Thursday night sightings time for Shuttle and ISS

decies

By my reckoning ISS sighting at 10-29pm tonight
Shuttle at 10-58pm
Is this correct your man from astronamy ireland said 11-30 onwards

Beeker

decies wrote: »

By my reckoning ISS sighting at 10-29pm tonight
Shuttle at 10-58pm
Is this correct your man from astronamy ireland said 11-30 onwards

You are correct!

squonk

I'm surprised your man from AI didn't mention a time but invited people to call 1550-QCK-BUCK for the info instead

fryup

is there any point in getting a telescope for these sightings??

Beeker

fryup wrote: »

is there any point in getting a telescope for these sightings??

No it will still only be a bright dot!

fryup

Beeker wrote: »

No it will still only be a bright dot!

and the fact its travelling at speed??

Beeker

fryup wrote: »

and the fact its travelling at speed??

True its travelling 17500mph

squonk

You can use a telescope to look at the ISS if the scope has a computer controlled drive. You can either update the info used by the telescope's controller or, more conveniently, use a software package like Starry Night Pro to guide the scope from your laptop. I've never done it myself but I'd imagine that trying to physically look through the scope while it's tracking the ISS could be fairly uncomfortable. I'd be more inclined to pop a camera on the scope and take a photo, or some video if I was doing that. It's possible but might not be worth it for only two minutes viewing. If you're out observing anyway, it might be worth trying for fun.

Dusty87

How long wil this be visible tonight for guys? Wil it just be for like a minute like last night. I dont know much about physics etc but i presume as the earth is spinning we wont see it for too long. Also is it docking at the ISS tonight?

squonk

visit http://www.heavens-above.com and set up your location. That'll give you all the information you need for viewing times for the ISS/Shuttle and how long each pass takes.

Ostrom

Dusty87 wrote: »

How long wil this be visible tonight for guys? Wil it just be for like a minute like last night. I dont know much about physics etc but i presume as the earth is spinning we wont see it for too long. Also is it docking at the ISS tonight?

At the website above, you will see three times in the display, under 10 day predictions the the ISS. The first tells you when the station appears on your horizon, and gives a set of directions.

So, tonights pass begins at 22:29:17, appearing 10 degrees above the horizon (altitude), in the West (Azimuth). Click on the date for the star chart, and you will see that it passes almost directly overhead.

The time in the next column is the maximum time, at 22:32:11, 59 degrees above the horizon, to the south. The following time is the end time.

The 'Mag' figure is the apparent magnitude under optimum conditions (click on the mag tab for an explanation, the lower, the brighter).


Any sign of a possible sticky like jammydodger suggested?

Slow Motion

Dusty87 wrote: »

How long wil this be visible tonight for guys? Wil it just be for like a minute like last night. I dont know much about physics etc but i presume as the earth is spinning we wont see it for too long. Also is it docking at the ISS tonight?

6 minutes from 22:29:20 to 22:35:08

http://www.heavens-above.com/gtrack.asp?date=40010.8973928009&lat=53.333&lng=-6.250&alt=9&loc=Dublin&TZ=GMT&satid=25544

ISS Passes:

• 22:29 to 22:35; max. brightness @: ~22:32; W to ESE; max. alt.: ~65 degrees (~6 stacked fists high at arms length); max. mag.: -3.3 (very bright).
• 00:04 to 00:08; max. brightness @: ~00:07; W to SSW; max. alt.: ~30 degrees (~3 stacked fists high at arms length); max. mag.: -2.4 (pretty bright).

Space Shuttle Passes:

• 22:58 to 23:08; max. brightness: ~23:00; W to ESE; max. alt.: ~46 degrees (5 stacked fists at arms length); max. mag.: -1.8 (fairly bright).

Once you see the first ISS pass go out of view at ~ 22:35, the Space Shuttle will be coming into view ~23 minutes later. It'll be rising in the exact same spot as the ISS did, it'll be setting in the exact same spot as the ISS did, and it'll travel the exact same route as the ISS did.

To view the orbits, go here.

(It'd be brilliant if we could get the above info. into an announcement, mods?)

ncarr

squonk wrote: »

I'm surprised your man from AI didn't mention a time but invited people to call 1550-QCK-BUCK for the info instead

"Heaven Above" is a fantastic site and it's free.If you go to Astronomy Ireland I think they want you to phone a premium line for the information. It's all free in "Heavens Above"

Here's some info. for people who want to see what the weather conditions will be like. It's updated every 30 minutes or so. BBC Weather is pretty good, too. It's predicting a nice clear patch sweeping over the country from 21:00 onwards. Looks like people in both the West and South will be the lucky ones tonight.

