Shenzhou V obs.

Following a tip from Spaceweather.com, I got outside around 7:20am and
found a nice southern horizon.

In the brightening morning twilight, suddenly from just to the west of the
moon came the spacecraft. From my location it was traveling just south of
the moon, just north of Saturn, and travelling east at a high rate of
orbital motion.

The craft was tumbling, and varied in brightness greatly. At times it was
nearly as bright as Jupiter, and other times it was nearly invisible.

Pretty cool.

But does this portend bad weather? You know the old saying.. "Red Skies at
morning..."

Stan Jensen writes:

Following a tip from Spaceweather.com, I got outside around 7:20am and
found a nice southern horizon.

In the brightening morning twilight, suddenly from just to the west of the
moon came the spacecraft. From my location it was traveling just south of
the moon, just north of Saturn, and travelling east at a high rate of
orbital motion.

The craft was tumbling, and varied in brightness greatly. At times it was
nearly as bright as Jupiter, and other times it was nearly invisible.

Pretty cool.

But does this portend bad weather? You know the old saying.. "Red Skies at
morning..."


Holy Crap!! I think I saw it... by accident!! I was just out looking
around at Moon and Orion with my binocs and just southwest of the Moon
was a satellite object moving in a southerly direction. This was just
after 0600CDT. Would that be Shenzhou I witnessed?

-Al A.
--
~/.signature

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:55:26 GMT, John Steinberg
wrote:


Tumbling? Are you sure? What were you using to make the observation?
Other than your own eye(s), of course.

Well, just observing with the eyes. And I was just guessing at the
tumbling by the way it brightened/faded in almost a regular pattern,
just as a satellite that's tumbling.

Not knowing the configuration of the spacecraft, i don't knwo what
areas are the most reflective. It could be a planned "bar-b-que" mode.

"Stan Jensen" wrote in message
...
But does this portend bad weather? You know the old saying.. "Red Skies at
morning..."

Just make sure you see it again at night if you want a delight!

;-)

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

Shenzhou V appeared at ~0 mag, ~70 deg. above the Northern Horizon . It was
moving quickly to the NE. It then passed by the bowl of the Big Dipper and
was glinting on and off. I was thinking, "Hopefully he's not spinning out of
control;" Later I considered that it may only be the way the Sun was
reflecting off the panels. As I think back now, the craft has a period of
about 12 seconds between max brightenings.



Paul Gitto
The Arcturus Observatory (H92)
http://cometman.com


"Stan Jensen" wrote in message
...
Following a tip from Spaceweather.com, I got outside around 7:20am and
found a nice southern horizon.

In the brightening morning twilight, suddenly from just to the west of the
moon came the spacecraft. From my location it was traveling just south of
the moon, just north of Saturn, and travelling east at a high rate of
orbital motion.

The craft was tumbling, and varied in brightness greatly. At times it was
nearly as bright as Jupiter, and other times it was nearly invisible.

Pretty cool.

But does this portend bad weather? You know the old saying.. "Red Skies at
morning..."

I failed to add that this pass was viewed at 5:57 AM in Central NJ

Paul


"Paul Gitto" wrote in message
...
Shenzhou V appeared at ~0 mag, ~70 deg. above the Northern Horizon . It
was
moving quickly to the NE. It then passed by the bowl of the Big Dipper and
was glinting on and off. I was thinking, "Hopefully he's not spinning out
of
control;" Later I considered that it may only be the way the Sun was
reflecting off the panels. As I think back now, the craft has a period of
about 12 seconds between max brightenings.



Paul Gitto
The Arcturus Observatory (H92)
http://cometman.com


"Stan Jensen" wrote in message
...
Following a tip from Spaceweather.com, I got outside around 7:20am and
found a nice southern horizon.

In the brightening morning twilight, suddenly from just to the west of
the
moon came the spacecraft. From my location it was traveling just south
of
the moon, just north of Saturn, and travelling east at a high rate of
orbital motion.

The craft was tumbling, and varied in brightness greatly. At times it
was
nearly as bright as Jupiter, and other times it was nearly invisible.

Pretty cool.

But does this portend bad weather? You know the old saying.. "Red Skies
at
morning..."