What satellite was that?
On 10/08/2012 13:00, Dave wrote:
I live in Preston, Lancashire, and at about 22.55 last night (Thursday
9th August) our next-door neighbour came knocking on our door and said,
"Look at that satellite up there!!". There was a very bright object
moving very quickly from west to east - anyone know what that satellite
would have been?
TIA
Almost certainly the ISS - your timing is spot on BTW
http://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=53.75956&lng=-2.705402&loc=Preston&alt=28&tz=GMT
It is presently visible in the evenings and at mag -3 as bright as
Jupiter so quite impressive in the early evening sky.
On odd days starting 7th Aug at 23:02
and
On even days starting 8th Aug at 22:09 and 23:45
getting 10 mins earlier with each successive apparition.
So tonight the 10th look for it at about 22:00 and/or 23:35
Tomorrow night at 22:42
Same site will also do predictions of Iridium flares for 7 days in
advance and satellites brighter than a given magnitude for date. A
really juicy Iridium flare nearby to your location can get to magnitude
-8 which is seriously bright but not for very long.
Regards,
Martin Brown
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