I live in Thailand. At night I think I see geostationary satellites in the southern sky. Is this possible. The sun reflecting of them?

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I live in Thailand. At night I think I see geostationary satellites in the southern sky. Is this possible. The sun reflecting of them?

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 17-03-08] [Hit: ]

it is not. Geosynchronous orbits are by definition equatorial, so any geostationary satellites you can see from Thailand would have to be to your north, since Thailand is south of the Equator. You can see satellites to the south, of course,......

PhotonX say: No, it is not. Geosynchronous orbits are by definition equatorial, so any geostationary satellites you can see from Thailand would have to be to your north, since Thailand is south of the Equator. You can see satellites to the south, of course, since they can be seen from anywhere on the planet's surface (when not in Earth's shadow), but they will out of necessity be moving.
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.EDIT: CORRECTION: Yes, Thailand is north of the Equator. In the interests of intellectual integrity I don't delete posts.
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William say: These satellites are usually very faint if not invisible- so no. You might see a rare Iridium Flare, but you're certainly not seeing geosynchronous satellites- not for any prolonged period of time, and by prolonged I mean more than a fraction of a second.
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digquickly say: Well, ..., YES!, it is very possible that you could very well be seeing geostationary, orbiting satellites, and / or space junk. When the sun hits the objects just right they will suddenly brighten and then fade. When this occurs it is known as a "Flare". You can see a predictor for flares near you at the following website: www.heavens-above.com.

I very distinctly remember seeing a rocket fuselage one night just after sunset. It was directly overhead and several of my friends were looking up at the sky directly overhead. When I asked what they were looking at, they pointed straight up and said, "that!", and there in the sky, I could distinctly see the cylindrical fuselage a second stage rocket. I have since seen many other flare but none as detailed as that one.

BTW, you don't need to wait for a flare to see satellites in the night sky. I've seen dozens just by looking up and watching the night sky. You can easily see the the non-geosynchronous ones as they move against the night sky. Some of them are flying in formation as they map Gravity or Earth's magnetic field. There are so many that it's not uncommon for me to see them move through my field of view as I'm observing a deep sky object.

So all that to Yes, I believe you are observing satellites. I know because I've seen them many times before myself.
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Spock (rhp) say: remotely possible, yes. you might try a small telescope ... see if you can get any greater clarity
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marlies say: yes, that is possible with satellites, but not geostationary satellites since they should be visible many minutes at the same point, this occurs not.
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rick29148 say: You must have a really GOOD pair of eyes.....
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