Shuttle Launch Visible from Ireland Tonight

gary82

Cloud cover wasn't great for me for the shuttle. Saw it alright but it didn't photo well at all. Interestingly the glow off the shuttle seemed to orange up the clouds as it passed - didn't come up like that on test shots just before...



Caught a couple of better shots of the Internation Space Station then 20mins later though...

gary82

celticsibh wrote: »

The shuttle passed at approx 0050. It wasn't very bright.

Could you still see the two sections? Or will we not see that anymore?

jumpguy

It was far too low on the horizon to see.

jumpguy wrote: »

EDIT: Jammydodger, quick question for ya, the next ISS pass is at 1:15, how long a wait d'you think it'll be until the shuttle passes after it? Would be super seeing it twice in one night.

It passed just there (but out of view). Look here and you'll see. Depending on what way you look at it, it's either just a bit infront of the ISS, or it's a long long way behind.

Edit: I saw another very unusual thing. It was a satellite, moving ~E - ~W, and it flashed periodically. I've never seen a satellite flashing periodically before (perhaps once every 3 seconds). And it certainly wasn't an aeroplane. Any idea, anybody?

Ostrom

gary82 wrote: »

Could you still see the two sections? Or will we not see that anymore?

Went out for a look but didnt catch anything, anyone else see anything?

Hadouken!!

jumpguy wrote: »

It's not mine! :P Direct all your love and attention to lostexpectation for it please!

lol, you could have stolen all the glory for yourself!!

celticsibh

No, you will only see it as one bright light moving across the sky from now. What we saw earlier, we will only c once as the orange light was the fuel tank falling away. That will burn up in the atmosphere.

BoardsRanger

Any chance someone can help me with, no doubt, a stupid question- the orange light of the fuel tank- i presume this was already detached from the shuttle when you could see it over ireland? If so, why didnt it drop into the atlantic at that stage?

Ostrom

BoardsRanger wrote: »

Any chance someone can help me with, no doubt, a stupid question- the orange light of the fuel tank- i presume this was already detached from the shuttle when you could see it over ireland? If so, why didnt it drop into the atlantic at that stage?

By the time they release it, it is sustaining its own rapidly decaying orbit. It continues on its own calculated trajectory; we just happened to catch it shortly after separation when it was close to the orbiter

BoardsRanger

BoardsRanger wrote: »

Any chance someone can help me with, no doubt, a stupid question- the orange light of the fuel tank- i presume this was already detached from the shuttle when you could see it over ireland? If so, why didnt it drop into the atlantic at that stage?

It orbits once or so and eventually (and precisely) drops into the Pacific Ocean. It's reused in future Shuttle missions.

Calibos

gary82 wrote: »

Could you still see the two sections? Or will we not see that anymore?

Burnt up in the Atmosphere at this stage.
We won't see it again for the rest of this Mission. What'll be interesting to look for over the next few days will be the Shuttle catching up with the International Space station and following it across the sky..

However....

It turns out that the timing of the next Shuttle Launch in August (assuming it isn't pushed back) might mean we will get to see the same thing again next month. ie. There was never a shuttle launch visible from Ireland till 2008. Now we might get to see two in the space of a few weeks in '09!!

Captain Chaos

BoardsRanger wrote: »

Any chance someone can help me with, no doubt, a stupid question- the orange light of the fuel tank- i presume this was already detached from the shuttle when you could see it over ireland? If so, why didnt it drop into the atlantic at that stage?

Because it was already in space and doing 17,000mph the same as the shuttle, the thin atmosphere drag will slow the tank down and then it will re-enter and burn up.

BoardsRanger

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

It orbits once or so and eventually (and precisely) drops into the Pacific Ocean. It's reused in future Shuttle missions.

So just to clarify- when i saw it tonight from the dublin mountains, the fuel tank had already detached but was travelling on its own orbit?

Ostrom

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

It orbits once or so and eventually (and precisely) drops into the Pacific Ocean. It's reused in future Shuttle missions.

Doesn't the external tank burn up? I thought it was just the solid rocket boosters that were recycled?

BoardsRanger

BoardsRanger wrote: »

So just to clarify- when i saw it tonight from the dublin mountains, the duel tank had already detached but was travelling on its own orbit?

Yah, as efla said, it's in its own rapidly decaying orbit. It'll orbit once (or maybe twice, I'm not sure) and drop back into the Pacific ocean.

efla wrote:

Doesn't the external tank burn up? I thought it was just the solid rocket boosters that were recycled?

