Saw Int'l space station and shuttle last night - awesome.

powernoodle

powernoodle

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On Wedn night I went outside at 10:01pm with Wifey and saw the Int'l space station moving across the sky. Looked like a bright star, moving at high speed from NW to SE. Faster than a plane. Moved across the whole sky in a few seconds. Five minutes later, saw the space shuttle chasing it. 240 miles away, but bright and easily visible. Same trajectory. One of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Various websites will tell you when and where the shuttle and/or space station are visible from the ground. I highly recommend giving this a try, especially if you have kids who would like to see it. It blew me away.

cheers
 
Very cool. Much of the drama and mystique has left the shuttle program and NASA in general. I still remember when evey shuttle launch was carried live by every TV station. That being said, IMHO these guys still have the right stuff.
 
Saw them with the naked eye. Each one (space station and shuttle) looked like a bright star, but they were moving quickly across the sky. I live in a suburban area (1.2M people) with lots of background light, and they were immediately recognizable as being out of place in the sky because of the velocity. When the shuttle first appeared, it was very faint and only Mrs. Powernoodle was able to see it. But as it continued, the sun lit it up and it was obvious. If you are looking in the correct part of the sky at the right time, there is almost no way you will miss it.

Powernoodle has a new hobby. And its a little cheaper than accumulating Sebenzas. :thumbup:

Here is the NASA website I used. Click on the "sighting opportunities" link.
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/


peace
 
Powernoodle thanks a whole bunch for the website address for spacestation sightings. Years ago I used the same link on the NASA web page, but after returning to the internet after 3 years I could not for the sake of every knife on this planet could I find this link on their impossible to navigate web site.:grumpy: Thanks for the big help, as I am not on the technical edge of computers. I am only on the edges of sharp implements kind of person.;)
 
I did the same thing last night. Went outside with the compass about 15 minutes early to pinpoint the direction, and to let my eyes adjust. The wife and son came out about 5 minutes before. They both picked up the ISS before I did, but then I had my doubts because it was so bright and easy to see. But, since it followed the path exactly, at the right time... And the the shuttle chased after, even brighter! (and again, I was last to see it!) It should be REAL easy to spot tonight (in the Kansas City area at least) as they'll be docked, with a 3 minute window (last night was 3 for the ISS and >1 for the Shuttle.)

Definately cool. The son was highly interested (he's 8). After it was done, we got out a globe and talked orbits and tracking (even geo-synchronous).

I was looking for a smaller dot because I'd seen something in the sky a couple years ago I thought was the ISS, but it must have just been a satelite, as it was much smaller, and moving much faster (and way too high to be a plane)
 
Only a couple of opportunities this month for me, and I missed 'em both. I'll have to keep my eye on that site.
 
Saw the shuttle/ISS combo again tonite (Thursday). Lower trajectory, so the show didn't last as long, but still cool.

If I can figure out how to do this, any dimwit can.

Now I'm going to start looking for satellites.

cheers
 
Yep, saw it/them again tonight as well. It was higher up for me and lasted longer. Quite a sight to see, when you think about what it is and how it got there.
 
powernoodle, thanks for the link. Ten or more years ago I used to look for the Iridium flares and you could see them quite often, even in broad daylight. Iridium is a system of 66 low earth orbit communication satellites and shine very brightly when the sun hits them right.
 
Check out www.heavens-above.com This is a great site for satellite watching info. Once you see one, you'll haveto check out more. It makes you feel pretty small with all the stuff racing by at thousands of miles per hour.
 
mycroftt said:
Iridium is a system of 66 low earth orbit communication satellites and shine very brightly when the sun hits them right.
Click to expand...


Iridium flares are great to see. I love to look at satellites through my telescope.
 
How do you view the satellites with your telescope Gollnick? Do you put in the orbital elements and track it with a computer driven scope or just track by hand? Do you ever see any detail like solar panels on the ISS?
 
Hey Guys...

Very cool..

I seen something a few years ago and I don't know what it was...

Very bright traveling at high speed looked like a satellite, however it was blinking,, like the double flash of a camera with red eye reduction. A dim flash, followed by a bright flash..

Can anyone speculate what theat may have been ?

I figure it was a satellite taking pctures of the earth..

ttyle

Eric...
 
Um ... they don't take flash pictures.... I expect it was rotating, and one side was more reflective.
 
Hey Guys..

Cougar....

Yaa that would for sure be a far better explanation...LOL

ttyle

Eric...
 
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