Outdoor Solar Lights

I was sitting on the porch the other night, and as always I was looking at the stars. I have seen faint green lights moving in straight lines from time to time, higher than any airplane could possibly be. I am pretty positive that these are satellites. Well as I was sitting on my porch around 8:30 pm, I noticed what I thought was a super bright star that I had not seen just a few seconds before when I was looking up. As I looked up at it, it appeared that the light shined directly over head for maybe two or three seconds, and then the light turned to a faint green and moved on off in a straight line heading south. Could it be possible to see the reflections off the solar panels off of the sattellites from the sun, if you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. It really was amazing what I saw. Serious non alien answers only please!

The magnitude scale used by astronomers ranks the brightness of stars from 1 to 6. The brightest stars are in first place and get ranked as magnitude 1 (mag 1, for short). The dimmest stars that can be seen without a telescope are mag 6. The planet Venus is often a standout as the morning or evening "star" when its reflected sunlight outshines any true star. Artificial satellites can also be very bright depending on how much sunlight they reflect. Going up in brightness on the scale the numbers are 0, -1, -2, -3, and so on. Venus can reach -4 at its brightest and the Iridium communication satellites can reflect brief flares of sunlight as bright as mag -8. The brightness of the International Space Station usually ranges from mag 2 (dim) to mag -1 (bright).

What is an Iridium flare?

Iridium communication satellites have polished panels that act like mirrors to reflect bright flares of sunlight. The satellites in the Iridium group have their orbits arranged to provide continuous coverage. Original plans called for a "constellation" or group of 77 satellites, which is also the atomic number of the chemical element Iridium. Currently, there are 66 active satellites in orbit and 6 more as backups. The orbits are polar and 780 km (485 miles) in altitude. Each satellite orbits once around the Earth in a little over 100 minutes.

Where should I look?

A clear, open view of the sky is important and so is a location that is free from the glare of streetlights. The light from a bright moon can also be troubling. Azimuth refers to the compass points around the horizon (north = 0 degrees, east = 90 degrees, south = 180 degrees, and west = 270 degrees). Altitude describes how high up the object will appear. Measuring in degrees, altitude is 0 degrees at the horizon and ninety degrees at the zenith (straight up). Near the horizon (from 0 to 20 degrees) the sky is often dusky and objects are hard to see.

Your hand can serve as a guide for estimating angles. Close one eye, stretch your arm straight out and your fist will span about 10 degrees. With your hand wide open, looking from the tip of your little finger to the tip of your thumb, you will see a span of about 20 degrees.

When should I look?

Timing is important since the satellite will be visible for only a few minutes. The bright flares of sunlight reflected from Iridium communication satellites last only for a few seconds – but they are spectacular! Check your watch for the correct time and get outside a couple of minutes before the scheduled appearance of the satellite. Since the timing depends on your location, this web site has links with preset latitude and longitude for several locations in Brevard County. Good predictions for Iridium flares are very dependent on accurate coordinates for your location.

Ceramic Solar Lawn Light is the patented product in China.It’s made of ceramic/pocelain.The item is enviromental protection.
Besides,the beautiful and fashionable design can add romatics and harmonies. The solar pannel absorbs solar energy during the daytime,and turns on automatically at night.We preinstalled rechargeable batteries inside the light and use super bright LED as the light source.

We had showed these items in the Carton Fair in Guangzhou,China.But for we were in the wrong booth,so we didn’t recieve lots of orders.I wondered how to make it known to the foreigners and recieve orders.

try e-bay

Can any events that happen outside our solar system affect us on earth?

A supernova would be a bright light in the sky but would it be harmful in any way? Are there any other interstellar events that might be harmful to the earth?

solar wind is deadly, the degredation of earths magnetosphere would allow solar winds to cook the earth nearly instantly.

sources of gamma rays and x-rays include pulsars, quasars and supernova. No pulsars are that close and as far as we know, quasars are artifact from the ancient universe and nolonger exist (althought their emmited gamma rays still bounce around) A nearby supernova could wipe us out with no warning.

asteroids or comets like the one that theoretically killed off the dino’s could possibly render earth uninhabitable.

i guess theoretically a rogue blackhole could eat our whole solarsystem. and we would only be able to detect it by its gravity anomilies. Even if we missed this rogue black hole by several light years, its gravity could destablize our orbit, flinging us into or far far away from our home star. (da’ sun)

some people have listed galactic collision, but scientists say when 2 galaxies collide, the space between stars is so vast any physical collisions are unlikely, all orbits go up for grabs tho.

Nuclear war? i think thats probably our most pressing threat of extinction. I dont think muslums will think twice before nuking their islamic neighbors.

What is in a Milkyway and Galaxy? What is the big bright light in the middle of the galaxy? I heard our solar system is on the outside of the galaxy or something

The Milky Way is the nickname for the particular galaxy in which we exist.

The term "milky" originates from the hazy band of white light appearing across the celestial sphere visible from Earth, which comprises stars and other material lying within the galactic plane. The galaxy appears brightest in the direction of Sagittarius, towards the galactic center. Relative to the celestial equator, the Milky Way passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of Earth’s equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic relative to the galactic plane.The fact that the Milky Way divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres indicates that the solar system lies close to the galactic plane.

