Author Topic: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.  (Read 4451 times)

Offline DiggyCoxwell

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I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« on: 11/12/2009 10:00 pm »
   Last night I saw the ISS drift by the planet Jupiter.
I wasn't impressed.
Jupiter was clearly brighter than the ISS regardless
of the sun angles.

NASA made extraordinary promises before ISS assembly began,
claiming that the ISS, when completed, would be as bright or brighter than Venus.
That was clearly not the case last night, even though the ISS is virtually complete, with only a few more modules to add.

 

Offline Namechange User

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #1 on: 11/12/2009 10:03 pm »
Sorry.

I guess you could ask for a refund....
Enjoying viewing the forum a little better now by filtering certain users.

Online ugordan

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #2 on: 11/12/2009 10:03 pm »
Obviously, NASA has failed to make ISS meet one of the most important requirements - that of appearing brighter than Jupiter in all lighting conditions.

Offline nathan.moeller

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #3 on: 11/12/2009 10:21 pm »
   Last night I saw the ISS drift by the planet Jupiter.
I wasn't impressed.
Jupiter was clearly brighter than the ISS regardless
of the sun angles.

NASA made extraordinary promises before ISS assembly began,
claiming that the ISS, when completed, would be as bright or brighter than Venus.
That was clearly not the case last night, even though the ISS is virtually complete, with only a few more modules to add.

 


What kind of conditions did you have?  Was it cloudy?  Hazy?  Was the moon out?  How high did the station get?  How much sunlight was there?  All of these must be considered when finding out what you should expect on a viewing pass.

And in any case - I'm with OV-106 on this one.
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Online floron

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #4 on: 11/12/2009 10:34 pm »
try getting closer?

Online jabe

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #5 on: 11/12/2009 10:45 pm »
Maybe it just needs a coat of wax..I'll head up and give it a buff shine :)

Offline robertross

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #6 on: 11/12/2009 10:54 pm »
Sorry.

I guess you could ask for a refund....

lmao...good one.

Offline Paul Adams

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #7 on: 11/12/2009 10:56 pm »
You just have not seen a really bright pass yet. Sometimes it is spectacular and even though it is only a bright 'spot', it changes from a round dot to a discernable square.

Keep looking at different passes, its worth it.

Have you checked www.heavens-above.com , it will tell you when each pass is and how bright it will be.

Paul
It's all in the data.

Offline SpacexULA

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #8 on: 11/13/2009 12:57 am »
Obviously, NASA has failed to make ISS meet one of the most important requirements - that of appearing brighter than Jupiter in all lighting conditions.

They could go back to 3 crew, and put a bunch of flashing LEDs on the exterior.  The Japanese section is just SCREAMING for bright lights flashing to a dance beat.

The EU section can can be painted pink, Russian Red, and the US section could police search lights.

Seriously, the way you rate science programs is by how bright they are? 

No Bucks no Buck Rogers, but at least Flexible path gets you Twiki.

Offline drewc

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #9 on: 11/13/2009 01:26 am »
This thread made my day  :D
You probably heard me laugh from all the way over here in NZ

Offline RafaelCE

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #10 on: 11/13/2009 01:45 am »
Also bear in mind that a number of modules were cut through the years.

It is still stunning on a hot summer night above 50 degreees, at least here at home.
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Offline Andrewwski

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #11 on: 11/13/2009 03:14 am »
I've seen the ISS get to magnitude -3.8.  I think Venus can get down to -4.4 but -3.8 is pretty damn impressive when you see it.
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Offline Hungry4info3

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #12 on: 11/13/2009 05:38 am »
I simply can't comprehend watching the ISS fly over and not being impressed. I've watched it dozens of time, it never gets old. Sure some passes aren't as bright, but it's still fun. Especially with the shuttle in close proximity.

Offline robertross

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #13 on: 11/13/2009 03:13 pm »
I simply can't comprehend watching the ISS fly over and not being impressed. I've watched it dozens of time, it never gets old. Sure some passes aren't as bright, but it's still fun. Especially with the shuttle in close proximity.

Agreed.

Offline William Barton

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Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #14 on: 11/13/2009 03:36 pm »
I'd be curious about the angle subtended by ISS compared to Jupiter at that viewing. Jupiter is always "full" when seen from Earth (whereas a sharp-eyed person can make out Venus' phases). ISS may have been partly shadowing itself, plus it's not "solid" (there are holes your line of sight can pass through). Does anyone know the albedo of the solar panels? It seems like solar panels should have a low albedo, but I don't know if that's true. The seeming comes from thinking you can't extract energy from reflected photons. (I will actually have to go look up the photoelectric effect now...)

Online Chris Bergin

Re: I wasn't impressed by the ISS.
« Reply #15 on: 11/13/2009 03:45 pm »

NASA made extraordinary promises before ISS assembly began,
claiming that the ISS, when completed, would be as bright or brighter than Venus.
That was clearly not the case last night, even though the ISS is virtually complete, with only a few more modules to add.


WTF?

Maybe I missed a memo, but I always thought the ISS was about what it does, not "how bright a magnitude it is in the sky". If they wanted to please geeks with telescopes, maybe they should have just launched a boat load of arrays.

If you honestly think NASA made "promises" about how bright it would be, as some sort of mission statement to people with cameras and way too much spare time on their hands, then you're being utterly stupid.

Thread locked for wasting two minutes of my time.
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