Author Topic: STS-120: Discovery Sightings (Read 40545 times)

zappafrank · « **Reply #20 on:** 10/26/2007 10:44 pm »

Get a load of this pass, a guy caught it with a Meade LX200 GPS on Tuesday.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2007/25oct07/Bret-Dahl1.jpg">

I'm still learning on my Meade, I hope to get pictures like this in the future.

Andrewwski · « **Reply #21 on:** 10/27/2007 12:09 am »

All I can say...wow!

There's a lot of people that photograph it with telescopes...but they never seem to be that clear!

KSC Engineer · « **Reply #22 on:** 10/27/2007 12:30 am »

very cool photo!

zappafrank · « **Reply #23 on:** 10/27/2007 12:56 am »

I have a Meade LX200GPS 10" and I can put in the orbital elements into the computer and have the scope track the station.

But....lots easier than it sounds, you need a clear horizon to visually acquire the sattellite and then you gotta hope that it enters your field of view, then you hit enter on the handheld computer and it tracks, but you still need to correct it.

I have yet to have success, mostly due to horizon issues.

alexan · « **Reply #24 on:** 10/30/2007 05:05 am »

I just registered to ask about this. On the past Sunday (Oct 28) night, around 1am, I saw a blinking star in the eastern sky. It was blinking different colors (green, blue, red, white...) and moving "up" from the horizon slowly. My location was Downtown Houston. Someone told me it might have been the ISS or a shuttle, so I just wanted to confirm. Initially I thought it was a UFO, as I'd seen video clips of similar objects reported as UFO sightings.

EDIT: it was in the east-southeastern sky to be precise

Jonesy STS · « **Reply #25 on:** 10/30/2007 11:09 am »

No UK passes at all on this mission?

Jorge · « **Reply #26 on:** 10/30/2007 01:00 pm »

Quote

alexan - 30/10/2007 1:05 AM

I just registered to ask about this. On the past Sunday (Oct 28) night, around 1am, I saw a blinking star in the eastern sky. It was blinking different colors (green, blue, red, white...) and moving "up" from the horizon slowly. My location was Downtown Houston. Someone told me it might have been the ISS or a shuttle, so I just wanted to confirm. Initially I thought it was a UFO, as I'd seen video clips of similar objects reported as UFO sightings.

EDIT: it was in the east-southeastern sky to be precise

If it was blinking or showed multiple colors, it could not have been ISS or the shuttle, or any spacecraft, for that matter.

Jeff Lerner · « **Reply #27 on:** 10/31/2007 11:21 am »

We're not having any good ISS passes over Toronto, Canada this mission. For those of you with good night views and with the P6 array mostly deployed now, how is Station looking ??

Zonarius · « **Reply #28 on:** 11/01/2007 01:12 am »

Don’t look now but the ISS/Shuttle is being followed

. I watched them pass over head last night and there was a second satellite behind and to one side about 5 degrees away. It was very dim and faded out very soon after I saw it and then flashed a couple of times. So it was probably an Iridium satellite.

If any one is interested I watched the pass from Perth in Western Australia about 8:20 PM WDST.

alexan · « **Reply #29 on:** 11/01/2007 06:07 am »

If anyone in Houston is awake they need to look up in the southeastern sky right now. I'm seeing the blinking star again, right now. I only have a point and shoot camera, and upon zooming it looks like the top and bottom part of this thing are rotating. I'm no spaceflight/satellite fanatic, so I have no idea what it is.

postalworker · « **Reply #30 on:** 11/01/2007 10:03 pm »

Most likely you are seeing the planet Venus which is rising in the east now. Very early, before sunrise and high up before the sun. When it is low on the horizon the atmosphere will cause the light to wiggle and break it up into colors. I've seen the "spinning" effect of the turbulent air many times. If it seems to hang in one place for several minutes [ie - doesn't move], it's got to be Venus. Satellites and the station/shuttle complex would more resemble a passing bright plane (with no blinking lights).

Thorny · « **Reply #31 on:** 11/01/2007 10:14 pm »

Venus doesn't blink. Point-objects like stars blink, but not planets like Venus, Mars, or Jupiter. And 1am is too early for Venus.

