Author Topic: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread  (Read 33084 times)

Offline daj24

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #20 on: 06/06/2008 06:04 pm »
I had partially cloudy conditions last night but had half the sky clear.  The pass was a long and almost directly overhead for a change.  Lately the passes have been short northerly and westerly arcs. It was amazing how much brighter it was with the JPL and orbiter docked/attached.  Seemed to be as bright as Jupiter.  Probably wishfull thinking as Jupiter is now about -2.5 or so.  Orbitron predicted -1.5 but does anyone know if it takes in effect the amount of area that the ISS has now?
"You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky. You know we've got to win" D. Fagen

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #21 on: 06/06/2008 06:16 pm »
I had no chance of seeing the recent evening passes over the UK due to cloudy conditions.....but yesterday decided to have a look at the station in daylight

At a range of just short of 400km , imaging it wasn't easy , especially as it was not visible , even through the viewfinder . So it was a matter of zoning in on a pinpoint in the sky and waiting for the target to pass by !
FOV was about 6 arc minutes.

You can see the result at
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transits/daylight.html

John



Very nice John. Know of any decent passes coming up for the north? (York).
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Offline satcomuk

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #22 on: 06/06/2008 06:21 pm »
Hi Chris

There are good daylight passes due over the next few days , early evening, late afternoon.
Best way to check is by using Calsky.com and selecting the "invisible passes " feature  for the station.
It lists all the daylight passes giving viewing data etc.

John

Offline rocketguy101

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #23 on: 06/07/2008 04:14 am »
I just saw it!! On a lark I checked on NASA's site to find when the next sighting would be, and it was coming up in about 5 minutes.  So I ran outside to get my night vision, sky was clear, and by golly there it came!  I haven't seen it in awhile, boy is it bright now!
David

Offline Lee Jay

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #24 on: 06/07/2008 04:45 am »
When it comes to imaging ISS, I'm a rank novice.  But this was last-night's pass, and the best I've done so far.

Offline zappafrank

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #25 on: 06/07/2008 05:08 am »
We have a -2.3 pass tomorrow in PHX and on Monday horizon to horizon pass.

If I had clear access to the horizon, I'd set the Meade up to track it.

Offline Jones36

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #26 on: 06/07/2008 06:02 am »
Tonight was probably the brightest it has been in a while over Middle Tennessee. Thank god for clear skies this mission. :)

Offline triddirt

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #27 on: 06/07/2008 10:26 am »
In Rochester, NY great West to South pass last night.. -0.8 Mag predicted.
Even in very light polluted skies ( I live next to airport) it was VERY bright..
Beautiful clear skies...

It was a pass into orbital night so we all got to see it fade to red/orange and wink out..

Probably the best pass I've seen to date...

Offline Jones36

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #28 on: 06/07/2008 02:05 pm »
2 of the 3 passes have been into orbital night, wondered what caused the variation in color. Pretty cool

Offline joshcryer

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #29 on: 06/07/2008 06:27 pm »
Saw my first sighting of it last night. -3.0 mag, lasted 2 minutes 22 seconds, here in Colorado Springs. Was a truly breathtaking sight. I'll be sure to catch the long transits from now on as long as it's clear.

While looking up into the heavens you sort of get transported there, but not really. It flies so fast that the stars in the background sort of pull you in and you can get a sense for how fast they are travelling.

I really can't think of anything wonderful to say about it, but it was amazing.

Offline Andrewwski

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #30 on: 06/08/2008 01:28 am »
Just saw by far the best pass I've ever seen in my life.

It was just about dusk...the sky was still blue, and red in the west where the sun had just set 15 minutes earlier.  H-A showed the pass at magnitude -2.3.  It was easily the brightest object in the sky at the time - twice as bright as any airplane - and took a long 6 minute pass almost straight overhead.

