|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
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. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
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 |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
"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. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
"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? |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
"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. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
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 |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
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. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Station and Shuttle Tonight - Wow!
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 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Shuttle launch tonight at 7:43 EDT | Bluuuue Rajah | History | 102 | April 9th 09 01:56 AM |
Viewing of Station and Shuttle. | Craig Fink | Space Station | 0 | October 24th 07 12:57 AM |
STS 118 Shuttle Launch tonight | Andy G | UK Astronomy | 1 | August 8th 07 11:51 PM |
new shuttle --> new space station | blart | Space Shuttle | 9 | August 7th 05 05:28 PM |
Space Shuttle story on 60 Minutes Wed. tonight | robin88th | Space Shuttle | 9 | April 29th 05 03:28 PM |