Clear skies this evening to see the ISS?

hamster

Hey I have a perfect blue sky this morning (now 11:45 UT). If it holds out (I know I know....) until 17:45 this evening I'll get to see the ISS.

If you are out and about around at that time then look up for the Orion constellation.... the ISS will pass right through it with another satellite (Progress-M 51) coming 5 degrees behind it! It will be really easy to spot!

From Heavens above (I'm on the Irish south coast) it starts approx. 17:42 and finishes 6 mins later. But you should see it at its best for at least half that time. Here's hoping! Must check met.ie

Date Mag Starts Max. Altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
23 Jan -0.4 17:42:50 10 W 17:45:40 69 SW 17:48:47 10 ESE

Here's the shot from Starry Night: (the ISS is coming down right through Bellatrix... follow the red line).

Anyone else with good skies at the moment?

hamster

Okay, I checked the path from Heavens above and this is it (doesn't quite go through Bellatrix

Anyone going to try to see it?

hamster

Just an update.... still perfect skies from where I am and it's only a little over an hour to go (17:42) to see those 2 moving targets (2nd is the supply ship Progess-M 51). The current moon and sun positions are great markers where to look <just at the moment for a general direction>.

smoke.me.a.kipper

will look up when im out smoking on my break. im in waterford, and clear skies.

hamster

Wow! Did anyone see it? It was really bright. It was high in the sky overhead when I first noticed it. I watched it curve down through Orion and "slow" down and fade!! Woohoo! I didn't see the supply ship Progress-M 51 though.. but wow was it fast!

It was just dark enough! I was afraid I would not see it since only the first two stars of Orion (Betelguese and Bellatrix) were visible. A sign that the brighter evenings are going to make it hard to see it these times.

Anyone else?

smoke.me.a.kipper

didnt see a thing. went out for my smoke at right time, saw nothing. quite disapointed tbh.

hamster

smoke.me.a.kipper wrote:

didnt see a thing. went out for my smoke at right time, saw nothing. quite disapointed tbh.

sorry about Kipper....

Ok here is what I tried:

1. you saw moon? ok.
2. you saw 1 "star" under the moon about the length of a finger at arms length?
That was saturn. That was beside the event so to speak.

3. If you rotated slightly right (you may have seen two bright stars). At 17:47 (in space of 1min-30 secs) I saw 1 veeerry bright fat point move down thru those stars. That was the iss ! Good news... see it again at 17:20 tonight (but lower and to the right and dimmer).

Check out heavens-above.com for times. Again tomorrow and so on.

smoke.me.a.kipper

ok, cheers. would've found that, had i known!

hamster

Kipper, here is a scrshot to show maybe how close you were. See the moon? Do you remember which direction you were looking? The red line is the direction it finally came down by. It was fast. In this shot, the iss is at the end of the red line I put in.

It was my 1st time seeing this and it has put a spring in my step! I felt confident I would see it once I saw stars coming out that were dimmer than it (by magnitude) and that the target was moving. It helped also to know where the stars were to be.
At 18:00 I only saw the Moon. By 18:30 I saw the moon and saturn. (its under the moon in the pic) - I saw no other star at that time yet. By 18:35-18:40 I finally saw the two Orion stars I was referencing for. It was lucky it got dark in time. At 18:47 I saw it coming down.

smoke.me.a.kipper

ok, thanks for that!

it is something to see these kind of things though. i remember seeing Mir when i was younger. that was good.

hamster

Hey all,

Did anyone get to see any views of it since? It's has been cloudy and overcast every evening since last Monday for me.

Flukey

I didn't see it this week, but I did recently. It'll be gone from our skies for a while now. With Orion now coming out just after sunset I always find it particularly interesting trying to see a star appearing. We've all seen daylight and no stars and then night and there they are. But at some point they must actually first appear. In February, Orion, with all its bright stars, is prominently poisitioned to be seen appear as daylight fades. With my bedroom window facing south, I've often gone up to look out to try and see can I see Sirius and Rigel and Betelgeuse break through the fading light and start to shine. Even trying to predict exactly where they will appear is part of the game. You have to have a good idea of the time and the place to be looking, both of which change each evening, to get it.

