' axis. If the earth stopped spinning, the sun would not rise and set but stay put, and then I could determine the angle of the sun from my horizon and thus determine my longitude. Well that's not going to happen anytime soon. But if I could see a geostationary satellite I could essentially do the same thing don't you think? I have seen orbiting satellites at dusk many times but does anyone know if you can see geostationary satellites with the naked eye? thanks; --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