The main disk of the Milky Way Galaxy is about 80,000 to 100,000 light-years in diameter, about 250,000 to 300,000 light-years in circumference, and outside the Galactic core, about 1,000 light-years in thickness. It is composed of 200 to 400 billion stars. As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if the galaxy were reduced to 130 km (80 mi) in diameter, the solar system would be a mere 2 mm (0.08 inches) in width. The Galactic Halo extends out to 250,000 to 400,000 light-years in diameter. As detailed in the Structure section below, new discoveries indicate that the disk extends much farther than previously thought.

What is in a Milkyway and Galaxy? What is the big bright light in the middle of the galaxy? I heard our solar system is on the outside of the galaxy or something

The Milky Way is the nickname for the particular galaxy in which we exist.

The term "milky" originates from the hazy band of white light appearing across the celestial sphere visible from Earth, which comprises stars and other material lying within the galactic plane. The galaxy appears brightest in the direction of Sagittarius, towards the galactic center. Relative to the celestial equator, the Milky Way passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of Earth’s equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic relative to the galactic plane.The fact that the Milky Way divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres indicates that the solar system lies close to the galactic plane.

The main disk of the Milky Way Galaxy is about 80,000 to 100,000 light-years in diameter, about 250,000 to 300,000 light-years in circumference, and outside the Galactic core, about 1,000 light-years in thickness. It is composed of 200 to 400 billion stars. As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if the galaxy were reduced to 130 km (80 mi) in diameter, the solar system would be a mere 2 mm (0.08 inches) in width. The Galactic Halo extends out to 250,000 to 400,000 light-years in diameter. As detailed in the Structure section below, new discoveries indicate that the disk extends much farther than previously thought.

hydro projects lead to depletion of natural resources ,the need is to popularize solar energy, as the telecom sector has shown aggresive drive creates demand makes technology cheapand affordable ,similar drive is essential for saving our resources and making a bright lighted world

"Not provided"??????

Are you saying that people in hot climates can’t take care of themselves?

"handy cost effective solar energy tools and electricity/? "

Do you think "people in hot climates" are retarded or something? If it WERE cost effective don’t you think they would already have them??

Maybe "solar energy tools" are NOT cost effective and THEY know it, but YOU obviously don’t.

hydro projects lead to depletion of natural resources ,the need is to popularize solar energy, as the telecom sector has shown aggresive drive creates demand makes technology cheapand affordable ,similar drive is essential for saving our resources and making a bright lighted world

"Not provided"??????

Are you saying that people in hot climates can’t take care of themselves?

"handy cost effective solar energy tools and electricity/? "

Do you think "people in hot climates" are retarded or something? If it WERE cost effective don’t you think they would already have them??

Maybe "solar energy tools" are NOT cost effective and THEY know it, but YOU obviously don’t.

at 17 seconds into the video there is a bright light that comes from the top of the sun and quickly exits the screen. Have you had any reports of what this might be?

The sun.

Hey, I need an opinion of whether this will be possible or not. We have a bunch of individual solar sidewalk lights outside out house. a few of them smapped loose, but the electronics work perfectly still, so I figured I would try to do the following:

Each solar panel in the lights puts out around 4.3v on a good bright day, and then I have a few other ones that put out around 3.5v on a bright day.

So I realized… my laptop charger uses 18vDC to charge… So my electronics-stupid brain though "Well that means I can just hook a bunch of these together to get around 18 volts, hook up the 2 wire plug and there we go!"

Now I am assuming I am missing something, likely a shortage of amps, or something like that… but what would I have to do to hook these small panels together and make it work? (if possible)

Also, even more out of likelyhood, I have a 10vDC-15vDC to 120vAC 60Hz converter for my car lighter port, that gives me two regular AC outlets. What are the chances of me hooking that to my small solar panels?

how many of these tiny panels would I actually need to power my 18vDC laptop? or say, my 5vDC PSP?

If you have a multi-meter, it is easy to measure how many amps a fully charged solar panel can provide. My guess is that those are 5 W panels.
So, check how many watts your laptop needs and then it is easy to figure out how many panels you need.

Hey, I need an opinion of whether this will be possible or not. We have a bunch of individual solar sidewalk lights outside out house. a few of them smapped loose, but the electronics work perfectly still, so I figured I would try to do the following:

Each solar panel in the lights puts out around 4.3v on a good bright day, and then I have a few other ones that put out around 3.5v on a bright day.

So I realized… my laptop charger uses 18vDC to charge… So my electronics-stupid brain though "Well that means I can just hook a bunch of these together to get around 18 volts, hook up the 2 wire plug and there we go!"

Now I am assuming I am missing something, likely a shortage of amps, or something like that… but what would I have to do to hook these small panels together and make it work? (if possible)

Also, even more out of likelyhood, I have a 10vDC-15vDC to 120vAC 60Hz converter for my car lighter port, that gives me two regular AC outlets. What are the chances of me hooking that to my small solar panels?

how many of these tiny panels would I actually need to power my 18vDC laptop? or say, my 5vDC PSP?

If you have a multi-meter, it is easy to measure how many amps a fully charged solar panel can provide. My guess is that those are 5 W panels.
So, check how many watts your laptop needs and then it is easy to figure out how many panels you need.