The media was abuzz in November with Congressional hearings on UAPs. As governments do, this new acronym was created to describe the unknown objects known as unidentified aerial phenomena, as opposed to the classic UFO or unidentified flying object.
One early UFO that was soon identified was the Soviet Union’s Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. One observer of this early UAP was Homer Hickam, a 14-year-old son of the West Virginia coal community. As retold in his memoir and later in the 1999 film adaptation October Sky, seeing this strange object traverse the night sky inspired young Homer and friends to build their own rockets, leading Homer to a career at NASA and a lifelong passion for space.
Now 67 years later, the world has seen thousands of rockets, launching more than 12,000 satellites to places like low Earth orbit and geostationary Earth orbit — LEO and GEO, more of those pesky acronyms — the superhighways on which our satellites circle the globe. On any given day, weather permitting, while enjoying the crisp beauty of a northern Arizona sunset you can observe many of these satellites.
As the sun sets and shadows fall across the land, the sun’s rays high above may still reflect off the metallic frames and solar panels of many of these satellites. They often dim as they move east and into shadow, or sometimes gain brightness if moving west.
The brightest of these is the International Space Station, humanity’s continuously inhabited outpost in LEO since November 2000. Representing global cooperation, it shines as a literal beacon in the night sky. The station and its solar arrays span nearly the area of an American football field, and reflect an enormous amount of light in the twilight hour.
Visit SpotTheStation.Nasa.gov, type in our city and it will give you the time and direction to watch the next ISS flyover.
It used to be that only those residing within a small radius of Cape Canaveral, Florida could see regular rocket launches. Today the locations and cadence at which SpaceX and other private companies are now launching rockets allows us in Arizona to sometimes see this marvel without traveling long distances. One site where you can view a list of upcoming launches is SpaceLaunchSchedule.com, where if you sort for Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB) in California, you can look for launch windows around sunset. Then look to the west and you may see the iconic cloud created by the booster separation of a Falcon 9 just after passing through max-Q, the moment of maximum dynamic pressure on a vehicle pushing through our atmosphere. The first stage of the rocket may come back and land on an autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) just offshore, returning the rocket for reuse.
If this kind of event sparks your curiosity and passion, you can also join in the fun of rocketry. You don’t need to machine a custom nozzle like Homer Hickam did, or worry about stage separation. A safe and fun launchable rocket will cost less than $50, and with a few extra solid rocket motors (SRMs) and good weather conditions you can establish your own exploration mission (EM) right in your own local park.
If you would like to learn more about the sky, telescopes, or socialize with other amateur astronomers, visit us at prescottastronomyclub.org or Facebook @PrescottAstronomyClub to find the next star party, Star Talk, or event.
Adam England is the owner of Manzanita Financial and moonlights as an amateur astronomer, writer, and interplanetary conquest consultant. Follow his rants and exploits on Twitter @AZSalesman or at Facebook.com/insuredbyadam.
