Possibly Satellites? Question..?

Question

Whilst stargazing on holiday me and friends saw some tiny moving dots in the night sky. They were much too small (far away) to be a plane and they were not blinking like planes do. They went extremely fast in an orbit.

We thought that they could be satellites? Are they??

Answer 1

They were probably GEOS satellites and part of the GPS system because those satellites are not in a synchronous orbit... they are constantly moving, which is how the determine speed and height.

Answer 2

Yes they are.  

Satellites, especially large ones are easily visible with the naked eye.  This is especially true in the first few hours after dark and very early in the morning when the satellites are reflecting sunlight that has long since passed below the horizon for us.

That kind of thing tends to make the news when say.... the space shuttle is docked with the Intl. Space Station which is then such a large object in orbit it's kind of hard to miss as it passes through the night sky.

Answer 3

You, madam, are absolutely correct. If you can get some good binoculars, you can sometimes make out detail on the bigger ones like solar panels.

Congratulations

Oh, by the way. Stare at the night sky for more than 7 minutes, and you're pretty much guaranteed to see a shooting star. I like those wishing-odds!

Answer 4

yes, this sounds like satellites.

you will see many in north-south paths. they are quite a common sight if the sky is reasonably dark.