Author Topic: Discover the ISS and Space Shuttle on the night sky...  (Read 5605 times)

Moonwalker

  • Shuttle Pilot
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Discover the ISS and Space Shuttle on the night sky...
« on: February 10, 2008, 01:39:36 AM »
Hello,

this evening I was able to see the ISS-Shuttle stack crossing Germany two times. And I'm even going to see it a third time in about 25 minutes :)

This was during sunset, just about 20 minutes before docking:


And that was one orbit later:


As you can see, there are almost no stars visible on the photos, but the ISS and Shuttle is very well visible. It's amazing how bright it becomes at the right angle, shortly before it flies into the earth's "shadow" and so disappears immediately.

To predict if the Shuttle is going to cross your country at sunrise/sunset, the NASA tracker is rather useful:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

For watching where the station exactly is just right now the ESA tracker is rather good:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Track_ESA_missions_GE/index.html

Firefighterdan

  • Mission Specialist
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  • Posts: 373
  • Houston Endeavour roll program
Re: Discover the ISS and Space Shuttle on the night sky...
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2008, 03:58:23 AM »
I have seen the shuttle and ISS go over my house the last couple missions. ;D I can't right now because we are getting rain and snow. I hope it clears up soon so I can see them before the end of the mission. ;D




Always change the battery in your smoke detector

asterix

  • Astronaut
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  • Posts: 135
Re: Discover the ISS and Space Shuttle on the night sky...
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2008, 04:46:43 PM »
Saw them pass overhead about 1813 - 1818 GMT last night , (Saturday 10th). Absolutely beautiful at Mag -2.4. This evening even brighter, -2.5.
A good website for predicting satellite viewing opportunities is:-
      www.heavens-above.com
My local forecast for today is clear, (a rare thing in UK), so looking forward to it.
Even my wife wants to see it :D

flaihai

  • Guest
Re: Discover the ISS and Space Shuttle on the night sky...
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2008, 09:40:17 PM »
Nice tip,
I will try myself tonight at Berlin, Germany.

Cheers,
Jan