Author Topic: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread  (Read 33086 times)

Online jacqmans

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #40 on: 06/10/2008 10:12 pm »
Space Weather News for June 10, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

DOUBLE FLYBY ALERT:  Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Wednesday morning, June 11th, at 7:42 am EDT.  This means many sky watchers will be able to see the two spaceships flying in tandem, separate but closely-spaced points of light, gliding among the stars on Wednesday night.  Double flybys will continue on Thursday the 12th and to a lesser extent on Friday the 13th, with Discovery returning to Earth on Saturday.  Southeastern parts of the United States (e.g., Miami and Atlanta) are favored with some particularly good apparitions.  Check our Simple Flybys tool to find out when you should look:  http://spaceweather.com/flybys/

Jacques :-)

Offline Andrewwski

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #41 on: 06/10/2008 11:28 pm »
Sightings are over here for the rest of the mission. :(  Caught my double pass before docking though.
« Last Edit: 06/10/2008 11:28 pm by Andrewwski »
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STS-125 DREAMS in HD!

Offline stockman

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #42 on: 06/10/2008 11:31 pm »
Yea I just did a check on my location and with one exception of a very low pass that probably won't be visible tomorrow night, I got nothing for several weeks now in Southern Ontario - oh well.
One Percent for Space!!!

Offline robertross

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #43 on: 06/11/2008 02:05 am »
Yea I just did a check on my location and with one exception of a very low pass that probably won't be visible tomorrow night, I got nothing for several weeks now in Southern Ontario - oh well.

I hear you...ugghh nothing here in Nova Scotia. I have absolutely no luck in seeing the little dot catching up to the big dot, or vice-versa.

Offline trlstyle

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #44 on: 06/11/2008 02:07 am »
It looks like I will have 3 solid, bright passes starting tomorrow!

http://spaceweather.com/flybys/search_results.php?zip=34234
Roger roll, Atlantis; Go at throttle up!

Offline trlstyle

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #45 on: 06/11/2008 04:59 pm »
Can someone tell me where i can find the diagrams of where STS-124 will be landing? I usually see them for several orbits but have never had a concrete place to get them. (i want to see if she will be over my house upon re-entry)
Roger roll, Atlantis; Go at throttle up!

Offline Jones36

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #46 on: 06/11/2008 08:05 pm »
I don't think the landing track has been released yet.

Offline stockman

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #47 on: 06/11/2008 11:35 pm »
Well its 7:28 pm EDT here in Southern Ontario and I had what you might term a REVERSE sighting.. I was watching the NASA  feed and they were doing a nice orbital pass with nothing but Earth shots - I managed to watch the ground track from the Coast of British Columbia, right across the prairies and right over my head in Southern Ontario. If anyone caught it, when they went over the great lakes in Ontario, right between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie was a beautiful clear view of the ground. So in essence, I could not see the shuttle/station pass overhead due to it still being daylight, but I could see myself FROM space (at least where I live) while watching the feed. If I knew how to do a screen capture using Media player I would paste it here. Regardless, it was quite cool being able to wave at myself on the TV feed... :)
One Percent for Space!!!

Offline Andrewwski

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #48 on: 06/12/2008 12:48 am »
Windows Media doesn't allow for screenshots (well actually you can PrintScreen the window if you disable hardware acceleration), but VLC is a much better media player with a screenshot tool.

Now what would be really cool is a sighting where you can see the station pass over and see the ground on the TV.  Obviously this can't really happen, but it'd be cool.  I guess there might be those times right around dusk where it might happen, I don't know.
NEW MUSIC VIDEO:
STS-125 DREAMS in HD!

Offline trlstyle

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #49 on: 06/12/2008 01:34 am »
BEAUTIFUL and BRIGHT pass tonight for South Florida. One of the brightest i have seen, and sure enough the lady was trailing right behind the ISS! It is incredible to see them one in front of the other moving so precisely in tandem!
Roger roll, Atlantis; Go at throttle up!

