With the ever-increasing number of aircraft and satellites, the chances of capturing man-made objects in photographs of the night sky are also increasing. There are now more than 10,000 active Satellites in orbit, which means you are much more likely to capture them in your images than a meteor. Unfortunately, satellites captured on cameras often look very similar to MeteorsSo how can we tell the difference?
Unless you’ve seen a meteor streak across the sky with your own eyes, identifying it can sometimes be difficult, but there are usually some clues to help us along.
Related: Meteor shower 2024 – When is the next one?
How to identify satellites
Slow
Satellites move much more slowly than meteors, and most appear in images as a continuous, straight white line. A single satellite is often visible in several images as it slowly moves across the sky.
Torches
Sometimes the direct satellite reflection of the sun to your position on Earth will cause a satellite to flare up briefly. This will appear as a gradual and even tapering of the light at both ends of the trail with a brighter section in the middle. The International Space Station (ISS) is probably the most recognizable satellite in the sky and will appear in images as a long, tapered, solid white line. The ISS may be captured in multiple images as some flyovers last several minutes.
Related: Follow the ISS: How and where to see it
rejuvenation
As satellites pass through our sky into the Earth’s shadow, they gradually become fainter until they no longer reflect sunlight, resulting in a long, tapered trail of light. The same is true when satellites pass from the Earth’s shadow into the path of the Sun.
Starlink
The Starlink satellites are much easier to identify shortly after the satellites are launched into orbit. They are easily visible to the naked eye and appear as a bright series of round lights – known as Starlink satellite train – move across the sky, often as many as 60 at a time. For the first day or two after launch, Starlink satellites will appear in your images as a long white line or as many short white lines in a row, depending on the length of the exposure. As the satellites begin to separate into their own orbits, photos will show Starlink flyovers as a series of parallel lines.
Tumbling satellites
When a malfunctioning satellite spins out of control, it rotates on its axis and periodically reflects sunlight as flares. In photographs, these non-operational satellites appear as faint white lines with regular and uniform changes in brightness. The frequency of the flares depends on the speed at which the satellite rotates.
How to identify meteors
Color
Unlike satellites, which reflect white or bluish-white light, the presence of color or even colors, depending on the chemical composition of the object, is one of the most important clues for identifying meteors in images.
Meteors often burn bright green when they Earth’s atmospherewhich indicates the presence of magnesium. Meteors from the Perseid meteor shower often burn with a green color, while the Orionids Meteor showers, on the other hand, can produce meteors with yellow tails. Red, pink and blue hues can also occur.
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Rejuvenation (again!)
The shape of meteor trails almost always appears tapered, but usually not uniform. When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere at over 40,000 km/h, the object gradually heats up before completely burning up, emitting a bright light before rapidly tapering off. Sometimes large meteors explode as they begin to break up, leaving their signature in the form of several bright pulses of light before showing a brief taper at the end. Therefore, meteors often show asymmetrical taper, rather than a uniform taper of a satellite at both ends of the track.
speed
Meteors move at much higher speeds than satellites, so they burn up very quickly when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, so they are almost always visible in only one image rather than multiple images. Meteors are usually visible for no more than a few seconds.
Meteor shower
Capturing a meteor with a camera is more likely if Photographing a meteor shower. Meteors belonging to a particular meteor shower appear to emanate from a specific point in the sky (the radiant), usually named after the constellation they appear to originate from. If you trace a path from the trail back to a known radiant point of a meteor shower, this is a good indication that you have captured a meteor.
Fireballs
Fireballs are probably the easiest meteors to identify. Meteors brighter than Venus are classified as fireballs and these bright streaks in the sky are easily seen with the naked eye. Exceptionally bright fireballs, or bolides, are meteors that explode with an intensely bright light, illuminating the sky and the landscape below.
If you are lucky enough to capture one of these on camera, you will see very bright streaks with one or more of the features mentioned above. Contrails may also be visible in subsequent images immediately afterward, but there is a good chance you have already identified them in person!
Additional help
However, sometimes it is still very difficult to tell the difference between a satellite and a meteor! Phone apps like “Heaven Above” (Android) or “Star Walk Satellite Tracker” (iOS) can help identify the mysterious streak in your images as a satellite when compared to your time and location data.
Related: Best mobile apps for identifying space stations and satellites
The size, shape, brightness and colour of meteor trails are determined by a number of factors, including the mass of the meteoroid, its chemical composition, its speed of arrival and the angle of entry into the atmosphere. While this means that meteors don’t always look the same in photographs, hopefully the clues listed here can help you determine whether you’ve really captured a meteor or just one of the many, many satellites that orbit our planet!
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