Satellite Image Over Texas Shows Strange Duplication Four Times Through Google Earth
The skies over Hagerman Wildlife Refuge in northern Texas recently became an unexpected stage for a celestial spectacle. Last week, Reddit users shared an image of a satellite that exhibited a colourful apparition, causing quite a stir in the online community.
The satellite in question is the Pleiades-1B, a high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellite. This satellite, which covers the entire surface of the planet in just 26 days from a Sun-synchronous orbit, is responsible for the unusual sighting.
The Pleiades-1B captures images in four spectral bands: red, blue, green, and near-infrared. However, it's the satellite's speed that gives it a futuristic, space-invasion appearance in the final image shown on Google Earth. Moving at approximately 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) in low Earth orbit, the satellite appears four times in the image, creating a strange optical effect.
The satellite's images are captured a split second apart, and these are combined together to generate one image that resembles how the human eye would view it in colour. However, due to its speed, the satellite's movement between images results in a multi-colored, flashing appearance in the final image.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has provided insights about this peculiar phenomenon. McDowell suggested that the Pleiades-1B might be a SpaceX Starlink satellite in low Earth orbit, although the identity of the satellite is yet to be confirmed.
McDowell shared his insights about the satellite on X, where he also identified the satellite in question as the USSF-67 satellite. He noted that the satellite's distinctive multi-colored, flashing appearance was due to the satellite being part of the US Space Force's fleet, which sometimes exhibit such features visually from the ground.
This is not the first time strange things have been revealed in satellite imagery for Google Earth. The satellite's movement and the resulting multi-colored flash are typical of high-speed satellites in low Earth orbit, and they provide a rare treat for those who get to witness them, offering a glimpse into the dynamic world of satellite technology.
- The Pleiades-1B, a satellite that causes a futuristic, space-invasion appearance in Google Earth images, is actually a high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellite owned by Gizmodo's science and space category.
- Scientists have suggested that the Pleiades-1B might be a SpaceX Starlink satellite, belonging to the technology category, operating in low Earth orbit.
- The unusual multi-colored, flashing appearance of the Pleiades-1B in satellite-imaging software, such as Google Earth, can be attributed to its high speed in low Earth orbit.
- The technology sector's constant advancements in space-and-astronomy have led to satellites like the Pleiades-1B, providing unique insights into the dynamic world of technology and space.
