Blinking satellite?

I've been observing a blinking light near scorpius (latitude 26.8, sw florida). The light blinks every 12 seconds on cue, and is there some nights, and not on others. It was there tonight, and it was there this weekend, and it was there about 3 weeks ago. I never saw it between then. It stays stationary to the planet, thus it does not appear to move with the stars, 4-5 hours later one night it was in the exact same spot. Anyone know what this could be, or has anyone else seen this? It's near scorpius at about 8:30PM at the above location if anyone wants to try their luck at finding it.

I really like the way you pose this thread, OP. Nice to meet you, by the way.

My darlin' and I have observed on several nights what appears to be a stationary flashing light. I spend a fair amount of time on www.heavens-above.com and we regularly watch known satellites, as well as recognize passing aircraft. In our case the flash doesn't occur with regularity that I can perceive. It is crisper and more defined than the atmospheric "twinkling" of stars. Our "seeing" is excellent here, and hurricanes aside, we have a very clear view of the night sky.

It could be a geosynchronous satellite, as you offered. Sadly, I don't know how to find Saggitarius, but I will shortly. Edit to add that we're probably not more than 500 miles from you; we see pretty much the same sky.

Interesting thread

[edit on 2-9-2008 by argentus]

Originally posted by argentus

It could be a geosynchronous satellite, as you offered.

Highly unlikely!

Geosync orbits are at 26,000 miles. There are no satellites in geosynchronous orbit which are large enough to be seen with the naked eye.

OP says "stationary to the planet". Any chance it's a beacon of some kind (top of a tall building, antenna, etc.)? Have you tried checking it out with binocs?


[edit on 2-9-2008 by Phage]

Does it flash different colored lights?
It may be a Navy surveillance satelite

[edit on 2-9-2008 by Clearskies]

reply to post by Clearskies


Your link is for The US Naval Space Command Space Surveillance System. It is a ground based system for finding and tracking satellites. It is not a system of satellites.

reply to post by Phage


Sorry, it's late and I'm tired!
Just google it.
An ex navy man told me, when I was concerned about the flashing lights that it was Navy Satelites and I asked him "What are they looking at"?
There were about three of them.

It's definitely not any type of tower, if it was it would have to be in the middle of the gulf of Mexico, as I was watching it from an island on the West coast of Florida, and it was almost directly to the West.

Side note:
If you live in Florida and want to try and find it, it shows up near Scorpius at around 8:30, I'm not saying to look at scorpius at 8:30, but that's the spot to look at all night, where scorpius is at that time. It does not stay with scorpius as the constellation moves throughout the night.

Blinks every 12 seconds, definitely not a star.
Can't be a satellite, it's blinking. The light from satellites is a reflection, not an electric light.