Space Station Spotting

[callmedave]

silverthorn2151 said:

Bumping this as there are some nice passes over the next 10 days at quite sociable times.

Thanks! Am yet to catch it so will take a look.

[silverthorn2151]

Heavens-above.com is your friend in this.

Ask for clarification if you aren't sure what to do. Once seen you'll never tire of watching it.

Apologies if I am telling GMA how to suck.

[funkyrobot]

Haven't looked for a while. Need to load up HA again.

[dickymint]

funkyrobot said:

Haven't looked for a while. Need to load up HA again.

Have you tried ISS Spotter? Great phone app ...

ISS Spotter by Mediapilot
https://appsto.re/gb/os8mF.i

[Eric Mc]

Haven't been looking for it for quite a while. I'll have to start spotting again.

[dickymint]

Eric Mc said:

Haven't been looking for it for quite a while. I'll have to start spotting again.

I looked in two weeks back hoping to see if SpaceX Dragon would be visible but ...

[callmedave]

Spotted tonight about 8:20.
Light cloud cover but easily seen for a solid minute.

[Eric Mc]

Not a spotting alert as such but live coverage of the docking of a Cygnus supply craft to the ISS is starting in a few minutes.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/21/oa7_journal/

[dickymint]

11:55 ish clear skys should be a cracker if your up.

[thebraketester]

Blimey. That's the clearest I have ever seen it.

[S6PNJ]

Brilliantly clear sky tonight, great pass!

[MartG]

dickymint said:

11:55 ish clear skys should be a cracker if your up.

Thanks for the heads-up. Brightest pass I've seen in a while, and definitely the longest - still shining when I lost it behind the neighbours house, close to the Eastern horizon

[dickymint]

MartG said:

dickymint said:

11:55 ish clear skys should be a cracker if your up.

Thanks for the heads-up. Brightest pass I've seen in a while, and definitely the longest - still shining when I lost it behind the neighbours house, close to the Eastern horizon

Same here. Virtually horizon to horizon.

[Eric Mc]

We are approaching the longest day of the year. This means the sun is never far below the horizon from the UK, even late into the night. As a result, pace station passes will remain visible almost all the way across the sky. You also have a good chance of seeing many passes in one evening / morning. I saw three in one night on one occasion.

[LordLoveLength]

What amazes me is when I look at the live map as it goes over.
When it disappears at the horizon it's well over Poland!

[speedtwelve]

I find the 'it's over central Europe and I can still see it' thing amazing too.

I remember watching a live shuttle launch online, an ISS mission with a 51.6 degree inclination. It was dusk in the UK, and 20 mins after I watched it leave the pad at KSC I went outside and saw it pass overhead.

There was also one ISS pass I saw which had a closing Soyuz just visible a few seconds behind it.

[Eric Mc]

I saw that Shuttle launch as well. Getting the launch time and lighting conditions just right to be able the Shuttle over England as it climbed into orbit was a very rare occurrence.

[Eric Mc]

Good pass coming up at 2307 .

[thebraketester]

Yep another great pass. Followed it until it was way past Berlin. Amazing. 12:41am is the next one if anyone can be arsed to stay up.

[dickymint]

thebraketester said:

Yep another great pass. Followed it until it was way past Berlin. Amazing. 12:41am is the next one if anyone can be arsed to stay up.

I did and that was up there (literally) with the best I've seen