Space Station Spotting

[jmorgan]

Envisat was around at that time according to Starry Night. Bit of junk now.


Edit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envisat#Space_safety

Edited by jmorgan on Saturday 11th July 06:47

[LastLight]

jmorgan said:

Envisat was around at that time according to Starry Night. Bit of junk now.


Edit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envisat#Space_safety

Edited by jmorgan on Saturday 11th July 06:47

Brilliant, thanks! That is absolutely spot on looking at Heavens Above - I missed it there yesterday because I clicked Satellites and missed the link to Envisat.

I can't get over how bright and clear it was with light still left in the sky. Another pass tonight so hopefully will get another chance...

[seany87]

Fantastic pass last night at midnight, clear sky for me and about 60 degrees up. Tried to get the girlfriend to look but she wasn't interested. Philistine! Next pass that good will be Sunday I believe.

[Eric Mc]

It's a good time of year for satellite spotting. The sun is never far below the horizon so many objects will remain illuminated right through the night.

[TheEnd]

Yea, I glanced out of the window last night, saw a dot and had to check if it was you-know-who.

Looks to be another decent pass tonight just after 11pm

Tue Aug 4, 9:31 PM 6 min 34° 10 above SW 10 above E  
Tue Aug 4, 11:07 PM 5 min 75° 10 above W 19 above E  
Wed Aug 5, 00:43 AM 1 min 22° 10 above W 22 above W  
Wed Aug 5, 10:14 PM 6 min 65° 10 above WSW 10 above E  
Wed Aug 5, 11:50 PM 3 min 68° 10 above W 68 above SW  
Thu Aug 6, 9:21 PM 6 min 52° 12 above WSW 10 above E  
Thu Aug 6, 10:57 PM 5 min 78° 10 above W 24 above E  
Fri Aug 7, 00:34 AM 1 min 17° 10 above W 17 above W  
Fri Aug 7, 10:04 PM 6 min 77° 10 above W 11 above E

[Mojocvh]

yes it was, the early rain cleaned the atmosphere nicely and the pass was dazzling,

[LastLight]

I was watching TV last night around 10.20 with the light off and curtains open and the brightness of it as it passed caught my peripheral vision. Missed the early part but got a really good view as it went overhead and crossed over to the east. I see the magnitude was -3.3 and it was one of the brighter passes I've seen, but not so bright or 'big' looking as the view of Envisat a couple of weeks ago.

[Eric Mc]

Not that rare an occurrence actually. A number of astronauts over the years have chatted to "radio hams". Back in 1983, Owen Garriott brought a small shortwave transceiver into space on the Space Shuttle and conducted a number of calls to radio hams as he orbited the earth. I remember one of his chats to an Irish enthusiast being shown on RTE Television.

[julianm]

Lovely pic of a double pass across the face of the sun from Germany - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[LastLight]

julianm said:

Lovely pic of a double pass across the face of the sun from Germany - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Excellent! But I always thought Sun spots were reallybig, yet they aren't much bigger than an over-sized satellite...

[dickymint]

Gutted!! Clouds likely to spoil an almost overhead and very bright pass today at 5:12 closely followed by Tim Peake playing catch up.

[jmorgan]

I have seen the chase before (shuttle) and Progress, this crossed my mind but so far all I see is rain.

[Eric Mc]

That would be great to see. Pity about the weather.

[RosscoPCole]

Grrr the NASA website has crashed on my phone. Is the ISS passing over the UK at just before 4.45. It is clear on the south coast today and will be the first opportunity to see it in ages.

[TheEnd]

http://space.channel4.com/tracker/

Next pass in about 30 mins

[RosscoPCole]

Watched the pass with my eight year old daughter. She loved that she was waving at Tim Peake and she shouted 'Merry Christmas' to him. Though she was concerned that Santa might find it difficult to deliver presents to the space station. I told her that a special rocket arrived yesterday with all his presents onboard. This reassured her greatly.
Merry Christmas to all those aboard the ISS.

[jmorgan]

Caught a good one this am. Forgot about it, looked up and very surprised to have a clear sky and there Tim was, waving.

[Eric Mc]

Completely fogged out here in the south.

[jmorgan]

It was a nice change to see what is above the clouds for a change, been a while. The moon and venus close by to boot but could not make out Catalina. Sun coming up.

[chevy55]

I actually finally got to see it this morning, I assume it was the space station, straight overhead (London) W-E at 5.55am in the first clear sky I've seen for weeks.