was this the ISS?

Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white. Also,
I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

"ken" wrote in message
...
Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white. Also,
I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

It probably wasn't the ISS as that went over later in the evening (8.50pm
for my location in Cheshire)
If you visit www.heavens-above.com you can find out satellite passages and
predictions for your precise location. Yesterday seems to have been a
particularly rich evening for satellites and rockets, but you can get a sky
map for all those listed to work out which one you saw.

"OG" wrote in message
...

"ken" wrote in message
...
Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white. Also,
I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

It probably wasn't the ISS as that went over later in the evening (8.50pm
for my location in Cheshire)
If you visit www.heavens-above.com you can find out satellite passages and
predictions for your precise location. Yesterday seems to have been a
particularly rich evening for satellites and rockets, but you can get a
sky map for all those listed to work out which one you saw.

Actually, it could well have been the ISS; I was looking at today's timings,
Friday's passage was at about 20 past 8 and the brightness is about right
too.

ken nous a donc écrit :

Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

Go to http://www.heavens-above.com/ enter your coordinates, go to
Satellites, ISS, previous, and you will get the passes for the previous
week.

--
Norbert. (no X for the answer)
======================================
knowing the universe - stellar and galaxies evolution
http://nrumiano.free.fr
images of the sky http://images.ciel.free.fr
======================================

On Sep 27, 3:19*pm, ken wrote:

I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iss :
Orbit inclination: 51.6410 degrees (2008-02-15)

--
(c) John Stockton, near London, UK. Posting with Google.
Mail: or (better) via Home Page at
Web: URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/
FAQish topics, acronyms, links, etc.; Date, Delphi, JavaScript, ....|

On 27 Sep, 15:57, "OG" wrote:
"OG" wrote in message

...





"ken" wrote in message
...
Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white. Also,
I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

It probably wasn't the ISS as that went over later in the evening (8.50pm
for my location in Cheshire)
If you visitwww.heavens-above.comyou can find out satellite passages and
predictions for your precise location. Yesterday seems to have been a
particularly rich evening for satellites and rockets, but you can get a
sky map for all those listed to work out which one you saw.

Actually, it could well have been the ISS; I was looking at today's timings,
Friday's passage was at about 20 past 8 and the brightness is about right
too.

Not "as bright as Venus" as the OP states, surely. Venus is currently
at mag -3.7 (according to Stellarium) and gets brighter. Maybe that
figure's wrong...? AFAIK the ISS never gets that bright.

--
James

"ken" wrote in message
...
Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

As long as it was actually passing West to East, then it was almost
certainly the ISS. It went over Crawley at about 2024BST.


I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white.

If you only saw it low in the sky it could well have looked golden, but
overhead it is bright white.

Also, I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude
(51 degrees N).

As Dr. Stockton mentioned, its inclination is about 51.6 degrees which means
that 51.6 is the most northerly latitude at which it can be overhead. That
is a bit north of central London (roughly Finchley).

"Albert" wrote in message
...

Was this the ISS?

As long as it was actually passing West to East, then it was almost
certainly the ISS. It went over Crawley at about 2024BST.

I just double checked and that pass did go into eclipse in the area of
Andromeda.

Yep ISS and Jules Verne went over our location at Kelling Heath on Friday
and Saturday night

ISS was at an altitude of 75 degree's there abouts quite a lot higher then I
have ever seen it before.

A good friend of mine at the astro-camp got some great shots of it as it
passed over

Cheers

Andy

--
Mr Andrew R Green BSc(Hons) FBIS, FRAS


"ken" wrote in message
...
Yesterday evening (Friday) at just after 8pm, I was in my garden and
saw a very bright object (as bright as Venus) moving E-W. It passed
almost directly overhead, and went into eclipse just after passing
through Andromeda, at an altitude of about 45 degrees.

Was this the ISS?

I'm puzzled, because the only other time I've ever seen it, back in
2000, it was a golden colour, and this time it was almost white. Also,
I didn't think the ISS could ever be overhead at my latitude (51
degrees N).

"Andy G" wrote in message
...

A good friend of mine at the astro-camp got some great shots of it as it
passed over

Cheers

Andy

Andy,

What constitutes a "great shot" ? Any chance of persuading your mate to
post it ?

Pete K