Is it true that the brightest light in the sky is not a planet or star, but a satelite i.?

Question

I saw a bright object last night in the sky.

I though it is one of our sister planets because it was the brightest object.

But my frined said that it was a satelite .

As a matter of fact , he said it was 3 sateklites next to eah other.

Anothe friend said it is the russian space station.

Is it true?

Can we see the satelites from earth?

Answer 1

i think it would depend on what you consider brightest and with what(eye,telescope,.) you are viewing it with.

i have not yet had a physics class so the others probably are more right.

Answer 2

I know this sounds like a copout, but the brightest satellite in the sky is technically the moon. As for man-made satellites, they are very dim if at all visible.

Answer 3

No, the brightest light in the sky is a star.

Answer 4

yes u can see then from the earth. its a star which is the brightest light in the sky un less a super nova occured very close 2 earth then that wld b lol

Answer 5

Satellites are too small to be seen with the naked eye.You'd need a good set of binoculars.You're friend who said 3 Satellites stuck togther,about this I don't what he is referring to.

Maybe he meant  the ISS, International Space Station,which moves rapidly(compared to everything else) in the the sky,and can be seen from about anywhere because its so big and bright. Its about 200metres in length,which is the length of 2 football fields.

Answer 6

The brightest light is coming from the sun

Did you know there are over eight thousand artificial objects orbiting Earth? Over 2,500 are satellites, operative and inoperative. The remaining objects are orbital debris: parts such as nosecone shrouds, lens, hatch covers, rocket bodies, payloads that have disintegrated or exploded, and even objects that "escape" from manned spacecraft during operations.

Dynamically generated pages which give visible satellite passes and real-time orbit displays for any location in the world. ... 7 days - see satellites in ...

www.heavens-above.com - Cached

Answer 7

The brightest objects you can normally see in the night sky are (in order of brightness):

1st The Moon

2nd An Iridium satellite

3rd Venus

4th= Jupiter and the International Space Station.

If the object was noticeably moving and was only in view for a few minutes, then it was a satellite (or possibly a plane). If it was moving and became very bright for just a few seconds, then it was probably an Iridium satellite. These satellites briefly catch the sun on their flat antennas and reflect the light down to the ground as they pass.  For mid-northern latitudes, the ISS is currently visible most evenings. You can obtain predictions for Iridium and ISS from http://www.heavens-above.com/

Note that the Russian Space Station, Mir, burnt up in the atmosphere several years ago.

If the object appeared more or less stationary with only a slow westwards movement noticeable after a long while, then it may have been a planet. Jupiter is currently visible for most of the night and that may have been what you saw. Meteors or shooting stars can also appear to be very bright, but they move very quickly and usually disappear in not much more than a second or two.

Answer 8

Yes, we can see satelites from Earth. They are usually very small figures of light though, and you will notice that they move across the night sky.

Answer 9

No that wasn’t a satellite you saw. Currently, the brightest object in the sky, second to the moon, is Jupiter. Venus is noticeable at this point, but it rises early in the morning and still isn’t as bright as Jupiter currently is. Satellites move fairly fast across the night sky and are very faint little dots. They are pretty hard to see from sea level, but they are still noticeable.

Answer 10

yes we can but the one I saw was moving very very quickly and would not be mistaken for a star or planet