Actually, you're right. I completely mixed the two up!

refusetolose

is it possible to film the fuel tanks splashin into the ocean?

celticsibh

Seen as the SS is travelling faster than the ISS to catch up with it, obviously the time in between will get shorter and shorter, so that's why it was around a little quicker.

BoardsRanger

Cheers guys- got it straight in my head now! What a sight from the mountains to watch.

Ricky91t

Saw nothing here.

Ostrom

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Yah, as efla said, it's in its own rapidly decaying orbit. It'll orbit once (or maybe twice, I'm not sure) and drop back into the Pacific ocean.



Actually, you're right. I completely mixed the two up!

Must be a sight if you're in the right place

jumpguy

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

It was far too low on the horizon to see.



It passed just there (but out of view). Look here and you'll see. Depending on what way you look at it, it's either just a bit infront of the ISS, or it's a long long way behind.

Edit: I saw another very unusual thing. It was a satellite, moving ~E - ~W, and it flashed periodically. I've never seen a satellite flashing periodically before (perhaps once every 3 seconds). And it certainly wasn't an aeroplane. Any idea, anybody?

Tomorrow at 10:54PM the ISS is making a bright (-3.4) pass. The shuttle will be closer then I assume, so will it just be a matter of waiting and watching the same orbit?



ALSO, when anyone was looking East tonight for the shuttle, did they spot another satellite (it appeared to be going North-South, or roughly that way). I spotted it in my bino's and it nearly gave me a panic attack.

Ostrom

jumpguy wrote: »

Tomorrow at 10:54PM the ISS is making a bright (-3.4) pass. The shuttle will be closer then I assume, so will it just be a matter of waiting and watching the same orbit?



ALSO, when anyone was looking East tonight for the shuttle, did they spot another satellite (it appeared to be going North-South, or roughly that way). I spotted it in my bino's and it nearly gave me a panic attack.

Yes I saw it too. Nothing made sense for a few seconds

Captain Chaos

efla wrote: »

Doesn't the external tank burn up? I thought it was just the solid rocket boosters that were recycled?

Thats what I thought too. The SRBs drop off early enough and I think they have chutes to slow them down so they don't get wrecked. The tank has to re-enter and smash into the ocean without a dent?? Not too sure.

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Tomorrow at 10:54PM the ISS is making a bright (-3.4) pass. The shuttle will be closer then I assume, so will it just be a matter of waiting and watching the same orbit?

Yah, it'll be a few minutes behind it from what I've seen (I assume it will anyway, I've never seen this before).

Bodan

efla wrote: »

Went out for a look but didnt catch anything, anyone else see anything?

my bad, it wasn't high enough to see during the last pass. it was just over half the altitude of the ISS meaning its visibility is greatly reduced compared to the Space station.

BlackandGold

Can somebody explain to me, how would we get to see the shuttle pass again? I didn't get to see it at all but how is it possible it passes over again? Along with the ISS? Explain these Sciency things to me - I'm useless but curious!

Ricky91t

Quick questions,As they're orbiting at 17,000 mph and take's about 90 mins to orbit,How are they going to catch up with maximum of 150 mph difference,


Also where the hell is the rocket going on that map??

Sponge Bob

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

I've never seen a satellite flashing periodically before (perhaps once every 3 seconds). And it certainly wasn't an aeroplane. Any idea, anybody?

The Okean O Rocket used to flash like mad some years back , it was tumbling rapidly in space . Scared the bejaysus out of some people with it a few times .

Ostrom

BlackandGold wrote: »

Can somebody explain to me, how would we get to see the shuttle pass again? I didn't get to see it at all but how is it possible it passes over again? Along with the ISS? Explain these Sciency things to me - I'm useless but curious!

They are 'fixed' in orbit around earth. The shuttle speeds around earth at a relatively constant altitude of 350km. The ISS passes within view about twice per day, check out wiki for some basic info, and the nasa website. The shuttle needs to trail behind the ISS for a few hours before docking, and by using the predictions for ISS viewing, we may also get lucky and see the shuttle trailing faintly behind.

Go here and watch the map as it updates to get some sense of how it moves

Bodan

BlackandGold wrote: »

Can somebody explain to me, how would we get to see the shuttle pass again? I didn't get to see it at all but how is it possible it passes over again? Along with the ISS? Explain these Sciency things to me - I'm useless but curious!

It takes roughly 95 minutes for the ISS or space shuttle to do a full rotation of the earth.

Gremlin

Amazing sight. Now the second time I've seen this. (May 2008 was the first)

Here's my short video of proceedings. Great to see so many ppl got to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-9Xp9Aa8PA