The Humanity Star

Back in February I learned that in January a satellite called "The Humanity Star" had been put in orbit.  That caught my interest.  It had been launched on January 21st from New Zealand by a company that did commercial space flight, they put satellites in orbit for whomever wanted them up there.  Along with a commercial payload, the company slipped in the Humanity Star and put it in orbit as well.

It was not big, only about three feet wide, with 76 triangular panels and weighed only 18 pounds.  The panels were coated with highly reflective material.  In orbit it was supposed to reflect the sun's light to appear just slightly brighter than most other stars, visible to the unaided eye.  It got mixed reactions. The company's intent was to give humanity something to look up together and see, something that could be seen from anywhere in the world, something to bring mankind together. It had no other purpose than to be seen.  However, some astronomers thought was was littering the sky, interfering with observations, study, and photography.  Some people were pretty vocal about it.  I suspect a great deal of humanity was completely unaware it was up there.

It was supposed to be in orbit for about nine months, orbiting the earth every 90 minutes and be most visible around dawn or dusk.  They made an app you could download that would tell you where it was and when it would next pass over your location so you could take a look.  I thought that was cool so I decided to take a look and downloaded the app.  The first time I tried to see it was the morning of March 1st at dawn.  I got up in time to be out in the yard to watch for it.  Since the app showed where it was I was watching as it approached, off to the east of my location.

Unfortunately, there were clouds off to the east, on the horizon.  I saw a glint, a twinkle or two, between the clouds but  I wasn't entirely sure I was actually seeing the Humanity Star.  I saw a nice sunrise, though.

Not a spectacular sunrise, but a nice one, nonethelesss.

A couple of days later I was out at dusk, trying again.  But with no better results.

Saw a nice full moon, though.

Over the next couple of weeks I would watch the app to see where it was, when it would pass by, and get out either in the morning at dawn or in the evening at dusk.

Sometimes it would go by to the west. Other times to the east.  In theory, that was to facilitate it being right on the horizon and better to be seen.  Always right at dawn or dusk. One evening we all went out southwest of town to see if we could see it.  We saw the Milky Way and some real nice stars but not the Humanity Star.  I tried to get some pictures of the stars but none of them worked.

One evening it went very nearly right over head and I was out there trying to see it.  But nothing.  Getting a chance to try to see it was difficult. It needed to be a time I could get out and look, when there was nothing else going on, and it needed to be clear weather, when there was no cloud cover. That's proved to be a tough combination.

I finally decided that part of the problem was light pollution, from my own community or from those nearby.  So I picked my spot carefully, out of town and away from where the light from neighboring towns would interfere.

It was still pretty cool out so I sat in my car, watching its approach on the app and watching for it in the sky.

Saw another nice sunset.  Then I thought I was seeing something that might have been it.  But after watching it a few minutes I realized it was not moving as fast as shown on the app.  It couldn't have been it.  I thought maybe it was some other satellite or a planet so I checked a different app I have.

It was a star called Alphard.  That surprised me because it was so bright.  The app marked its trajectory and all.  I like this other app I have.  But alas, no Humanity Star.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that the app was getting me out too early or too late to see the satellite.  It was supposed to be only slightly brighter than the other stars in the sky yet the app had me out there looking before any stars were really visible.  I decided I was going to have to watch real close and study the times the app was telling me and try to figure out how to be out there when it was just a little darker.  I don't know, maybe it was as much light pollution as timing.  Unfortunately, before I could make my next attempt I saw a news article that said the Humanity Star was going to fall out of the sky much sooner than anticipated.  Because of its light weight it turned out that they miscalculated how long it was stay in orbit.  If fell from the sky on March 21st and there would no more opportunities to try and see it.  But it was an interesting experience nonetheless.  It was fun trying, even if I was never sure I actually saw it.