A meteor observation network centered around Mount Fuji and Hiratsuka continuously photographs the night sky using high-sensitivity cameras at multiple points to capture meteor phenomena stereoscopically and determine the orbital elements of meteors. In recent years, with the increase in artificial satellites, the number of artificial satellites reentering the atmosphere has also increased. On December 26, 2023, the reentry of a newly launched Starlink satellite was observed by this network. The Hiratsuka City Museum Meteor Observation Group, a citizen-participatory meteor observation group, also conducted numerous observations, and from the obtained data, the orbital elements of this artificial satellite were determined. In this presentation, we will introduce the phenomenon of falling artificial satellites, which has been increasing in recent years, based on the observational data obtained by the meteor observation network. We will also introduce the possibilities of space debris observation as citizen science.
Daichi FUJII (Fri,) studied this question.