Bright star visible, is it the Space Station?

[RichB]

There is a very bright object visible in the sky looking south west at about 35 deg above the horizon for the last week or so. I wondered if it's the International Space Station? I've just had a look and it's so bright I am sure I can see giant wings on it through my binoculars

[Jasandjules]

Venus?

[Pupp]

Jupiter

[RichB]

Don't look like a planet to me, are you sure?

[colonel c]

Uranus.

[timbob]

It's Venus.

Check out http://www.stellarium.org/ - a real time "what's in the sky right now" program - pretty cool.

[mybrainhurts]

Moth..?

[Hedders]

If it is still there it is not the space station . HTH

[Simpo Two]

Yep, the space station orbits.

[driverrob]

A bright object in the sky visible before any stars is usually Venus. The space station is not so bright and moves across the sky pretty fast.

[srebbe64]

It's Venus - it's particularly bright at the moment.

If the space station has stopped moving then we should all don our hard hats!

[RichB]

srebbe64 said:

It's Venus - it's particularly bright at the moment.

If the space station has stopped moving then we should all don our hard hats!

OK I'll take your word for it that it's Venus but it's not so daft to think it could be the Space Station, it could be in the same place for a long time surely? I thought that's what a geo-stationary orbit means? Always over the same spot, like the Astra satellite for TV?

[tonyvid]

RichB said:

srebbe64 said:

It's Venus - it's particularly bright at the moment.

If the space station has stopped moving then we should all don our hard hats!

OK I'll take your word for it that it's Venus but it's not so daft to think it could be the Space Station, it could be in the same place for a long time surely? I thought that's what a geo-stationary orbit means? Always over the same spot, like the Astra satellite for TV?

Geo stationary does mean just that but they are positioned abour 36,000km away to keep them in the same position. The ISS is about 200ish miles up(it varies a bit) so needs to bomb around at 17k mph to stop falling in your garden. It is Venus and is quite amazingly bright at the moment.

[RichB]

Well thanks chaps, I like to know these things, I'll go have another look through my 'noculars.

I remember a bout 8 or 9 years ago seeing the Bob Hailey Commet for a few days, I'm always looking at the stars but never really know what I'm looking at

[Simpo Two]

RichB said:

I remember a bout 8 or 9 years ago seeing the Bob Hailey Commet for a few days, I'm always looking at the stars but never really know what I'm looking at

Evidently! Just call them 'stars' and move along

[moleamol]

RichB said:

Well thanks chaps, I like to know these things, I'll go have another look through my 'noculars.

I remember a bout 8 or 9 years ago seeing the Bob Hailey Commet for a few days, I'm always looking at the stars but never really know what I'm looking at

The space station orbits the Earth once every 91 minutes so when you do see it it will be moving pretty fast.

If you are out looking round with binoculars have a look for the Pleiades constellation, looks brilliant through binoculars, a bit like a smudge to the naked eye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_(star_cluste...

[renmure]

timbob said:

It's Venus.

Check out http://www.stellarium.org/ - a real time "what's in the sky right now" program - pretty cool.

Great Program.
Hours of fun ahead. Many thanks

[central]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[jimothy]

driverrob said:

A bright object in the sky visible before any stars is usually Venus. The space station is not so bright and moves across the sky pretty fast.

And flashes red and green lights. Was watching it in Zambia last November with binoculars - could see the lights, but nothing else. Amazing to watch.

[srebbe64]

RichB said:

Well thanks chaps, I like to know these things, I'll go have another look through my 'noculars.

I remember a bout 8 or 9 years ago seeing the Bob Hailey Commet for a few days, I'm always looking at the stars but never really know what I'm looking at

Evidently this is true. Neither of those bodies are stars. One is a planet and the other is a comet - and neither is a space station in geostationary orbit.