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Space Shuttle
I presume the shuttle will be quite a bit btighter now
with the new solar panels. Wish I could see it, but it's not presently visible from Australia. Minge. |
#2
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Space Shuttle
In article ,
Daniel Minge wrote: I presume the shuttle will be quite a bit btighter now with the new solar panels. Wish I could see it, but it's not presently visible from Australia. You mean the International Space Station. Somewhile back someone suggested the ISS would be less bright when the solar panels are all in place. They are perpendicular to the sun. They aren't positioned so they reflect the sun to the earth. |
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Space Shuttle
Bruce Watson wrote:
In article , Daniel Minge wrote: I presume the shuttle will be quite a bit btighter now with the new solar panels. Wish I could see it, but it's not presently visible from Australia. You mean the International Space Station. Somewhile back someone suggested the ISS would be less bright when the solar panels are all in place. They are perpendicular to the sun. They aren't positioned so they reflect the sun to the earth. It's been my experience that the ISS appears brightest when the observer has the sunset location to his back and the ISS is moving away from him to the east after reaching it's highest point in the sky. This would also be when the solar panels are reflecting more light from the sun to the observer because they are aimed toward the sun which has set behind him. It's not always possible to meet these conditions precisely, depending on the particular pass of the ISS over the observer, but in general it seems to be true. The brightest observations of the ISS are those where it passes nearly over head. Then the observer is positioned to view the ISS for the longest duration as it goes away from him to the east and the sunset point is almost directly behind him. It should be noted that the opposite conditions apply for viewing the ISS in the morning before sunrise. In that case the ISS appears the brightest when it's approaching the observer from the west while his back is to the sunrise location in the east. |
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Space Shuttle
In article ,
flyguy wrote: Bruce Watson wrote: In article , Daniel Minge wrote: I presume the shuttle will be quite a bit btighter now with the new solar panels. Wish I could see it, but it's not presently visible from Australia. You mean the International Space Station. Somewhile back someone suggested the ISS would be less bright when the solar panels are all in place. They are perpendicular to the sun. They aren't positioned so they reflect the sun to the earth. It's been my experience that the ISS appears brightest when the observer has the sunset location to his back and the ISS is moving away from him to the east after reaching it's highest point in the sky. This would also be when the solar panels are reflecting more light from the sun to the observer because they are aimed toward the sun which has set behind him. It's not always possible to meet these conditions precisely, depending on the particular pass of the ISS over the observer, but in general it seems to be true. The brightest observations of the ISS are those where it passes nearly over head. Then the observer is positioned to view the ISS for the longest duration as it goes away from him to the east and the sunset point is almost directly behind him. It should be noted that the opposite conditions apply for viewing the ISS in the morning before sunrise. In that case the ISS appears the brightest when it's approaching the observer from the west while his back is to the sunrise location in the east. I've noticed that. That would be because the station is showing a more full phase. There is more light reflected (diffusely) from the panels to the observer. |
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#6
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Space Shuttle
Bruce Watson wrote:
In article , flyguy wrote: Bruce Watson wrote: In article , Daniel Minge wrote: I presume the shuttle will be quite a bit btighter now with the new solar panels. Wish I could see it, but it's not presently visible from Australia. You mean the International Space Station. Somewhile back someone suggested the ISS would be less bright when the solar panels are all in place. They are perpendicular to the sun. They aren't positioned so they reflect the sun to the earth. It's been my experience that the ISS appears brightest when the observer has the sunset location to his back and the ISS is moving away from him to the east after reaching it's highest point in the sky. This would also be when the solar panels are reflecting more light from the sun to the observer because they are aimed toward the sun which has set behind him. It's not always possible to meet these conditions precisely, depending on the particular pass of the ISS over the observer, but in general it seems to be true. The brightest observations of the ISS are those where it passes nearly over head. Then the observer is positioned to view the ISS for the longest duration as it goes away from him to the east and the sunset point is almost directly behind him. It should be noted that the opposite conditions apply for viewing the ISS in the morning before sunrise. In that case the ISS appears the brightest when it's approaching the observer from the west while his back is to the sunrise location in the east. I've noticed that. That would be because the station is showing a more full phase. There is more light reflected (diffusely) from the panels to the observer. Yes, when the ISS is going away from the observer during an early evening pass, more of the surface area of the panels are exposed, thus relecting more light from the sun to the surface of the earth. This is because the panels are aimed at the sun which has set behind the observer. It also applies in general to the other reflective surfaces on the ISS which present more area to the observer as the ISS receeds from him. |
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