Offline astrobrian

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #50 on: 06/12/2008 03:12 am »
First off, Mother nature owes me,  the last few nights have been clear, but windy, so tonight the two space birds chasing each other, I had a few great shots, but the wind shaking the lens just enough to ruin the shots, so this is the only one i felt worth posting as they were leaving into orbital night.
the other 2 shots were from last night, which came out awesome
« Last Edit: 06/12/2008 03:19 am by astrobrian »

Online Thorny

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #51 on: 06/12/2008 03:23 am »
Here is a shot I took of ISS and Discovery passing over San Angelo, Texas tonight...

Offline hanschristian

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #52 on: 06/12/2008 03:41 am »
to all ground observers...

are there any special techniques for observing the ISS and/or the Shuttle using a telescope?

I have a 3-4 inch refractor here, and have tried spotting the ISS with it when any opportunity arrived... but since that thing moves so quick, I'm having difficulty even putting my scope's view to the orbit path of the station... and when I sometimes got lucky, its even harder to keep the station in my field of view...

the only detail I recalled seeing are the P-6 truss SAWs (back when the ISS was still in its post STS-113 config)
The Sky is NOT the Limit...

Offline astrobrian

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #53 on: 06/12/2008 04:01 am »
hans - with a telescope, i have tried, good luck but it is really hard
thorny - i am jealous, that is the quality mine would have been :)  great shot

Offline Bubbinski

Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #54 on: 06/12/2008 05:09 am »
I saw ISS through my Dob a few days ago, it zipped through my field of view pretty quickly and I, too, found it hard to keep up.

You could possibly use a telescope with a GOTO controller and a clock drive, the Meade Autostar, I understand has this capability. 
I'll even excitedly look forward to "flags and footprints" and suborbital missions. Just fly...somewhere.

Offline SpaceNutz SA

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #55 on: 06/12/2008 06:10 am »
Windows Media doesn't allow for screenshots (well actually you can PrintScreen the window if you disable hardware acceleration), but VLC is a much better media player with a screenshot tool.

Now what would be really cool is a sighting where you can see the station pass over and see the ground on the TV.  Obviously this can't really happen, but it'd be cool.  I guess there might be those times right around dusk where it might happen, I don't know.

There's a great piece of software called SnagIt (Google it).

Pause the live feed and snap away.
"Lets not make things worse by guessing" - Gene Kranz - Apollo 13 Flight Director

Offline satcomuk

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #56 on: 06/12/2008 05:05 pm »
Both ISS and Discovery seen in daylight an hour ago from the UK.The sun was 37 degrees above the horizon ( Also saw ISS one orbit earlier with the sun at 50 degrees )

The station was leading by about 26 seconds.....both craft were at the same elevation.
ISS has now resumed to regular flight mode  .

Images at

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transits/ISSSTSdaylight.gif

John
Wirral
UK

Offline stockman

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #57 on: 06/12/2008 10:26 pm »
Thank you to the people that pointed me to VLC... I am like a kid with a new toy now !!!!  The Shuttle had another decent pass just to the East of where I live and I managed to grab some screen shots - Not as good as the overhead pass yesterday but good enough.

Below are two pictures - the first is the raw snap and the second one I highlighted Lake Ontario on top, Lake Erie on the Bottom - The line joining them is the Niagara River (for reference Niagara Falls is roughly in the middle of that line) -And of course the black Dot along the Lakeshore is ME.... Its a bit hard to get Lake Erie exact as it was a bit cloudy today and it obscures a bit but I think its close enough for illustration

« Last Edit: 06/13/2008 01:43 am by stockman »
One Percent for Space!!!

Offline hanschristian

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #58 on: 06/14/2008 02:31 am »
hans - with a telescope, i have tried, good luck but it is really hard


Ah I see...

Ok I'll just try then!!!
The Sky is NOT the Limit...

Offline Andrewwski

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Re: STS-124: Discovery and ISS Sightings Thread
« Reply #59 on: 06/14/2008 02:39 am »
Awesome stockman.  I'm on there too then (Buffalo).
NEW MUSIC VIDEO:
STS-125 DREAMS in HD!

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