Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

Wow, what a site. We were on the phone to our sister and when we saw
those two things in the sky we were both screaming - Wow wow wow wow!!!!!!!

I can't believe they were so bright. The only thing I'm unsure of is -
which one was the space shuttle? The one leading or the one following? I
was thinking it was the one following - it was extremely bright. They were
also in the sky for a long time.

Wow, what a site tonight. Amazing.

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.


I can't believe they were so bright. The only thing I'm unsure of is -
which one was the space shuttle? The one leading or the one following? I
was thinking it was the one following - it was extremely bright. They were
also in the sky for a long time.

ISS is a lot bigger, so it would almost certainly have been the
brighter one.


Patty

"Patty Winter" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night
walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright
space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.


I can't believe they were so bright. The only thing I'm unsure of
is -
which one was the space shuttle? The one leading or the one following? I
was thinking it was the one following - it was extremely bright. They
were
also in the sky for a long time.

ISS is a lot bigger, so it would almost certainly have been the
brighter one.


If it was the bright one then it was trailing the shuttle. Hold your hand
up to the sky and stick out one finger. They were about a finger and a half
or maybe two fingers apart, long ways. But they looked like they were on
the same path and one was noticeably brighter than the other. I've seen the
space station before and it has never been that bright. I don't think I've
ever seen the shuttle in the sky before. I was in the middle of a corn
field and had a great view.

"Patty Winter" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night
walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright
space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.


I had to see both the shuttle and station because they were both bright,
traveling near the same speed, and same direction. What else could I have
saw?

"Patty Winter" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night
walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright
space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.


Orbitron shows them trailing each other around 9:15pm when I saw them.
Actually, the time was more like 9:16pm or 9:17 or 9:18pm. Orbitron shows
the station trailing the shuttle so the bright one must have been the
station. It was amazingly bright.

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

[extraneous text removed]

"Patty Winter" wrote in message
...

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.

I had to see both the shuttle and station because they were both bright,
traveling near the same speed, and same direction. What else could I have
saw?

You saw Discovery and ISS. I only saw one of them.


Patty

Von Fourche wrote:
"Patty Winter" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Von Fourche wrote:

I was out in the middle of a corn field with a brother on a night
walk,
enjoying the clean air. I told him that around 9:15 pm we could see the
space station. I had no idea tho that we would see not only a bright
space
station but also an extremely bright space shuttle right behind it.

I'm still wondering why I was only able to see one of them. How far
apart were they, either in time or fingers? :-) I saw the same pass
you did, so now I'm really confused.



Orbitron shows them trailing each other around 9:15pm when I saw them.
Actually, the time was more like 9:16pm or 9:17 or 9:18pm. Orbitron shows
the station trailing the shuttle so the bright one must have been the
station. It was amazingly bright.

The Shuttle was leading the ISS by about a minute. That correlates to
around 270-miles.
A few years ago I saw a Shuttle-ISS double pass where they were only
30-miles apart. That's about four fingers wide at arms length. The
Shuttle had undocked from the ISS just a few hours earlier. I live near
a lake which is also about 30-miles long. If the lake happened to be in
line with their orbital direction, they could have flown over the length
of the lake in 6-seconds. When the Shuttle was over the far end of the
lake, the ISS would have been over the near end, which is 6-seconds
apart. Or to look at it the other way around (literally), the 30-mile
long lake would appear to be four fingers wide (arms length) as seen by
someone looking down at the lake from either space craft.
Now that the ISS structure is completed, it has become bright enough to
see in the day time (like the planet Venus) if the conditions are right.
I'm pretty sure I saw it a few weeks ago in the late afternoon, about
two hours before sunset. It looked like a tiny white dot moving overhead
towards the east with the sun at my back. It was different than seeing a
high altitude aircraft because the ISS didn't have any apparent size,
just a point of light. A high flying jet still has some visible dimensions.

In article ,
skyguy wrote:

[older text deleted]

Now that the ISS structure is completed, it has become bright enough to
see in the day time (like the planet Venus) if the conditions are right.
I'm pretty sure I saw it a few weeks ago in the late afternoon, about
two hours before sunset. It looked like a tiny white dot moving overhead
towards the east with the sun at my back.

I've read on Heavens-Above that some folks have seen it during the
day, especially towards early morning and late afternoon. I'll have
to check for promising passes and try to see it.

The other things that can be visible during the day are Iridium
satellites. Of course, their "flares" only last for a matter of
seconds, unlike an ISS pass, so you have to be looking in just
the right place.


Patty