Here's an interesting one for you (esp
@flarkey) that adds a bit more information about Starlink. This past weekend, I was up in the hills on a short holiday with the family. Last night, 4th January 2026, at 21:30, I was walking my dogs and, as I do, I noticed a few satellites. Most were slow movers/high altitude since at that time of night Earth's shadow is starting to make itself known.
But then I noticed one that was moving quite fast, LEO speed. So I made a note of the time and just carried on looking around, as I tend to do. Then I saw another fast LEO again, on almost the same track as the one I'd seen previously. Oh! So now I started paying attention, as this was somewhat odd: nothing moving that fast and at that elevation in the sky (30+ degrees) should really be sunlit. After watching for around 30 minutes, I eventually counted ten LEOs on the same track in the same patch of sky (details below).
Today, when I got home, I decided to ID these satellites, and it turns out they were all Starlink, specifically the G10-59 group launched back on the 7th October 2025. But, as I suspected, they were all deep into Earth's shadow when I observed them. The only other source of illumination was the almost full Moon (96%) in the East. I have to admit, it's crossed my mind if Moonlit satellites were observable, and it seems I have my answer.
Details:-
The following link will get you the G10-59 Starlinks for that 4th Jan 2026 from ST (assuming you are logged in).
External Quote:
https://www.space-track.org/basicspacedata/query/class/gp_history/NORAD_CAT_ID/(65882,65883,65884,65885,65886,65887,65888,65889,65890,65891,65892,65893,65894,65895,65896,65897,65898,65899,65900,65901,65902,65903,65904,65905,65906,65907,65908,65909)/orderby/NORAD_CAT_ID asc/emptyresult/show/format/3le
My location was 56.353175, -4.368267
The SLs became visible at around Mag 3.5 at Azimuth 210 degrees, Elevation 30 degrees and disappeared at around Azimuth 198 degrees, Elevation 34 degrees.
Note, these were not "flares" or "glints", they pretty much maintained a steady mag 3.5 during their short pass across that patch of sky. Most unusual to see them "appear" and also "disappear" on the same pass.
I can only assume at this point that it was the solar panels doing the reflecting, but I'm yet to work out the precise geometry.
[EDIT: Note, the screenshot shows an elevation of 13 degrees. This was just how I grabbed the screenshot, it wasn't actually visible at that elevation, it only appeared when it got to about 30 degrees as I noted above).
