Another blinking object, satellite?

[Maury Markowitz]

Another Reddit thread for the Sitrec gurus to have a go at:


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1qbuvva/mysterious_blinking_light_in_the_night_sky_over/


Time: December 23, 2025 at approximately 12:45 AM Location: Santa Ana, El Salvador

He later clarified the video starts exactly at 12:44:00 AM.

You can orient on Orion, which puts them looking southwest. The flash rate is almost exactly 12 seconds.

I had a look in ADSBE and could not find anything that this could be, so the next on my list would be rotating satellite. I used the assist to set this up in Sitrec, and "look at Orion" (which worked great!) but could not see anything in that area even if I set it out to the maximum distance.

I did notice a possible issue. I set the date and then asked it to set the time to "12:44 am local", which it did. However, when I looked in the Time menu it was set to 6:44. Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[jarlrmai]

The timezone displayed defaults to GMT/UTC

 

[GM4AJK]

I did notice a possible issue. I set the date and then asked it to set the time to "12:44 am local", which it did. However, when I looked in the Time menu it was set to 6:44. Does this happen to anyone else?

When you stumble on issues like this, the best place to ask is the Sitrec forum. Try creating a simple Sitch that demonstrates the problem and post it there; you'll be far more likely to get your question in front of the right eyeballs.

 

[flarkey]

I find in-the-sky.org is good for this as it allows you to 'view all satellies' for a set location date and time quite easily.

Unfortunately it doesn't provide a sharable link to the view, and in this case unfortunately there's nothing in the blinking lights position under Orion. But as we know there are still other things orbiting that arent published such as spy satellites and space junk.

 

[GM4AJK]

such as spy satellites and space junk

If it's blinking, esp with a 12-second period, then it's 99% certain it's space junk. Slow-moving also likely means it's high. Possibly a Geo transfer second stage or a dead Navstar. If no one else posts with more details later, I'll go and have a dig for it.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

The timezone displayed defaults to GMT/UTC

The Time menu was set to local, and the times were displayed in pink. I suspect that it does not "notice" that the time zone has been set and is doing a double conversion?

in this case unfortunately there's nothing in the blinking lights position under Orion

Are we sure the data is correct? I didn't see it load a TLE when I changed the date - maybe it did maybe it didn't.

Speaking of, is there any "add on" to the public TLEs that have such information? That is, blinking times and other bits not found in the TLEs?

 

[flarkey]

Are we sure the data is correct? I didn't see it load a TLE when I changed the date - maybe it did maybe it didn't.

In-the-sky.org automatically loads the correct historical TLE for the date when you set the date & time. That's another reason why it is so good - no faffing about with downloading TLE files.

 

[GM4AJK]

This satellite is ETS 6, a now-defunct JAXA satellite that failed to reach GEO orbit but went on to have some success as a science satellite.

It is a well-known flasher dating back to 2001 and maybe eariler.

Here's the TLE for you

ETS 6
1 23230U 94056A 25355.20803015 -.00000059 00000-0 00000-0 0 9998
2 23230 13.0274 254.9130 5016124 154.9885 204.3359 1.67087813191268

 

[Maury Markowitz]

This satellite is ETS 6, a now-defunct JAXA satellite that failed to reach GEO orbit but went on to have some success as a science satellite.

It is a well-known flasher dating back to 2001 and maybe eariler.

Here's the TLE for you



View attachment 87712

Well done!
Actually... the time of the one in the video is about 12 seconds, but it seems ETA 6 is faster than that. As you can see in the link, it continued to speed up over time, I assume as it lost fuel, and was under 10 seconds by 2001. So I don't think that matches, it's definitely 12 or more in the video.

Someone suggested a Kosmos-3/SL8 spent booster, but I don't see that in your snap above. And when I set up Sitrec again, none of these are in that location (yes, I did update the TLE). In fact, I don't see anything that moves along that line under Rigel any time around there.

Hopefully I did this right:

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...98/looking for the flasher/20260120_193732.js

 

[Maury Markowitz]

In-the-sky.org automatically loads the correct historical TLE for the date when you set the date & time. That's another reason why it is so good - no faffing about with downloading TLE files.

It could really use an "inactive" selection, right now it's only Active Satellites.

 

[GM4AJK]

Something is not entirely right with Sitrec here. If you export the TLEs from your Sitrec 23230U, (ETS 6) is completely missing. I got my TLEs directly from Space Track for the date (I just got them again to double-check) and use them in Stellarium.

It's definitely there:-

However, if you increase the sat brightness to max on your Sitrec then you can see it, but it has no label. Additionally, if you switch "Other satellites" on and off, you'll see there are many unlabeled satellites. I'll see if I can dig deeper into this. @Mick West you may be interested in this, not sure what's happening here.

 

[GM4AJK]

I think I may have the answer as to why ETS 6 doesn't show up in Sitrec. It's range is over 10,000 km as shown here in Stellarium

But Sitrec cuts off at 10,000

[edit: Still not sure about missing labels in Sitrec and what those satellites are that it shows, more work required here]

 

[Mick West]

However, if you increase the sat brightness to max on your Sitrec then you can see it, but it has no label. Additionally, if you switch "Other satellites" on and off, you'll see there are many unlabeled satellites. I'll see if I can dig deeper into this. @Mick West you may be interested in this, not sure what's happening here.

To avoid displaying thousands of labels in a wide view of the night sky, there's a "Display Range (km)" which, in theory, should not display/label satellites beyond that range. There's also a "show all Labels" flag, which should do what it says. Neither seems to be working as intended, probably knock-on effects of other "improvements."

I'll have a look into it.

 

[GM4AJK]

To avoid displaying thousands of labels in a wide view of the night sky, there's a "Display Range (km)" which, in theory, should not display/label satellites beyond that range. There's also a "show all Labels" flag, which should do what it says. Neither seems to be working as intended, probably knock-on effects of other "improvements."

I'll have a look into it.

I think we cross-post there. I noted the 10,000km range. But yeah, something a bit odd going on.

 

[GM4AJK]

As a test, I used my local Sitrec debug version to extend the Display Range and when setup then, Sitrec does display ETS 6

 

[jarlrmai]

Maybe there needs to be a "show me everything" option filters are really handy mostly but when you are looking for something in a really specific area of the sky at a really specific time having everything possible show would be handy.

 

[Mick West]

I'm working on some improvement to star and satellite rendering, and will address this as part of it

 

[Mick West]

I'm working on some improvement to star and satellite rendering, and will address this as part of it

Should be addressed now, with a major rewrite of the label system. Docs later.