Iancar29

Anyone know a good place to go to hav a good view of the sky IN THE
DUBLIN/WICKLOW AREA??????????????????????????????????????

Weather's not lookin good for 2nite but ya never know!

phonypony

squonk wrote: »

I'm surprised your man from AI didn't mention a time but invited people to call 1550-QCK-BUCK for the info instead

Yeah, that is shameful. Enticing people into the hobby to make a few quid from a phone service selling you the info NASA will provide for free. Its like paying for a bus timetable...

squonk

Iancar29 wrote: »

Anyone know a good place to go to hav a good view of the sky IN THE
DUBLIN/WICKLOW AREA??????????????????????????????????????

Weather's not lookin good for 2nite but ya never know!

You don't need to go to that sort of trouble. The Shuttle & ISS are very bright objects so you'll have no trouble seeing them even with streetlights around. If you can find a sheltered area where lights aren't directly shining in your field of view, then all the better. Places like a back garden with a good southerly view are good. If you do get out into the country, the objects are amazingly bright then. If in general you are looking for a good spot, you could always try the Phoenix park in Dublin itself.

cambridge7

This is a good site for real live tracking of Endeavour, ISS and other sats. www.n2yo.com

Hadouken!!

Serious rain out my way earlier but has settled down now. Still pretty much full cloud cover though so not looking good for tonight

Shows how lucky we were weather wise for last night though

jumpguy

Sat images of Met suggest anyone will have to be very lucky to see a pass. Virtually non-existant chance in the east, you'd need some serious luck in the midlands. The West is the best, and even then it ain't great. North is same as West. South is poor. I'll need some serious luck here in the south-west. What's visibility like at everyone else's location?

If we don't see the shuttle and station tonight, there's still a chance to see them for a night after seperation.

Yoda

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

ISS Passes:

• 22:29 to 22:35; max. brightness @: ~22:32; W to ESE; max. alt.: ~65 degrees (~6 stacked fists high at arms length); max. mag.: -3.3 (very bright).
• 00:04 to 00:08; max. brightness @: ~00:07; W to SSW; max. alt.: ~30 degrees (~3 stacked fists high at arms length); max. mag.: -2.4 (pretty bright).

Space Shuttle Passes:

• 22:58 to 23:08; max. brightness: ~23:00; W to ESE; max. alt.: ~46 degrees (5 stacked fists at arms length); max. mag.: -1.8 (fairly bright).

I love the stacked fists.... I guess from the south side of Clew Bay I'll have to adjust for Croagh Patrick...

Stargate

Hadouken!! wrote: »

Serious rain out my way earlier but has settled down now. Still pretty much full cloud cover though so not looking good for tonight

Shows how lucky we were weather wise for last night though

Hadouken!! How are you?
wx here in Cork very overcast

heres a link which might be of some use to a few people to check wx conditions

http://www.irelandsweather.com/

Regards
Stargate

Stargate

Yoda wrote: »

I love the stacked fists.... I guess from the south side of Clew Bay I'll have to adjust for Croagh Patrick...

Hiya jumpguy

You must have been thinking along the same lines as myself

very dull and overcast here in Cork
Regards
Stargate

Dave!

F*cking clouds over Tallaght Any prospect of them p*ssing off?

BBC Weather gives a pretty good prediction for anybody in the West and Midlands. I'm right at the top of Lough Derg in that image, so it's saying it'll be relatively clear for me.

(Click on the map that it shows, and then from the drop down menu select British Isles, you can use the slide bar at the bottom to vary the time.)

jumpguy

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

BBC Weather gives a pretty good prediction for anybody in the West and Midlands. I'm right at the top of Lough Derg in that image, so it's saying it'll be relatively clear for me.

(Click on the map that it shows, and then from the drop down menu select British Isles, you can use the slide bar at the bottom to vary the time.)

Ahh thanks for that, looks like I'll be okay. Clouds are breaking abit here now

Ricky91t

Clear skies in Kerry,I hope they stay,Setting up my camera for a long exposure...

Test shot:Cloud free


If the ISS follows the same route as yesterday,Before shuttle launch it should go from bottom left of my camera frame to top right ish

draward

Seen it last night out or this world.
Tonight fecken rain

Stargate

Ricky91t

send that weather up here to me in Cork Please !!

nice foto by the way !

Stargate

Hal1

It doesn't look as clear as last night, and you can see more cloud cover pushing in from the S/SE here.