Hi everyone, I'm Nige Hartley and new to satellite sighting reporting. I've always had an amateur interest in the night sky and always feel a buzz when spotting a satellite so what made me sign up to this forum? On 17 March 2004, at approximately 2205 UTC, I saw what appeared to be 3 satellites in close formation, ie. all within the span of my outstreched hand and following the same track. My position was approximately 57.6N 003.6W (Forres, in Scotland) and the "formation" passed roughly west to east, crossing virtually overhead to just "below" Ursa Major. They passed into darkness shortly afterwards. They began with 2 in line-astern with the other one offset north by about 1/4 of the spacing of the 1st two and halfway between. By the time they faded, the offset one was almost alongside the rear-most of the two. Throughout, they were a steady magnitude, roughly the same as most stars visible that night (I won't attempt to quantify, as I said, I'm new to this game - weaker than the stars in Ursa Major if it helps). I found and tried J-Pass but couldn't find any likely candidates. I have seen plenty of satellites and shooting stars before but never anything like this. If anyone can help me solve what I, my wife and youngest son witnessed I would be very grateful. Thanks in anticipation, Nige PS Apologies to the administrators, especially Ted Molczan, for the problems caused already!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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