[AZ-Observing] Re: Did anyone at the Grand Canyon Star Party see t his light
- From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:25:05 GMT
15480 Empire Rd.
Benson, AZ 85602
hm ph: 520-586-2244
Sounds like you have your work cut out for you, Cary.
I was thinking that the GH would have been glinting sunlight (like an Iridium),
though I think the UAV is painted flat black and not very reflective. I am not
sure that GH has any running lights. Maybe it has the green and red safety
lights, but those, of course, wouldn't be visible hundreds of miles away, and
anyway you said the lights were white.
Sounds like a satellite, but a weird orbit; maybe you were looking at it
approaching or receding from your (moving) point of view?
Clear skies,
Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Cary B. Grant," <cbgrant@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Did anyone at the Grand Canyon Star Party see this
light
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:40:41 -0700
Wayne,
I agree the Global Hawk is a possibility. I first thought what we were
seeing was a sun reflection, but because we saw it multiple times, I think
it was a light. I know aircraft landing lights can be very bright even at
long distances. I've seen guys that have left their landing lights on,
we're suppose to turn them off passing through 10,000 feet, and you can see
them coming at you for hundred of miles. They appear to have very little
lateral movement until they get closer. This light was that bright, much
brighter than Regulus and consistent with an Iridium flare or the ISS sun
glint. We have pilots that fly UAVs for the Guard and Reserves and I'm
going to have to ask them if they come equipped with landing lights. If
they do have them - why? Are they placed on the aircraft so other pilots
can see them, or are they used by the remote pilot to see the runway through
the on-board sensors? Also what is the beam width? They may have a very
narrow beam width and that might account for why we could see the light
from altitude but people on the ground could not. The explanation for the
light could be as simple as the pilot forgetting to turn off the lights.
Ooops!
I still have these questions:
1) What is the line of sight distance to the horizon from 32,000 feet;
2) What is the angle above the horizon of Regulus on the 25th from 32,000'
from roughly the Tucumcari area;
3) Assuming the object was in the airspace above central Nevada, the
distance from Tucumcari to that area is roughly 610 nautical miles, What
altitude would that aircraft need to be at, for us to be able to see it next
to Regulus?
This is a simple trig equation. The unknown is the angle to the object
which is probably 20 degrees. I just did a quick calculation assuming flat
plane distances,. The solution is tan (20)/610 NM = 222 NM! That is ISS
altitude! Even if Regulus was only 10 degrees above the horizon, that is
still 107 NM or 650144 feet. If my calculations are correct, this was not a
Global Hawk! If it was a Global Hawk at 80,000 feet the angle above the
horizon would have been .02 degrees. Of course my math skills at this stuff
haven't been used in over 40 years so I could be a little rusty and I
haven't taken into account we were at 32000 feet. I am going to have to
think on this some more.
Very Interesting.
Cary
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 12:28 AM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Did anyone at the Grand Canyon Star Party see
this light
> 15480 Empire Rd.
> Benson, AZ 85602
> hm ph: 520-586-2244
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