The object is to actually see it starting to shine, not just to spot it soon after it appears. Sirius always appears first, being brighter and further east and closer to the darkness. Once you have that or see Rigel you can have a fair idea of where to look for the others as they appear. It is also a good way of testing your actual knowledge of the size of a constellation and where exactly to expect to see a particular star appear. We are used to seeing them together, but trying to judge where a familiar but as yet unseen star should be, isn't always easy. We are all interested in astronomy, but how often have you actually seen a star start to shine at the beginning of the night? Try it, it is a bit of fun and a good test of your knowledge of the size and position of constellations.

albertw

hamster wrote:

Okay, I checked the path from Heavens above and this is it (doesn't quite go through Bellatrix

Anyone going to try to see it?

calsky.com is slightly better for predicting passes close to stars imho.

Actually there is an IFAS observing cert on imaging the ISS transiting the Sun and Moon and pasing close to Jupiter, Saturn, Mars AND Venus being launched at the Connaguth Star Party tomorrow. I'll post details here once we update the challenge website.

Cheers,
~Al

hamster

Flukey wrote:

trying to predict exactly where they will appear is part of the game. You have to have a good idea of the time and the place to be looking, both of which change each evening, to get it.

The object is to actually see it starting to shine, not just to spot it soon after it appears. Sirius always appears first, being brighter and further east and closer to the darkness. Once you have that or see Rigel you can have a fair idea of where to look for the others as they appear. It is also a good way of testing your actual knowledge of the size of a constellation and where exactly to expect to see a particular star appear. We are used to seeing them together, but trying to judge where a familiar but as yet unseen star should be, isn't always easy. We are all interested in astronomy, but how often have you actually seen a star start to shine at the beginning of the night? Try it, it is a bit of fun and a good test of your knowledge of the size and position of constellations.

That was fun actually! Last Sunday evening when I came to look for Saturn close to moon I knew where to look and it was cool to see it appear right in front of your eyes! It just popped out. When it did it looked further away from the moon than I expected. Next was Betelgeuse... which was the same story. I was actually nervous I wouldn't see the ISS when Bellatrix was slow to come out... as I thought the sky wouldn't dim enough. The western part of the sky was out of the question. I didn't see Progress-M 51 though.

Actually looking for Jupiter in the E-SE in the morning is fun now. My window is also south facing (when in Dublin). I'm slowly see Orion shift eastward every night.

Still cloudy now though... maybe might see Jupiter creep up late tonight if clears up...

Flukey

I have a south facing bedroom too and I am up early these mornings, just after 6am. Jupiter is there shinging brightly, not far from Spica in Virgo, which is a little below it.


It has been too cloudy over the past few days to spot any stars appearing. It is meant to be getting colder towards the weekend, which could mean some clearer nights. Have fun star-spotting.

hamster

Anyone by the off chance see the ISS go by again close to Orion tonight at 20:14? It was really good. It's was dark too and it shone brighter than Saturn as it passed close by!

Watch out again for it tomorrow evening at 19:07 (you have a minute or so each way). It's a fast moving object. :eek:

It was a pleasant suprise since I wasn't expecting much tonight with all the cloudy weather we're getting and all.

hamster

With all this mild weather recently and the cloud and rain means that it has been impossible to spot the ISS since the last post. Anyone get a viewing? Next viewing tonight is at 20:50. The ISS flybys will be still happening nightly until on the 23rd of March but won't be happening again afterwards until May. Get a look if you can. Near the moon tonight.

hamster

Hey Good skies tonight!

Please try going out tonight at 20:13-20:18 and view the skies for the ISS. From waterford I will see it go through Rigel and pass close by Sirus. Let me know if anyone see it. Hope the clouds stay away for awhile. Fingers crossed!