Clear Sky Space Station

I will post it up earlier tomorrow so you have more time to get organised.I got my NASA alert at 10.27 this morning,
Jenny

 

Uuummm,just had a thought. Possibly it comes over our house (in the SE corner) later than those of you living in the N West.
Here's the link, so can you check it yourself to determine whether the time varies?
http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Jenny

 

Time: Sat Feb 23 6:47 PM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 40 degrees, Appears: WSW, Disappears: SE

 

Time: Sun Feb 24 5:57 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 57 degrees, Appears: WSW, Disappears: SE

 

You chaps not also looking out for Iridium Flares?

Heavens-Above website does a nice little map to show you where the path is across the sky - and it does that for Space Station too.

You need to, accurately, put your location in though, coz the Iridium Flares are only visible in narrow corridors ... look out for anything -6 or brighter (more bright = even more negative numbers) (Space station at its brightest approach is about -2)

An Iridum Flare of -7 means that its brightness is 100 times brighter than the Space Station when it is at -2

Location is set from the home page:
http://www.heavens-above.com

then:

Space Station:
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544

Iridium flares:
http://www.heavens-above.com/IridiumFlares.aspx

 

Time: Tue Mar 19 4:52 AM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 40 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: ESE
4.52 am bit too early for me,
Jenny

 

Keep monitoring it .... at some point the space station will be in an orbit which brings it overhead neatly just after dusk 07th April onwards looks promising

In the meantime worth checking for Iridum Flares - they are pretty impressive. We've got a -8.4 magnitude one due on 20 March - I didn't know they could get any brighter than -8

 

Time: Mon Mar 18 5:43 AM, Visible: 1 min, Max Height: 40 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: SW.

Hi Jenny,this was the email i recived yesterday and although i was up at that time completley forgot all about it until i turned my puter on at 6am

Kristen,We saw one of those Iridium Satellites before Christams when we were out for our evening walk and the light was so bright we were nearly convinced we had seen the star that the three wise men had followed It was such an intense brightness it stopped us in our tracks and we stood transfixed until it gradually faded.We talked about it all the way round our walk and just wasn't sure what it was.Back home I Googled astronomy websites in our region and got a phone number which i promptly rang.I had a chat with a very nice man and he thought we had at first seen the space station but when i explained we already had seen that on numerous occasions,he then came up with the Iridium Satellite something we had never seen before and he explained to Mr Kandy that when they turn a certain way then the sun reflects on them....

Thanks for the links will have a look at them when i get a few minutes spare

 

Going to have to rewrite the scriptures if the Three Wise Men followed an Iridium Satellite

 

Time: Fri Mar 29 4:30 AM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 79 degrees, Appears: WNW, Disappears: ESE

 

Time: Sun Mar 31 5:26 AM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 49 degrees, Appears: W, Disappears: SE

 

Time: Mon Apr 08 9:51 PM, Visible: 2 min, Max Height: 47 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: SW
if there's a clear sky tonight .....
THIS IS SET FOR BATTLE, EAST SUSSEX

 

Looks like its passing overhead around 9PM for 10th - 19th with -3 brightness - that's pretty bright (Max that ISS gets to is -5 I think)

Check actual time on Heaven's Above:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544

 

Don't understand the viewing times/areas on your link Kristen ? I think it will be seen in the SW,
Jenny

 

You need to make sure you have set up your "location" first - otherwise the times etc. may be for a different location / country even!! (Home page - top left under CONFIGURATION)

Then you should get a table of Dates, Brightness (bigger negative numbers are brighter) and the start/end times.

The DATE is a link to a sky-map (note that East and West are the "wrong" way round, so if you print it and hold it above your head, so you are looking up at the map, and the sky, they will then be the "right" way round. sky-map shows where the pass will be, and where it passes into darkness (i.e. the trace line "stops").

If the sky-map shows the pass too near the edge (i.e. low in the sky) chance are you won't be able to see it because of buildings / trees etc., and because there is more "air" to have to look through, which tends to degrade the viewing.

So you basically want:

Brightness -3 to -5. -5 is better, -2, -1 you will be able to see if you have reasonably dark skies, but in town with street lights and neighbour's outdoor lights it will be a challenge.

High in the sky. Anything over 60 degrees is very good, 50 degrees good, and below 40 degrees you'll need darker skies, fewer houses, fewer trees - or suitable gaps between them