I believe he is seeing the star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, rising in the southeast a little after midnight.

Alexan, was there a neat row of three fairly bright stars pointing at it a little higher up in the sky? That's Orion's belt.

Mars is also rising in the east after midnight. It looks reddish/orange, but shouldn't twinkle like a star.

Edit: added possibility of Mars.

jmjawors · « **Reply #32 on:** 11/01/2007 10:22 pm »

Don't have my star charts in front of me, so I don't know what it could be. Just wanted to pipe in to say it's highly doubtful it's Venus at that time of night. Venus is the "Morning/Evening Star," not the "2am Star." :laugh: So Thorny is, I'm sure, correct.

Though I have seen Mars "twinkle..." more like shift colors. So I don't think it can be said that planets are completely exempt from that phenomenon.

Ok. Back to the planetarium, er... Discovery sightings thread.

gmog · « **Reply #33 on:** 11/02/2007 09:31 pm »

For the first time ...I just saw ISS & Discovery passing the Kuala Lumpur sky at 5:50 am...it was a great experience when I saw the bright dot flying overhead and thinking theres 10 ppl inside it working...next time I'll try get some picture of it. And also.. this is my first post here..

rdale · « **Reply #34 on:** 11/04/2007 01:43 am »

Just wanted to give a heads up - the shuttle / ISS combo will be visible across most of the US on Monday morning just after undock and during the flyaround, might be a good idea to check the times at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov and wake up early!

TJL · « **Reply #35 on:** 11/04/2007 01:56 am »

With undocking scheduled for 5:32 am Monday, and a visible pass over New York at 5:52 am, would I be able to see 2 distinct vehicles so soon after separation?

Jorge · « **Reply #36 on:** 11/04/2007 02:48 am »

Quote

TJL - 3/11/2007 9:56 PM

With undocking scheduled for 5:32 am Monday, and a visible pass over New York at 5:52 am, would I be able to see 2 distinct vehicles so soon after separation?

Perhaps with strong binoculars or a telescope. 20 minutes after undocking, the two vehicles will only be about 200 ft apart. Assuming they passed directly overhead (range ~ 200 n.mi.), you're talking about one-hundredth of a degree separation.

nathan.moeller · « **Reply #37 on:** 11/04/2007 03:41 am »

Quote

TJL - 3/11/2007 9:56 PM

With undocking scheduled for 5:32 am Monday, and a visible pass over New York at 5:52 am, would I be able to see 2 distinct vehicles so soon after separation?

Possibly, but it depends how far out from the station Discovery is when they pass overhead. I imagine she'll still be moving out in front as she sets up for the fly-around. I really hope we get a chance to see the pair!! By the way, will there be a full fly-around this time, or just a quarter-lap?

Bubbinski · « **Reply #38 on:** 11/04/2007 02:23 pm »

I went out there this morning and saw the Discovery/ISS complex flying in the southeast. Briefly got brighter than Sirius, about to maybe Jupiter's brightness, but didn't get any brighter. Certainly not as bright as Venus. I was surprised, seeing as they had installed a new solar panel, but it was 15 minutes to sunrise, and ISS got no higher than 40 degrees. There's a much better pass scheduled for Tuesday morning!

Edit: Make that Wednesday morning, it'll get up to 57 degrees then. Tuesday morning's pass in Salt Lake is about the same as this morning's. Monday's pass is very low - only 12 degrees as per spaceflight.nasa.gov.

TJL · « **Reply #39 on:** 11/04/2007 04:01 pm »

Quote

nathan.moeller - 4/11/2007 12:41 AM

Quote
TJL - 3/11/2007 9:56 PM

With undocking scheduled for 5:32 am Monday, and a visible pass over New York at 5:52 am, would I be able to see 2 distinct vehicles so soon after separation?

Possibly, but it depends how far out from the station Discovery is when they pass overhead. I imagine she'll still be moving out in front as she sets up for the fly-around. I really hope we get a chance to see the pair!! By the way, will there be a full fly-around this time, or just a quarter-lap?

Expected to be a full flyaround.