I pointed it out to my neighbors and they were amazed.
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Offline jmjawors

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #31 on: 06/08/2008 02:53 am »
Just saw my first pass in quite a while.  Seemed to last longer than the 2 minutes that nasa.gov told me it would be, though time does seem to slow down a bit when watching these kinds of things. 

Aside from the moon it was easily the brightest thing in the sky, losing out to airplanes only because of the size and relative closeness of those planes (the airport's not too far from here).  I was lucky enough to see one of those flashes when the sun hits the SAWs just right once, but no such luck this time.  That certainly didn't take away from the experience at all. 

And to think it will get brighter still!
.:: Matt ::.

Offline DeanG1967

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #32 on: 06/08/2008 04:20 am »
Eyewatering!  7 June at 2114 Vegas time.   I just watched the shuttle and station go ever overhead.  Now I have seen alot of things (flying with NVGs {Nigh Vision Goggles} fly overhead.  This was 1 hour after sunset and it was so bright I had to convince myself it wasn't a plane (no flashing lights).  Longer than wide, it was the station / shuttle.  Only one word to describe it...AWESOME!

Best of luck station and shuttle.


Offline zappafrank

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #33 on: 06/08/2008 04:30 am »
Just caught it here in PHX, very bright.

I got a 30 second pic of it, I should have made it a longer exposure.

Windy and dusty tonite not a good astronomy night.


Offline Paul Adams

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #34 on: 06/08/2008 04:31 am »
Hey DeanG1967,

My wife and I saw exactly the same from our back garden in the northwest of the valley!

If was a fantastic overpass tonight, especially with the moon and Mars as well.

Paul

Eyewatering!  7 June at 2114 Vegas time.   I just watched the shuttle and station go ever overhead.  Now I have seen alot of things (flying with NVGs {Nigh Vision Goggles} fly overhead.  This was 1 hour after sunset and it was so bright I had to convince myself it wasn't a plane (no flashing lights).  Longer than wide, it was the station / shuttle.  Only one word to describe it...AWESOME!

Best of luck station and shuttle.


It's all in the data.

Offline DeanG1967

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #35 on: 06/08/2008 04:39 am »
Hey DeanG1967,

My wife and I saw exactly the same from our back garden in the northwest of the valley!

If was a fantastic overpass tonight, especially with the moon and Mars as well.

Paul

Eyewatering!  7 June at 2114 Vegas time.   I just watched the shuttle and station go ever overhead.  Now I have seen alot of things (flying with NVGs {Nigh Vision Goggles} fly overhead.  This was 1 hour after sunset and it was so bright I had to convince myself it wasn't a plane (no flashing lights).  Longer than wide, it was the station / shuttle.  Only one word to describe it...AWESOME!

Best of luck station and shuttle.



Agree Paul.  That was a priceless pass there.

Dean

Offline nathan.moeller

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #36 on: 06/09/2008 01:40 am »
Just flew to the south of Montreal a few minutes ago.  About a three minute sighting.  Very nice!
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Offline ntschke

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #37 on: 06/09/2008 09:53 pm »
Here's a few more of the flyby last night.  That thing called the moon is in there...along with the ISS/Space Shuttle complex.  These were taken last night around 9:30 EDT (01:30 UTC).  Moon, Mars, and Saturn and even an airplane (#15-w).   I had to compensate for the brightness of the Moon compared to the usually bright (but no competition for the moon) ISS, so the moon is obviously washed out.  I broke these up into 3 shots instead of one long exposure to try to eliminate the moon washing out everything else.



« Last Edit: 06/09/2008 09:53 pm by ntschke »

Offline astrobrian

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #38 on: 06/09/2008 10:05 pm »
Had some great shots from last nights pass, but it was windy to the point that it was moving my tripod around, interesting yet not straight lines

Offline Jones36

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #39 on: 06/10/2008 02:04 am »
-2.1 pass tonight, brightest pass I've seen since I began sightings of missions the past couple of years.

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