|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
Can you someone help identify what I saw last night? I am near Ottawa,
Canada, (northeastern NA). At 9:03PM we saw the ISS passing by, directly overheard heading East/ SE. Around 9:04 another object followed, and around 9:05 yet another one, all in similar trajectories. These two were much dimmer. The Space Shuttle was supposed to come before the ISS, we never saw it as we were likely looking too low in the sky. Soyuz was supposed to go by at 9:19, so it was not it. What were the mistery objects around 9:04 and 9:05PM? Thanks! |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
In article , flyguy wrote: You didn't give the date of your sitings. Yes, s/he did. The posting was made the afternoon of Saturday, March 28th, and referred to "last night." So the sightings were on Friday, March 27. If it was on the evening of Friday March-27, one of the other objects could have been the ISS tool bag which was accidentally lost by an astronaut doing an EVA on a previous Shuttle mission last fall. This 'satellite' is currently trailing the ISS by about 5-minutes. It's brightness is close to the limit of vision with the unaided eye (no binoculars) but you could have seen it if the sky was very clear and dark. I wondered about that, too, but figured it was too faint to be seen anywhere near a city. Of course, one doesn't have to go far from Ottawa to be in the country, so "mywoodroffe" could have quite dark skies. (BTW, I had a great time in Ottawa and visiting the Diefenbunker last summer. The latter is only about half an hour from Parliament Hill but is in a very rural area.) BTW, There actually wasn't any pass of the ISS *directly* over Ottawa last week. The highest one was on Friday evening March-27, which reached a maximum altitude of 69-deg above the North-Northeast horizon at 9:05pm-EDT. Yeah, 69 deg. could easily look "overhead" to someone not experienced with gauging the elevations of astronomical objects. Patty |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
Patty Winter wrote:
In article , flyguy wrote: You didn't give the date of your sitings. Yes, s/he did. The posting was made the afternoon of Saturday, March 28th, and referred to "last night." So the sightings were on Friday, March 27. If it was on the evening of Friday March-27, one of the other objects could have been the ISS tool bag which was accidentally lost by an astronaut doing an EVA on a previous Shuttle mission last fall. This 'satellite' is currently trailing the ISS by about 5-minutes. It's brightness is close to the limit of vision with the unaided eye (no binoculars) but you could have seen it if the sky was very clear and dark. I wondered about that, too, but figured it was too faint to be seen anywhere near a city. Of course, one doesn't have to go far from Ottawa to be in the country, so "mywoodroffe" could have quite dark skies. (BTW, I had a great time in Ottawa and visiting the Diefenbunker last summer. The latter is only about half an hour from Parliament Hill but is in a very rural area.) BTW, There actually wasn't any pass of the ISS *directly* over Ottawa last week. The highest one was on Friday evening March-27, which reached a maximum altitude of 69-deg above the North-Northeast horizon at 9:05pm-EDT. Yeah, 69 deg. could easily look "overhead" to someone not experienced with gauging the elevations of astronomical objects. Patty I figured March-27 was the most likely date of the sitings but I don't have much confidence in Usenet posting dates, so I just wanted to be sure I wasn't wasting my time searching the wrong date. I too have very dark skies within a half hours drive from home so I should make an effort to see the tool bag. It should be fairly easy to locate with the ISS ahead of it by a few minutes. I tried to see 'Suitsat' with no success. That's got to be the weirdest 'satellite' in the history of man made earth orbiting objects. What was the first identifiable satellite you ever saw? For me it was Echo-1A in the autumn of 1960. I was about 9-years old so that event started my life long interest in observing satellites. BTW, Have you seen Hubble? I'm pretty sure I've seen it at least once. It would be pretty low on the southern horizon for an observer in southern Quebec or Ontario. It never gets higher than about 12-deg for me. Hopefully it will be easier to observe when the Shuttle goes to it this year. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
In article , flyguy wrote: [older text deleted] I too have very dark skies within a half hours drive from home so I should make an effort to see the tool bag. It should be fairly easy to locate with the ISS ahead of it by a few minutes. Let us know if you succeed! I haven't tried yet. I'm not sure it would be possible at my house even with binoculars. Maybe next time I visit my friends in the Gold Country. I tried to see 'Suitsat' with no success. That's got to be the weirdest 'satellite' in the history of man made earth orbiting objects. Well, that and the tool bag. :-) Also, did you ever see the tethered satellite that broke free from the shuttle in 1996? The tether was about 12 miles long, making for a very strange sight moving across the sky: http://www.satobs.org/tss.html Be sure to watch the video. What was the first identifiable satellite you ever saw? For me it was Echo-1A in the autumn of 1960. I, too, saw Echo I. I don't recall whether I saw anything before that. BTW, Have you seen Hubble? I'm pretty sure I've seen it at least once. Yeah, a few times. Haven't tried recently. Patty |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
help me identify objects seen last night?
Patty Winter wrote:
In article , flyguy wrote: [older text deleted] I too have very dark skies within a half hours drive from home so I should make an effort to see the tool bag. It should be fairly easy to locate with the ISS ahead of it by a few minutes. Let us know if you succeed! I haven't tried yet. I'm not sure it would be possible at my house even with binoculars. Maybe next time I visit my friends in the Gold Country. I just checked the ISS schedule and wouldn't you know it there won't be any visible passes of the ISS in my area for almost three weeks. After that all the passes will be in the morning for another two weeks or so until it finally gets back into the evening sky. I guess I'll have to stay up late some night near the end of this month. I'm not going to bother with any passes that aren't close to the zenith. I figure it would be hard enough to see when it's directly overhead. I tried to see 'Suitsat' with no success. That's got to be the weirdest 'satellite' in the history of man made earth orbiting objects. Well, that and the tool bag. :-) Also, did you ever see the tethered satellite that broke free from the shuttle in 1996? The tether was about 12 miles long, making for a very strange sight moving across the sky: http://www.satobs.org/tss.html Be sure to watch the video. I remember seeing the video taken from the Shuttle when the tether broke but it never occurred to me that it might be visible from the ground. That would have been really neat to see. I have seen the ISS and the Shuttle when they were very close to each other, like a degree or so. But that still works out to about 20-miles. I would like to see them when they are so close it would require binoculars to seperate them. The Shuttle program will probably be over before I might have the opportunity for that. About a year ago I saw the Shuttle on the first orbit after it was launched. I was surprised by how fast it was moving. That was because they were still in a low parking orbit before boosting to the altitude of the ISS. What was the first identifiable satellite you ever saw? For me it was Echo-1A in the autumn of 1960. I, too, saw Echo I. I don't recall whether I saw anything before that. BTW, Have you seen Hubble? I'm pretty sure I've seen it at least once. Yeah, a few times. Haven't tried recently. The next window for Hubble is coming up at the end of the month. There will be a single pass on three consecutive evenings in my area. Maybe the Shuttle will be at the Hubble then. That would make it much easier to find it. Bye |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Any help to identify this guy | Ray Vingnutte | Misc | 4 | May 17th 05 09:50 AM |
How to identify mystery moving objects? | justbeats | Amateur Astronomy | 2 | October 20th 04 02:02 PM |
New Field Guide - "How To Identify Night Sky" | Mark Lepkowski | Amateur Astronomy | 16 | June 4th 04 02:16 PM |
Can anyone identify....... | Darren | UK Astronomy | 4 | September 6th 03 05:48 PM |
Suggested Objects for Night on 60" | Barry Megdal | Amateur Astronomy | 19 | September 3rd 03 04:40 AM |