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Satellite spotters

Learn about natural and man-made satellites in this sky-scanning, satellite-spotting session.

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You’ll need

  • Compass
  • Tables
  • Chairs
  • Torch or phone
  • Access to the internet
  • A black bed sheet
  • Three sets of white fairy lights
  • A clock
  • Craft materials, including paper, pens and pencils, lolly sticks, scissors and glue
  • Images of satellites
  • Access to printing facilities

There are many satellites in our sky but what do they look like and how can we find them amongst the stars? Your mission is to research and discover information about satellites, before preparing your findings to teach younger members of your group. Have a look into how to identify satellites in the night’s sky and play a game of ‘Spot the satellite’ where people will mimic different objects for people to discover and score points.

Planning the visit

  • Arrange for another group to join you at this session. Or, you could join them at their meeting and run this activity. You could invite a younger group, as this gives your group the chance to take the lead in this activity, though this would be fine for any other group who haven’t done satellite spotting activities before.
  • Give the other group’s leaders lots of notice and check if they have any accessibility or travel needs. Get in touch the day before to check they’re still planning on coming.

Mission briefing

  • Find out what different kinds of satellites cross our skies in the UK. Do some research online and find out what they look like, what time they’re visible and where to look for them. Print off some images of them.
  • Set up three activity bases, each with tables and chairs. Agree in advance for some members of your group to run the activities with the visiting group. Make sure your group members know how to run the activity they’re managing. Instructions are provided below.
  • For ‘Spot the satellite,’ make a night sky by attaching fairy lights to a black bed sheet, arranging the lights in different ways. This could mimic the sky above the meeting place. Use Astronomy Now to bring up a cross-section of your night sky, and arrange the lights in the same way. Then, print off small images of things you see in the sky. This should include some satellites, aeroplanes, shooting stars, drones, birds and planets. Cut these out and glue them to the ends of lolly sticks. Torches will be needed to shine behind the images so the shadow can be seen on the other side.
  • For ‘Satellite identification’ you’ll need the images of the different satellites you might see in the night sky in the UK.
  • For ‘Satellites in the sky’ a clock and a compass are needed.

Satellite discovery

  1. Greet your guests and introduce the topic of this activity and split them into two groups.
  2. Each group will need to visit both the ‘Satellite identification’ and ‘Satellites in the sky’ bases, spending about 10 minutes at each one. Have your activity leaders prepare for their first satellite students!
  3. Bring everyone together to play ‘Spot that satellite’.
  4. After, take everyone outside to see if they can see a satellite, if it’s evening and clear enough. They should look for a small light moving slowly across the sky.
  5. Whilst this is happening someone should add up the scores to see how well each group did.
  1. Show everyone some pictures of manmade and natural satellites. You may need to explain the difference between the two. Manmade satellites, like the International Space Station, were put into orbit around the Earth by humans to help us do things in space. Natural satellites, like the moon, are space objects that have fallen into orbit around the Earth, due to the Earth’s gravity.
  2. A person leading the activity should explain what each satellite is, what it does and, if they know, show how that process works. For instance, GPS satellites could be demonstrated by having four people orbit the Earth to similar areas where they can triangulate one location.
  3. Test everyone to see if they were listening!
  4. Tot up the correct answers to see which group remembered the most.
  1. Show everyone how to find a satellite in the sky.
  2. Explain how you can tell one apart from a plane or a shooting star.
  3. See if anyone taking part can explain why a compass and a clock might be useful. Let them think about this in groups, and let them examine the compass and clock.
  4. Have a volunteer explain how they would use the compass and the clock to find the International Space Station.
  5. The groups that explain this well win points.
  1. Turn on the fairy lights and turn off the main lights.
  2. Those taking part should sit close to the bed sheet, watching the ‘sky.’ One of the people leading the activity should select a lolly-stick with a printout shape stuck on it.
  3. Shine the torch on the bed sheet and hold the printout shape in front of the beam, so that it creates a shadow on the sheet.
  4. Move the object and torch back and forth, as though the object is moving across the sky as it normally would.
  5. Those taking part should try to guess what the shape is.
  6. The team that guesses the most objects is the winner.

Reflection

The group needed to do research and find information about satellites, before sharing their knowledge with members of another group. How did they prepare what they’d found out to share with the other group? Was it necessary to prepare visual representations (like a scenario being acted out) as well as explanations? Did anyone need to explain the meaning of any words?

Everyone should’ve played a part in leading one of the activity bases for another group. Was it easy to work with peers in this way and lead the activities? What could’ve been done differently to make the session easier?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Outdoor activities

You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.

Dark

Provide some light, so the environment isn’t completely dark. Everyone must be able to see others and move around the area safely.

Glue and solvents

Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

Have a look at the International Space Station (ISS), get everybody to complete some research into what it is, its purpose and experiments they complete on it. Have a look at whether there is any that can be replicated in the meeting place and included in this activity.

Make sure everyone has everything they need to complete the tasks, whether they’re leading or taking part in these activities. Bear this in mind when splitting off into groups.

Have a torch available for anyone who needs or wants one.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Astronomer Activity Badge

After these activities, consider taking the group outside and spend some time taking what they have learnt and look for some satellites in the sky.

This activity and badge can count towards a CREST award.

Young people could complete the research needed in preparation for running each activity base. They then take charge for much of this session.