Space Station sighting last night was awesome

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 04:13:38 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:


"blacklabelrum" wrote in message
roups.com...
hey, I'm from the caribbean and was amazed by the fact that you all can
see this thing from where you live? must be kool huh? I live in the
caribbean and Never saw anything like that before. Pretty interesting
stuff! I also bet most ppl here dont even know there is a space station
up there, lol.

Well, there's nothing other than perhaps local light pollution preventing
you from seeing it from where you are.





I viewed an ISS pass last night (10/22/06) near Portland, Oregon
(USA). The station showed up on schedule at 19:52 and at the expected
brightness of about 0 apparent magnitude, 10 to 15 degrees above the
western horizon. Then it slowly flared up to a magnitude of at least
-10 or maybe -12! It was an intense bright actinic blue-white color.
I have observed Iridium flares a dozen or so times in the past, up to
a calculated magnitude -8, and this put them all to shame. It must
have been the new solar panel.

The flare lasted about 10 seconds and slowly faded back to magnitude 0
with a golden-yellow color. The station slowly moved across the sky
to the north and faded out to a burnt cinderr, and finally darkness, a
few minutes later. The entire visible pass lasted approximately two
minutes and was easily the most spectacular man-made artifact I have
ever seen in the night sky! If there was some way to predict ISS
flares, I could win some bar bets!!! The cool thing was that my wife
was along for the ride and I had time to describle the process of the
flare as it was happening.

I suspect the temporary arrangement of the solar arrays had something
to do with this intense flare. The arrays cannot rotate exactly as
they should, with one on the end of a truss and one center mounted on
the Z truss. When the center mounted array is moved out to the end of
the truss and the solar panel movement changes, will this amazing
light show go away as things return to "normal"? I am definitely
going to be watching in the near future! The only bummer is that
Oregon weather does not permit visual observation for at least 5
months out of the year.

The Other James

Hello all,
I often watch it "fly" over my location ( Bunbury/Western
Australia ) as well as hear the radio transmissions ( when it's active )

John
"Bob the Tomato" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 04:13:38 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:


"blacklabelrum" wrote in message
groups.com...
hey, I'm from the caribbean and was amazed by the fact that you all can
see this thing from where you live? must be kool huh? I live in the
caribbean and Never saw anything like that before. Pretty interesting
stuff! I also bet most ppl here dont even know there is a space station
up there, lol.

Well, there's nothing other than perhaps local light pollution preventing
you from seeing it from where you are.





I viewed an ISS pass last night (10/22/06) near Portland, Oregon
(USA). The station showed up on schedule at 19:52 and at the expected
brightness of about 0 apparent magnitude, 10 to 15 degrees above the
western horizon. Then it slowly flared up to a magnitude of at least
-10 or maybe -12! It was an intense bright actinic blue-white color.
I have observed Iridium flares a dozen or so times in the past, up to
a calculated magnitude -8, and this put them all to shame. It must
have been the new solar panel.

The flare lasted about 10 seconds and slowly faded back to magnitude 0
with a golden-yellow color. The station slowly moved across the sky
to the north and faded out to a burnt cinderr, and finally darkness, a
few minutes later. The entire visible pass lasted approximately two
minutes and was easily the most spectacular man-made artifact I have
ever seen in the night sky! If there was some way to predict ISS
flares, I could win some bar bets!!! The cool thing was that my wife
was along for the ride and I had time to describle the process of the
flare as it was happening.

I suspect the temporary arrangement of the solar arrays had something
to do with this intense flare. The arrays cannot rotate exactly as
they should, with one on the end of a truss and one center mounted on
the Z truss. When the center mounted array is moved out to the end of
the truss and the solar panel movement changes, will this amazing
light show go away as things return to "normal"? I am definitely
going to be watching in the near future! The only bummer is that
Oregon weather does not permit visual observation for at least 5
months out of the year.

The Other James