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Upgraded Space Station May Rival Venus in Night Sky



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 18th 06, 01:57 AM posted to sci.space.station,sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe,sci.space.shuttle
Sprite Scaler
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Posts: 6
Default Upgraded Space Station May Rival Venus in Night Sky


looks like a Foxnews article answered my question from a few days ago

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214051,00.html


Upgraded Space Station May Rival Venus in Night Sky
Sunday, September 17, 2006
By Joe Rao

The biggest and brightest man-made object orbiting the Earth just got
bigger and brighter.

Astronauts on board the international space station unfurled a new pair
of solar-energy panels that sprout out of the end of a new 17.5-ton
truss section, which was brought up by the space shuttle Atlantis.

They are the largest solar panels ever taken to space; fully unfolded,
they reach a length of 240 feet (73 meters).


They are designed to double the ISS' capability to generate power from
sunlight when they go online during a future shuttle mission.

The panels are made of layers of thin gold Mylar plastic, which are
highly reflective.

Like other satellites, the ISS shines by virtue of sunlight reflected
off of its metallic skin. The station orbits approximately 213 miles
(341 kilometers) above Earth.

How bright?

Before the ISS spread its new pair of gold wings, it was already the
brightest of all space vehicles, at times appearing to shine with a
brilliance equal to the planet Jupiter.

Now skywatchers should notice the orbiting outpost glowing with an even
greater luster.

Nobody knows exactly how much brighter it will be, but there's a good
chance that it could be brighter than magnitude -3, approaching the
glow of Venus, the brightest planet.

On this astronomers' scale, smaller numbers denote brighter objects,
and negative numbers are reserved for the handful of the very
brightest.

The ISS will likely get even brighter. The solar panels are only the
second of four planned arrays that will be deployed between now and
when the shuttle fleet retires in the year 2010.

When to look

Skywatchers across much of North America will have opportunities to see
the ISS in the coming weeks.

To the unaided eye, it appears as a large "star" with a yellowish-white
tint that moves with a steady speed across the sky.

Beginning late next week and running through the first two weeks of
October, early risers will be able to look for the station in the dawn
twilight if skies are clear.

Starting in mid-October, it will make passes during convenient evening
hours, soon after sundown.

To find out if the international space station will pass over your
hometown, go to NASA's tracking page
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
or the Heavens Above web site. http://heavens-above.com/

Amateurs with large telescopes and some knowledge of astrophotography
have in the past had success photographing the space station.

  #2  
Old September 19th 06, 01:48 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
WhiteStarLine
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Posts: 4
Default Upgraded Space Station May Rival Venus in Night Sky

Wow! It would have to be pretty bright to reach -3.8, so time will tell
if that prediction is a little bit exaggerated or not. Certainly some
experienced observers have reported it as -2 magnitude even before the
new structure. That makes it as bright as Jupiter, but a long way from
Venus. Incidentally, the Genesis I team are making similar claims for
their space vehicle when it is finally built.

Have a look at the photo that Thierry Legault took from Normandy,
France, showing a silhouette of Atlantis and the ISS in front of the
sun, taken yesterday. It's on the front page of
http://www.spaceweather.com.

On the other end of the scale, I saw Suitsat earlier this year. This
was an old spacesuit deliberately jettisoned from the ISS late last
year as a ham radio experiment. Its magnitude was +8 and it has only
broken up in the last two weeks.

Cheers,

Bill
Canberra, Australia

 




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