Space Station Spotting

[Beati Dogu]

I imagine it is rotating slowly. It's what's called a rotisserie roll (or barbeque roll), used to stop the sun heating up just one side of the spacecraft.

You can see how shiny it is in the photo above. It's just going to glint now and then as the sun is reflected off different surfaces.


Didn't see the Starlinks. Bit cloudy in parts.

[dickymint]

Due again 23:42 never seen a catch up before so fingers crossed.

[Easternlight]

Just had a good view over Lowestoft but couldn't see the chaser.

[dickymint]

Gutted, lovely ISS pass but nothing following - I'm assuming it follows more or less the same trajectory? Waited a good ten minutes after ISS!

[dickymint]

ash73 said:

It's getting closer - ISS tonight at 22:55, then HTV-9 at 23:06.

The latter not listed on meteorwatch, but worth a look.

[Beati Dogu]

ash73 said:

It's getting closer - ISS tonight at 22:55, then HTV-9 at 23:06.

The latter not listed on meteorwatch, but worth a look.

The discarded Cygnus NG13 cargo ship is slightly (2 minutes) behind the HTV-9 from what I can gather .

It's getting lower all the time, so should hopefully be visible too.

Both spacecraft are the same 14 ft diameter, but Cygnus is shorter at 21 ft.

[AJLintern]

Saw a good pass tonight, and the HTV-9 following a few minutes later. As it passed overhead there was a bright flash as the sun caught it

[Beati Dogu]

I saw the ISS, but the clouds obscured anything else, unfortunately.

[MXRod]

Tonight over southern UK 1007 pm
hopefully clear skys

[Beati Dogu]

It looking a lot more promising today here in Devon. Lovely blue skies currently.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule is set lo launch on Wednesday at 9.33 pm UK time and should be over the UK 15 minutes later. I’d really love to catch a glimpse of that.

It’s going to take about 20 hours to meet up with the ISS, so there will be more than one opportunity.

The weather forecast is only about 40% favourable currently though. Concerns about cumulus clouds (risk of lightning strikes) and thunderstorms.

If it does get called off, the back up date will be about an hour and a half earlier on Saturday.

[Beati Dogu]

I saw the ISS OK, but it was a bit too light for the other ships before it I think. Hopefully later.

Saw a couple of bats whizzing around though.

[Supernova190188]

Perfect viewing here of it!

[2 GKC]

Same here. Seemed a bit slower than when I saw it about a month ago

[Eric Mc]

SW the ISS and, a minute or so later, a fainter object following which I assume was the HTV.

[MiseryStreak]

Get a great view of the ISS at the moment from the hot tub as my garden runs east-west. Must remember to look out for the Dragon launch.

I can understand why astronomers are so pissed off about the Starlink satellites, they’re pretty much non-stop!

Why can’t they just paint them matt black and angle the PV arrays slightly away from the Earth?

Apparently one of the Starlink 2 satellites has an ‘experimental coating to reflect less light‘. Hmmmm...did matt black Hammerite not make the initial round?

[Easternlight]

Good view of the ISS and HTV-9 not far behind just now.

[Athlon]

Easternlight said:

Good view of the ISS and HTV-9 not far behind just now.

Yep, great pass oop North

[Beati Dogu]

Nice and clear that time. Last chance to see it really, before it docks at lunchtime on Monday,

[Eric Mc]

MiseryStreak said:

Get a great view of the ISS at the moment from the hot tub as my garden runs east-west. Must remember to look out for the Dragon launch.

I can understand why astronomers are so pissed off about the Starlink satellites, they’re pretty much non-stop!

Why can’t they just paint them matt black and angle the PV arrays slightly away from the Earth?

Apparently one of the Starlink 2 satellites has an ‘experimental coating to reflect less light‘. Hmmmm...did matt black Hammerite not make the initial round?

Covered in detail in another thread somewhere. Painting a satellite black is too simplistic a solution. Satellites need to have different coatings to control internal temperatures. Painting a satellite black would make it fail shortly after entering orbit.

[Beati Dogu]

They're going to use some kind of sun shade rather than just painting them black. The recently delayed launch was going to have some with this system.