The great North American solar eclipse that took place on April 8 brought many fascinating images from astronomers and amateurs. And the most attentive managed to capture something special. This includes YouTube blogger and aerospace engineer Dustin Sandlin.
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He, along with other eclipse hunters, shot video and photos of the April 8 eclipse. And when he was reviewing the material, he discovered several unusual objects that rushed past the disks of the Moon and Sun right during the eclipse. He shared the observations on his YouTube channel SmarterEveryDay.
Sadlin speculated that the video caught satellites flying by in low Earth orbit. He showed the footage to renowned astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who specializes in near-Earth objects, including those of artificial origin. McDowell initially put forward a version that in the frame hit some insects. Because the objects were moving too fast for satellites.
Later he made calculations, taking as a reference point the apparent size of the Sun’s disk. Calculated value of speed corresponds to the flight of a satellite in an orbit of 500 kilometers high, which looks quite plausible.
